Doens.be

In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, a new X++ Editor is introduced which replaces the current legacy editor. The new X++ Editor is based on hosting a Visual Studio 2010 Editor Framework control.

Here are a few Tips & Tricks:

• Type ‘main’ + TAB: The editor generates a standard Main-method.
  Note: This trick works with all templates (right-click –> Add-in –> Template)
• Type ‘///’ on the top of a method. When you do so you get the standard header for generating XML-documentation.
• While the intellicense drop-down is shown press CTRL. The drop-down dialog becomes transparent.
• CTRL + ‘c’ at the begin of the line will copy the whole line.
• CTRL + ‘i’ and start typing the word that you want to find. If you want the next, just type CTRL + ‘i’ again.
• CTRL + scroll up/down to zoom in and out to the code.
• Make a link to AX32.exe -development to go directly to the development-mode.

You can find more on chanel 9

Did you know that you can build/modify classes from code? It is actually not so hard, just use the ClassBuild-class.

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static void JeDoe_testClassBuild(Args _args)
{
    ClassBuild  classBuild;
    ClassNode   classNode;
    Str         myCode;
    ;
    myCode =
@"
static void Main(Args _args)
{
    ;
    info('Hello World!');
}
";
 
    classBuild = new ClassBuild("MyTest", false);
    classBuild.addMethod("Main", myCode);
 
    classNode = classBuild.classNode();
    classNode.AOTcompile();
    classNode.AOTrun();
}

The sample above will create a new class MyTest with a ‘Hello World’ Main-method and will actually save compile/save the code in the AOT and then run it. Cool?

Note: The SysDictClass/SysDictMethod-class can also help you creating proper classes and methods. Maybe I’ll blog about this later.

Underneed you find the list of shortcuts I use most in Microsoft Dynamics Ax while developing.

• General (shortcuts I also use outside AX)
  • CTRL + S : Save.
  • CTRL + C : Copy text to clipboard.
  • CTRL + X : Cut text to clipboard.
  • CTRL + V : Past text from clipboard.
  • CTRL + A : Select all.
  • CTRL + LEFT / RIGHT ARROW : Next/Previous word.
  • CTRL + SHIFT + LEFT / RIGHT ARROW : Select one word to the left/right.
  • CTRL + HOME / END : Go to begin/end of the editor.
  • SHIFT + HOME / END : Select text from the cursor to the start/end.
  • SHIFT + PAGE-UP / PAGE-DOWN : Select the previous/next page. of the line.
  • TAB / SHIFT + TAB : Indent Selection / Remove Indent Selection.
  • CTRL + BACKSPACE : Remove previous word.
  • CTRL + F : Find.
  • F3 : Find Next.
  • CTRL + Z / Y : Undo / Redo.
  • CTRL (+ SHIFT) + TAB : Next/Previous tab-page.
• Ax specific
  • Current Line in the Code Editor
    • ALT + L : Select current line.
    • CTRL + L : Remove current line.
  • Breakpoints
    • F9 : Insert / Remove breakpoint.
    • SHIFT + F9 : Show all breakpoints.
    • CTRL +F9 : Enable / Disable breakpoint.
    • CTRL + SHIFT + F9 : Remove all breakpoints.
  • Compile / Run
    • F5 : run / execute current Job / Class / Form
    • CTRL + BREAK : Stop execution.
  • Lookup / More Info
    • CTRL + ALT + SPACE : Lookup label.
    • CTRL + SHIFT + SPACE : Lookup definition (go to the method).
    • CTRL + SPACE : Show syntax information.

And there are more shortcuts. You can find them on MSDN.