Five Steps to Identifying Dynamics GP Tables from Window Fields for SSRS Reports

Microsoft Dynamics GP has a great field, table, and window repository at the user’s finger tips. What the application does not do so easily is connect the dots between the window, the table, and the field.  So how does a user figure out how to create a report from scratch with data from a GP window?  Here are the steps I go through, with an example window I have never seen before.  I opened this window from the Cards menu.

Step One: Find the Window, Product, and Field Name

1. Open the window.
2. From the File Menu Choose, Tools – Macro – Record
3. Supply a file name. (I usually place the file on my desktop, then start the recording.)
4. To identify the field, just move your focus to the field.  The information is then recorded.
5. Now Stop the macro and edit the macro file with Notepad.  Even though the file is a .MAC file it is also a text file so Notepad can read it just fine.
6. I will look to three things: the dictionary, form, and field.  Below is what I found out:
   1. Product Name = HRM Solution Series
   2. Form Name = APR_UPR_Trx_Split_Setup
   3. Field = Job Tile.

Step Two: Obtain a List of Tables

1. With the Project Name and Form Name, we can now find the table.   Using the File Menu go to Tools – Resources Descriptions – Windows.
2. Set the Product = the Project Name
3. Set the View By = by Form Name. 
4. Now flip through each series until you find the Form you are looking for.  The name should be on the right under “Form”.  A Form in GP is a group of windows.
5. The form I was looking for actually has two windows.   One of those windows is a scrolling window with no display name, and the other one has the same display name as my original window from step one so that is the one I am looking for. (See "#5 Window Descriptions" image below.)
6. By expanding the scrolling window I can see the “Auto-Linked Table”.  This is typically the table I am looking for, but not always, because the Auto-Linked Table is not required for the programmer.   If there is no Auto-Linked Table, then I will have to use the “Tables” list on the bottom right.
7. Printing does not really help here, so if I have to work through a list of tables I will keep the window open and just review the tables one at a time.
8. My best guess for this table name is APR_UPR_MSTR_Split_Setup.  That’s because Technical names typically have the following characters in their name which do mean something to the programmer and me:
   • TEMP tables are usually memory tables that I can’t access via special reports.
   • MSTR tables are usually tables I get of the Cards menu path.
   • SETP tables are usually tables I get of the Setup menu path.
   • WORK tables are usually tables I get off the Transactions menu path.
   • OPEN and HIST tables are usually posted information.

 Visit the Avastone Technologies website to view steps 3-5!

For more information on how you can identify Dynamics GP Tables from Windows fields, contact Avastone Technologies at (920) 687-4797, or dynamicsinfo@avastonetech.com

By Shane LaBarge, CPA, MBS, MSIS, Dynamics GP Consultant, Avastone Technologies LLC, Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner – Fox Cities and Milwaukee WI