Released on = April 19, 2007, 4:39 pm

Press Release Author = Alba Spectrum Group

Industry = Computers

Press Release Summary = Former Great Plains Software Dexterity was designed as a
core of Great Plains Dynamics: programming shell, DB independence layer, Integrated
Development Environment (EDI) - however this design was performed back in earlier
1990th, so you may imagine that software customization, development and programming
goals, pitfalls and priorities shifted. In this small article we will try to orient
you in how you should consider your current Microsoft Dexterity modification
upgrade, what are dex pluses and minuses from contemporary programmer standpoint

Press Release Body = Alba Spectrum Group. http://www.albaspectrum.com
help@albaspectrum.com 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918

Former Great Plains Software Dexterity was designed as a core of Great Plains
Dynamics: programming shell, DB independence layer, Integrated Development
Environment (EDI) - however this design was performed back in earlier 1990th, so you
may imagine that software customization, development and programming goals, pitfalls
and priorities shifted. In this small article we will try to orient you in how you
should consider your current Microsoft Dexterity modification upgrade, what are dex
pluses and minuses from contemporary programmer standpoint:
. OOP or object oriented programming. If you look back to programming concept
developing in 1980th and earlier 1990th - you will find that those days procedural
programming as prevailing and object oriented programming was already invented but
not yet implemented into "mass production". Dexterity is rather procedural
scripting language, which was written in C programming language in its turn. Later
on in late 1990th GPS tried to switch dex to OOP, when Great Plains decided to
develop from scratch its own Purchase Order module (and not to purchase and
incorporate Intellisol Advanced Purchase Order Processing/Project Accounting),
however it was rather too complicated and later on the idea lost its support
. Dexterity vs eConnect programming balancing. eConnect has certain level of OOP,
however it has to deal with Dexterity restrictions on the database level (dex
primary keys, DEX_ROW_ID columns, etc). eConnect also lacks posting functionality -
and this is understandable - GP design leaves batches posting to be in GP operator
hands
. Extender from eOne. This is another nice module, where you can abstract yourself
from dex and at the same time introduce new functionality in GP. However if you
plan to bring "life" to your new custom screens - you should consider doing so via
Dex sanscripts, attached to your Extender project. In other words - you are back in
the realm of Dexterity - either you use Dex IDE or Extender - the programming duty
is still there
. Integration. In our opinion dex is slowly abandoning the scene of GP
integrations, leaving the way to eConnect and earlier it was giving it up to pure
SQL stored procedures
. Reporting. Great Plains ReportWriter is pure dex application and it has real
problems to provide flexibility to GP reporting. This is why we see the help from
Crystal Reports (was recommended up to GP version 8.0) and later on MS SQL Server
Reporting Services


Web Site = http://www.albaspectrum.com

Contact Details = Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum Group. http://www.albaspectrum.com
help@albaspectrum.com 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, serving MS Dynamics GP
customers locally in Houston: Richmond, Rosenberg, Dallas, Katy, Sugar Land,
Galveston; Chicago: Naperville, Aurora, Morris, Glen Ellyn, Winchester, Oak Park,
Lyons, Alsip, Lemont, Seneca, Ottawa, Joliet, Plainfield, Romeoville, Barrington,
Crystal Lake, Rockford, DeKalb, Wheaton, Lisle, Downers Grove, Batavia, St. Charles,
Norway. Dex customizations USA/Canada nationwide support is available via remote
support/connection: California, Minnesota, Florida, New York, Virginia, Oregon,
Arizona, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Mexico.