#GPPT GP Power Tools build 29.1 released

Winthrop Development Consultants is excited to announce Build 29 of GP Power Tools (GPPT) for Microsoft Dynamics GP was finally released on 10-Aug-2022.

This build is the culmination of a year of development, testing and documentation work and enhances and consolidates the features and functionality of many areas in GP Power Tools. It is two years since build 28.1 was released and a year since the last hotfix (build 28.9), but this release makes the product significantly more powerful and usable.

This article lists some of the major new features and enhancements. It won’t list everything but to give you an idea of how much has been added, the user guide manual has grown from 592 pages in build 28 to 713 pages in build 29!

IMPORTANT NOTICE: With the release of build 29, support for build 27 has been discontinued. Sites running on build 27 or earlier need to update before their subscriptions can be renewed. It is highly recommended that ALL sites update to build 29 to take advantage of the new features, enhancements and fixes.

Build 29 of GP Power Tools is available for the following Microsoft Dynamics GP versions:

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 and GP 2015 R2 (v14.0)
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 and GP 2016 R2 (v16.0)
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 and GP 2018 R2 (v18.0)
Microsoft Dynamics GP Modern Lifecycle (v18.2)
Microsoft Dynamics GP Modern Lifecycle (v18.3)
Microsoft Dynamics GP Modern Lifecycle (v18.4)

Installer Critical Update

Critical Update: The InstallAware software used to create the installers for our products has been updated to resolve a recently identified critical DLL preloading vulnerability. As a copy of the installer remains on the machine for maintenance, update, removal, and repair tasks, the risk is ongoing until the system is updated with the fixed installer.

The installer has also been improved to correctly handle changes to build numbers when service packs are installed.

The installer will automatically apply the Bitmap Fonts and Bitmap Scaling fixes during installation while it has elevated permissions and can change the registry settings. This will fix any display issues on workstations with a DPI setting greater than 100%.

System Enhancements

When installing on a system with an existing installation of GP Power Tools, you will receive a warning that the server components are about to be updated and that once the server is updated, all workstations will have to be updated to match the same build.

You can respond No to this dialog, but that will deactivate GP Power Tools on the current workstation until next login or company switch when you will be asked again to update.

When communicating with the Registration Server, a please wait dialog is displayed so you understand why there might be a pause from the system.

System Features Module Enhancements

Changes to the System Features Module of GP Power Tools include the following:

On login GP Power Tools will check that the folders where custom forms and reports are located actually exist. It will also check that the OLEPath folder is writable, that global Dex.ini file is writable and look for corruption in the launch file.

Updated ScreenShot System Status report to add a check to ensure that the folders where custom forms and reports are located actually exist. Also added Background and Timed processes to the report.

Exit After Processes (as used by the menu option, Automatic Logout and Help Function) has been improved to ensure that it is the only background process in the queue before requesting an exit. While exiting GP any report writer screen output windows that open will be closed automatically.

Fixed bug in GP where companies marked as <TEST> and <HISTORICAL> in one language do not display the message on login when running on a different language in a multi-lingual environment.

Administrator Tools Module Enhancements

Changes to the Administrator Tools Module of GP Power Tools include the following:

Throughout the Administrator Tools, where the Users Button is available to provide finer control, we have fixed an issue where user and/or company selection was losing selections made on User Class, Security Role ID, Security Task ID, Security ModAlt ID.

Fixed Resource Finder to better handle array and composite fields in the SQL where clause generated for the data preview (using SQL Execute Setup window).

Added an Options menu to the Resource Information and Resource Finder windows to provide access to built in resource description windows (useful on web client) and access to some of the Dexterity Script Debugger windows.

Updated Administrator Settings to handle <TEST> and <HISTORICAL> company settings for a multi-lingual environment.

Added Report Writer Screen Output Timeout feature so that the screen output window will close automatically if left open. It will prevent background processes being held up in the queue due to a report still being displayed.

See this article for why this new feature is important:

#GPPT Why Does The Report Writer Screen Close Automatically?

Added new options to Automatic Logout to provide additional optional levels which can set for specific users and/or companies and business hours for more flexible control of when Automatic Logout is active.

Updated Email Settings with new SMTP via .Net Addin mode which supports the TLS protocol needed to to communicate with Office 365 mail servers (smtp.office365.com:587).

Updated Company Login Filter to add User Selection for each Company for each Launch File Path. Prevents users logging into a company even though access to the company is granted. Also added a Shared User Settings mode so that user company settings do not have to be selected for every Launch File Path in the profile. A possible use case for this functionality could be when you need to give access to a company to a user for intercompany transactions but don’t want to allow them to log into that company.

Updated Product Version Validation window to support multiple instances installed on a single workstation and track product dictionary versions for each instance (based on launch file pathname).

Updated Website Settings for version 18.4 and later to replace repurposing the removed Intelligent Cloud Insights with a GP Power Tools custom website tab on the homepage.

Developer Tools Module Enhancements

Changes to the Developer Tools Module of GP Power Tools include the following:

The following updates have been made throughout the Developer Tools:

Where the Users Button is available to provide finer control of features, we have fixed an issue where user and/or company selection was losing selections made on User Class, Security Role ID, Security Task ID, Security ModAlt ID.
ID Fields have been increased for 15 to 25 characters.
Description or Name Fields have been increased from 60 to 100 characters.
Long Description has been added to projects, triggers and scripts via an expansion button. This long description is displayed on the Executer windows.
Script Clipboard windows have been added to all trigger and script setup windows and allows the script to be copied to a Clipboard window manually or when settings are changed. This also makes it easier to cut and paste code between scripts and ensures script contents are not lost when changing settings.
All Lookup windows in Developer Tools module will filter to only show resources in the current project by default. You can use the view button to change to show all if required.
Before executing any scripts or opening windows, you will be asked to start triggers for the project (if they are not already started).

Project Setup adds display and control to start and stop triggers using a checkbox. Duplicating, renaming and many other options can be performed by selecting and clicking the appropriate button or by using the right click context menu. Some functions can be performed on multiple resources at a time using shift and control keys multi-select. You can even execute scripts without opening them first.

Project Setup will ask if you want to start triggers to make sure they are running before zooming to windows. It will also ask when closing the Project Setup window so that it can restart all the triggers.

Project Setup has an Export Compatibility Warning when exporting and ID or Description/Name fields are longer than is compatible with previous versions (build 28 or before). This warning can be disabled from the Options menu.

The Project Setup Options menu now has access to some of the Dexterity Script Debugger windows.

Duplicating an entire project opens a new window that allows you to select various methods to control the names of the duplicate resources. You can also select to manually edit the names.

The Trigger Setup window has additional syntax constructs added to the Insert Button. This will help developers not experienced with Dexterity syntax. The Insert Button can also be used to import .Net Assemblies to be used with Dexterity’s .Net Interop.

Additional Trigger Attach modes for Delayed, Background and After Background have been added to assist with timing issues when trigger code runs too early even though the event has occurred.

Triggers can now be started as disabled and then enabled when needed, using helper functions from other triggers or scripts. This has less overhead than unregistering and registering triggers or using memory variables to control when a trigger is active. Triggers can also be disabled again automatically after they have been executed.

The Trigger Setup Script menu now has access to some of the Dexterity Script Debugger windows.

The Trigger Status window now has an Options Menu which provides access to the Customization Maintenance, Customization Status, Process Monitor, About Dexterity and Dexterity’s Hidden About window. This is useful on the web client, which does not normally provide access to these windows.

The Runtime Execute Setup window has additional syntax constructs added to the Insert Button. This will help developers not experienced with Dexterity syntax. The Insert Button can also be used to import .Net Assemblies to be used with Dexterity’s .Net Interop.

The Runtime Execute Setup window’s Script Purpose list has been updated with a faster implementation of the 6 Report Writer functions. This new method uses memory based parameters to pass data in and out of the scripts rather than the slower table based parameters used in the old method.

The Runtime Execute Setup Script menu now has access to some of the Dexterity Script Debugger windows.

The SQL Execute Setup window has additional syntax constructs added to the Insert Button. This will help developers not experienced with SQL syntax.

A Find Button has been added SQL Execute Setup, SQL Execute, SQL Results windows which can be used to search the returned data set.

Right click support to run SQL Gotos has been added SQL Execute Setup, SQL Execute, SQL Results windows.

Added a second SQL Results window which can be used with Helper Functions to display a second set of data if required.

The .Net Execute Setup window has additional syntax constructs added to the Insert Button. This will help developers not experienced with C# or VB.Net syntax.

Updated .Net Execute system to allow code to be changed to RunOnce so that the script will only compile and execute once per session.

Added a Caching system to .Net Execute for improved performance and better memory usage by reusing already compiled code already stored in a memory assembly.

Updated .Net Execute window to note that using Parameter List Placeholders will change the script forcing it to recompile affecting performance and using more memory. It will suggest using Parameter List Helper Functions rather than inserting Parameter List Placeholders instead.

Added .Net Assemblies window to the Add References window.

Many new Helper Functions have been added to help developers create customizations using GP Power Tools. Functions for faster access and parsing of SQL Data, the ability to update parameter values passed to and from scripts, transfer data to and from the windows clipboard, show desktop alerts and much more. The Helper Functions window provides an easy method to find and insert these helper functions into your Dexterity, C# or VB.Net scripts.

Database Tools Module Enhancements

Changes to the Database Tools Module of GP Power Tools include the following:

Updated Database Validation window to look for and fix database users for the current GP system in non-GP databases, such as external databases used by integrating products.

Other Enhancements

For a detailed change log, look at the GPPTools.txt file which is also installed with GP Power Tools in the Microsoft Dynamics GP application folder.

More Information

For more information refer to the following pages and articles:

The following articles and links have been updated to include the changes for Build 29:

Thanks to all the customer sites who were willing to install build 29 beta code into their live environments and to my amazing team of beta testers especially Arnold Doyle, Arthur Achilleos, Beat Bucher, Geoff Harding, and Virginia Waghorn for their input in making this build so amazing. Thank you.

Please update all workstations and servers where GP is installed to this latest build as soon as possible.

Please post comments and feedback. Thank you for your support.

Enjoy

David

16-Aug-2022: Added Setting up GP Power Tools article link.
18-Aug-2022: Added link to more information about Security Vulnerability discovered.
02-Feb-2023: Added link to article explaining Report Writer Screen Output window timeout.

This article was originally posted on http://www.winthropdc.com/blog.

Winthrop Development Consultants Blog

Winthrop Development Consultants Blog

This blog will keep you up to date with Winthrop Development Consultants and David’s experiences, tips and tricks as a developer and consultant in the Microsoft Dynamics GP community.