#GPPT Installing GP Power Tools Build 29 or later can break older Windows Applications

A recent support case was reported where a site updated to GP Power Tools Build 29 and after the installation a separate Windows Application stopped working.

Initially, the only way the customer was able to get this application working again was to rebuild the workstation by re-imaging back to a clean Windows installation. After a bit of troubleshooting, we were able to identify the cause of the issue.

#MSDynGP Microsoft Dynamics GP Crashing on Launch

I recently had a partner contact me when they were doing an upgrade and Microsoft Dynamics GP was crashing upon launching the application. As Winthrop products were installed, we were looking initially to see if the problem was caused by GP Power Tools or Visual Studio Integration Toolkit.

Short Answer: Removing the Winthrop products did not fix the problem …

#MSDynGP Microsoft Dynamics GP 18.4 hotfix breaks features for Australian Customers

Back in October when Microsoft Dynamics GP 18.4 (October 2021) was first released, a problem was identified that affected Australian customers. This was discussed in the article:

• Microsoft Dynamics GP – October 2021 launch error for Australian Customers

This previous crashing issue was caused by a version mismatch on the Visual Studio Tools Addin DLL that provides the ABN (Australian Business Number) Lookup via a webservice to the ABR (Australian Business Register).

Microsoft Dynamics GP – October 2021 launch error for Australian Customers

A couple of Australian partner consultants have contacted me today and yesterday about an issue with the Microsoft Dynamics GP Version 18.4 release.

After installing with selecting the country of Australia, it will fail to launch GP application generating an “An error occurred while loading or initializing an addin” Error.

[Edit] There is a new related issue with missing functionality with the March 2022 hotfix release, see

• #MSDynGP Microsoft Dynamics GP 18.4 hotfix breaks features for Australian Customers
  

#GPPT: Resolved: Registration fails followed by Microsoft Dynamics GP has stopped working

With the release of the GP Power Tools build 28.6 hotfix, a couple of sites have reported that GP Power Tools says it is not registered and then causes Microsoft Dynamics GP to crash if you attempt to open the registration window.

[Edit] This issue is resolved permanently with the GP Power Tools build 28.7 hotfix.

The cause of the issue has been identified and a simple solution is available. We are working with the 3^rd party developers involved to prevent the situation occurring in future.

Black Boxes and Microsoft Dynamics GP Report Writer Reports

Over the last week, there has been a Microsoft security update released via Windows Update which is causing graphics on Microsoft Dynamics GP Report Writer reports to show as black boxes.

The Microsoft Dynamics GP support team is aware of the issue and is working to find a resolution. The current work around is to roll back the Windows Updates that caused the issue and pause updates to prevent them from being installed again.

[Edit] 20-Mar-2021: The Windows team have released a fix for this issue, it look’s like it needs to be installed manually. Please see the updates on both the articles from the Dynamics GP Support team and from Beat Bucher (links below).

Don’t use Administrative Shares in your Dynamics GP Launch File

I am writing this article after a good friend, who is a Microsoft Dynamics GP administrator, was having some unexplained issues in his test environment.

The issue was originally identified because GP Power Tools‘ Product Version Validation feature started reporting a dictionary version mismatch for a couple of Dexterity customization dictionaries. What made it really weird was that it only happened for the test windows’ user and and not for his administrator user account.

#VBA Solving VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) Compatibility Issues

In recent times many Microsoft Dynamics GP sites have been having issues with VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). Especially with Microsoft Office Updates breaking functionality and incompatibilities with later Windows Server releases.

There have been compatibility issues reported with sending emails via Outlook and more recently issues with VBA on Windows Server 2019.

#MSDynGP Dexterity Login Dialog showing on Application Startup

This is an issue that I found back in April 2019 and reported to Microsoft. I added it to my list of articles to write up where it sat until today. Now that I have seen it happen “in the wild” and not just on my test system, I thought I better spend some time to get it documented.

The error occurs when launching Microsoft Dynamics GP and can happen on any version since about v8.0. When you launch GP it displays the Dexterity Login Dialog and if you don’t log in, it will generate a couple of error dialogs.

#GPPT ~internal~ window showing when opening Sales Transaction Entry

A while back I had a customer site reporting an issue where a small window would open every time a user opens the Sales Transaction Entry (SOP_Entry) window.

This issue only occurs when the GP Power Tools – Administrator Tools module feature to prevent windows opening outside of the visible display is enabled.

#GPPT An open operation on the table ‘MBS_ScreenShot_Forms’ failed because the path does not exist.

Every now and then a support request comes in where a customer has received an error message referencing the ‘MBS_ScreenShot_Forms’ table. These support requests are usually redirected from Microsoft’s support team. The error is caused by environmental issues and are generated from GP Power Tools (or its predecessor, the Support Debugging Tool).

This article explains what can cause the error and provides suggestions on how to modify your environment to avoid the issue re-ocurring.

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Homepage and Area Pages Script Errors

Recently my Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 installation started generating errors while navigating around the Homepage and Area Pages. I thought it was due to the recent Windows 10 1809 update, but have since learned that this was not the cause.

I temporarily fixed the issue by removing all objects from the Homepage and only using the application menus for navigation and not using the Area Pages at all.

#SQL Collation – SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS vs Latin1_General_CI_AS

Today, we have an article from guest author Craig Verster, Senior Microsoft Dynamics GP Consultant at Microchannel Services, who identified an issue that can affect Australian (and potentially other non-US) SQL Server installations.

When installing SQL Server Database Engine the default collation is dependent on the Locale of the operating system.

i.e. If Australia, then Latin1_General_CI_AS is the default collation method.

If USA (which is the default locale), then SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS is the default collation method.

Although both these collation methods use code page 1252 they actually work very differently.

#GPPT Unhandled Script Exception: Script Missing

Today, I had a report that the latest build 25.1 release of GP Power Tools was causing an Unhandled Script Exception error when opening certain windows within Microsoft Dynamics GP.

I was able to replicate the issue and have released a 25.2 hotfix which resolves the problem.

#GPPT Fixed Issue with Integration Manager Standard Adapters failing

This article is an informational post to help anyone who might have come across this issue with Integration Manager and is searching online for a solution.

The issue is Integration Manager only imports a few transactions before failing when using the Standard Adapters for some integrations.

One possible cause for this issue was fixed many months ago in GP Power Tools code, but as not all sites keep up to date with their software, it might still be occurring. A recent support case for this issue is the reason for publishing this article.

Delete or Remove Range Errors on ‘SY_Current_Activity’ table after GP 2015 R2

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 R2 added lots of new features and enhancements and fixed a number of bugs too. However, it also introduced a change that is now causing errors in some ISV’s (Independent Software Vendor) products.

I first came across this issue when preparing to release GP Power Tools build 22 and was testing the Database Validation feature on my Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 install.

Microsoft Edge says “Hmm, we can’t reach this page.”

I have finally taken the plunge and updated my primary machine, a Surface Pro 3, to Windows 10.

I delayed the installation of Windows 10 for a little while primarily because I wanted to get GP Power Tools released and did not want anything to mess up my development environments.

Field Level Security can crash Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 Web Client

While working on testing GP Power Tools, I had to investigate an issue with GP Power Tools running on the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 Web Client, and discovered a bug which can crash the web client.

The problem I was seeing was just by having GP Power Tools installed, the web client would crash after login or when opening the first window. Note that this issue is resolved now.

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 not showing Service Enabled Procedures

It has been a while since I last posted on the blog. I have been working flat out to finalize the GP Power Tools code and documentation. All I can say is that the Microsoft Dynamics GP community will be amazed with some of the new features and will love the improvements above and beyond the Support Debugging Tool. I will be starting a “What’s New” in GP Power Tools series of posts soon.

Anyhow, the subject of today’s post is an issue in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015 that I discovered while testing the GP Power Tools code.

How to Fix a Setup File is from a later version Error from the Support Debugging Tool when doing a Test Upgrade

This is a reposting of an article I originally wrote on my Developing for Dynamics GP blog.

This post revisits the issue previously discussed in the blog post: