#GPPT GP Power Tools has detected mismatched product dictionaries

When GP Power Tools Build 28 was released, it added a new Product Version Validation feature. One function of Product Version Validation is to warn when it detects Dexterity Product Dictionary version mismatches.

A dialog will be displayed after logging into Microsoft Dynamics GP explaining which product dictionary versions are mismatched for the current workstation. Once dismissed the application will continue as normal. However, mismatched product dictionaries are a security and data damage risk, and the issue should be resolved as soon as possible.

The warning dialog displayed states “GP Power Tools has detected mismatched product dictionaries on workstation” and then displays the workstation (and instance) and the details of the mismatched product dictionaries.

Note: Build 29 added Instances to Product Version Validation by tracking the full path to the Dynamics.set launch file used. This allowed multiple instances on a single workstation to be tracked independently.

Background

Product Version Validation was added as a bonus feature when Build 28 of GP Power Tools was being developed. To improve performance of the Resource Explorer windows which display information about the resources in the installed dictionaries, it was decided to make the caching table permanent. Previously, the data was cached the first time the windows were used for that instance of the application and the temporary ctree memory table was removed when the application instance was closed. To allow the cache to be stored in SQL tables permanently, a method to track if dictionaries have been updated was required.

The Resource Explorer windows were updated to track all the product dictionaries on a workstation and if the version information changes, the cached data for that dictionary was removed from the cache which would force it to be re-read from the dictionary resources the next time it was needed.

As we already had the tracking of product dictionaries installed on each workstation, it was not much more work to add tracking of the maximum version (Major, Minor and Build) number seen on any workstation or server a store those versions as the “System” version. Then a mismatch warning could be displayed on any workstation that had a lower version of a dictionary installed. Add an interface to see and maintain the data and Product Version Validation was created.

Solving Version Mismatches

Version Mismatches could mean that there are different versions of the same product dictionary in a single system and can be a security or data damage risk. The mismatch warning should be resolved so that the message is no longer displayed.

The mismatch can be solved in one of two ways.

1. If the System Version is correct, the mismatch message would be expected on all workstations that have not been updated yet. To resolve, you should update the workstations with the warning to the correct version. You should install the correct updated version on the workstations, or at least copy the appropriate dictionary and associated files from a working workstation. Note: Use of the proper software installer is recommended in case there are other files or registry settings that should be updated.
2. If the System Version is incorrect, then you can restore the previous version number information using the Product Version Validation window. Open the window from the Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Setup >> System menu. Then select the top Microsoft Dynamics GP node to display the system versions stored for each product dictionary. Select the dictionary in question and the version information will be displayed on the right-hand pane. Make the correction needed and click Apply.

Note: If you change the System Version stored and there is actually a dictionary with a later version installed somewhere in the system, the System version will be updated again next time that workstation logs in and the workstations with the older version will start receiving mismatch warnings again.

Additional Note: An issue was discovered where dictionary version information was being incorrectly reported by Dexterity when the dictionary’s custom forms dictionary path (as specified in the Dynamics.set launch file) points to an invalid folder location. To avoid this situation GP Power Tools validates all paths in the launch file on startup and warns if there is an invalid folder. This issue did cause the System Version to be incorrectly updated.

Administration Benefits

Assuming that GP Power Tools is installed on all workstations and servers where Microsoft Dynamics GP is installed (recommended configuration), Product Version Validation can be used to check exactly what products and what versions are installed on every workstation and instance in the system.  If you want to check a specific workstation and/or instance, select that instance on the tree.

If you want to check a specific dictionary, click on the All node on the tree then click on the Product Name or Product ID column header to sort the data and then you can scroll to the product in question and check the versions displayed.

Note: You can select an individual product that are no longer being used, which will show as “Missing”, and click Delete to remove them. You can also select a workstation or workstation instance and click Remove to delete them. Any deleted data will be added back if a workstation logs in again with that data.

Hope this information is helpful.

David

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