Refresh Form Attributes

Quick Tip: To refresh a Form's available attributes - the drag and drop fields/controls, simply save the form. This is useful when the underlying Object's attributes have been changed and is quicker than a close, refresh, re-open of the Form.

No Intellisense in IDE

No Intellisense showing in the IDE code page? CTRL + SPACE not showing the helpful drop down?

Sometimes this just happens, especially when the code contains errors. Usually, a CodeDOM rebuild (CTRL + SHIFT + B), then a code parse (CTRL + R) will solve the issue.

However, this doesn't always work - even though you are well within your rights to be shown some Intellisense. In that case, try closing and reopening the object. If that gives on joy, try restarting the IDE.

After that, you're on your own.

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Elite User Conference 2011

Gaylord National
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National Harbor, MD 20745

June 12-16, 2011

Conference Schedule

Form Labels Not Displayed/Updating

Sometimes, the text of a label on a Form is not displayed in the browser after making a change in the IDE. To force the label to update:

• In the IDE, load the project that contains the problem form.
• Right click the top most project node and select Build Project.
• For Build Type, select "All AppObjects that use any AppObject in <Project Name> (Runtime Only)" and click Start Build.
• After building, close all instances of browsers hosing 3e and open a new instance. The labels should now display correctly. 

Add Saved Objects to Collections

To display a previously saved object in an object collection, use Me.Populate(<obj_id(s)>) from within the object's Collection Code.

Code vs Collection Code

Applies to Objects and ReportObjects:

• Code interacts with each item (object) in the current dataset. Methods such as BeforeUpdate() and AfterPopulate() will run for each item. The collection that contains the object is accessed via Me.ParentCollection. Use this option for changing the behaviour of on-form controls, such as Attribute read only access and value validation.
• Collection Code runs against the whole dataset. Methods such as BeforeUpdate() and AfterPopulate() will run only once. Individual items in the collection can be access via Me.ActiveItems. Use this option when making comparisons over the whole dataset or when running finalising code after all data has been updated.

Events trigger at the item level before they trigger at the collection item. For example when saving to the database, AfterSave()will be called on the item, then on the item's collection.

Update 3E - "Some record(s) already exist in the table NxMsg" Extract Error

In Utilities 3E, the following error may be seen in the Update 3E - Update process (part of Upgrades) when running the Apply and Repairs action:
"Some record(s) already exist in the table NxMsg for <GUID>"

To fix the problem, let the process finish then change the Source Directory by clicking Browse. Navigate to <ProjectFolder>\Logs\<ApplyFolder>\ErrorReRun e.g. \IM_CR2043_DL_CostCardTrans\Logs\2011.03.26.10.04.35Apply\ErrorReRun then re-run the Apply and Repair action.

Update 3E - "Could not find AppObject" Extract Error

In Utilities 3E, the following error may be seen in the Update 3E - Extract process (part of Upgrades):
"Could not find AppObject. If the AppObject does exist, verify the ID matches in the MetaXML and table. There is a Stock version, but this is a Custom extract."

This error is usually due to a stock object that is added to the Project that has no custom version, i.e. no changes have been made to it. Identify the object from the error message grid and remove it from the Project in the IDE. After saving the Project, the error should no longer appear when extracting.

Annoyance: Huge Default Report Parts

After creating a new report and giving the Root Object ID property a value, the Header, DetailsHeaderStandard, DetailStandard and Footer have their heights set to massive values. The height value of each has to be manually reduced to make it easier to work with.

Add Custom Methods to Processes

To use a method inside a process do the following:

1. In the Collection Code section of the Object declare an enum type to be returned by the method.

Public Enum StepResult
 Success
 Fail
End Enum

2. Still in the Collection Code of the Object, add the method as a Function with a return type of that created in step 1. Give the Function an attribute of NxProcessMethod.

<NxProcessMethodAttribute()> _
Public Function DoWork() As StepResult
 // Do some cool stuff...
 Return StepResult.Done
End Function

3. After saving the object, the method should be available to add as a step in any Process based on the object.

Validation Error: Error on Node: VM - The required attribute 'FID' is missing.

When saving a Page, following error "Validation Error: Error on Node: VM - The required attribute 'FID' is missing." indicates that at least one of the VIEWMAP nodes (PAGE->BASEOBJECTS->BASEOBJECT->VIEWS->VIEW->VIEWMAP) has no Form ID property set.

Transaction Service

One way to retrieve data from 3e is to use the GetData method of the Transaction Service.

http://shf01-3ede01/TE_3E_development/WebUI/transactionservice.asmx?op=GetData.

1. In the IDE, create a ReportObject containing the data that is needed.
2. In the IDE, create a Report based on the ReportObject. Add the columns of data that need to be exposed.
3. In the front end, load the Report and save a ReportLayout. Be sure to add any criteria and sorting needed to the associated ReportQuery.
4. To test, open the ReportQuery in the Utilities3E AppObject XML Editor. Use the XML of the ReportQuery as the parameter value of the Transaction Services GetData method.

Note that the Report and ReportQuery are just steps in the creation of the test XML. They can be deleted if they are not needed in the front end.

Banner Colour

To change the colour of the 3e banner change \inetpub\images\lyt-hdr-m.jpg for the horizontal repeater and \inetpub\images\lyt-dlg-logo.jpg for the 3e logo.

Update: From version 2.6 onwards, \inetpub\images\toolbar\lyt-hdr-sep.jpg also needs to be changed to get a consistent colour block across the whole banner.

ReportObjects and Templates

Changing the ReportObject that a Template is based on automatically updates the underlying XSD file after a rebuild and publish of the object. The template is saved in \Inetpub\XML\ReportObject\Schema\Read for Word and \Inetpub\XML\ReportObject\Schema\Read_Crystal for Crystal reports. The file has the same name as the ReportObject with a .XSD extension.

Selecting the Allow Reprint check box on the print pop up saves the output XML to \RenderInput.

The final report object always saves to \Inetpub\RenderOutput.