Home
>
Software
>
Great Plains Dexterity History and Programming Overview

Great Plains Dexterity History and Programming Overview

As of now - Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise is transformed/renamed into Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft Business Solutions is in process of merging all its accounting applications: Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Axapta into somewhat granular: Microsoft Financials, Microsoft HR, Microsoft Distributions, Microsoft Project Accounting, etc. So the original design of Great Plains should be deemphasized. But even now - Great Plains is written on the programming language and technology, created in early 1990-th, named Great Plains Dexterity. And the graphical interface looks very user friendly and nice - these are all Dexterity forms and screens.

The original architect of Dexterity, Tim Brookins, pursued several goals, the main are these:

1. Engine, supporting graphical interface, which is computer platform independent - if you remember those days - the main competition was between Macintosh and Microsoft Windows. Mac was graphical and very popular, but Windows, backed by IBM cloning/platform openness was very dangerous competitor. The new engine was targeted to work on both: Mac and Windows. On the other hand - nobody could look at the future far enough to be sure that other competitors from both Hardware and Operating Systems sides not going to take over. This is why the graphical platform independent engine was required for the new type - Graphical accounting/ERP system: Great Plains Dynamics.

2. Database platform independence - initially Great Plains used Ctree (available for both PC and Mac) and Btrieve, later on with Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 Great Plains relatively easy introduced it as a new alternative: Dynamics C/S+ on SQL Server. Again - nobody could guarantee which DB will be a winner. Technically Dexterity could easy provide DB switch. Unfortunately - the necessity to support "cheap" databases, such as ctree forced Dexterity architect to use cursors or loops instead of providing aggregation, available on all SQL blends.

To resolve these goals, and following popular those days believe that C programming language is platform independent, C was chosen as the low level language to write dexterity itself.

This was the story, now to the practical side. You can install Dexterity from Great Plains 7.5 or 8.0 CD #2. Obviously it requires a lot of learning / training, but it allows your custom piece be seamlessly integrated with Great Plains interface.

1. Native Dexterity Cursors. Dexterity was designed as platform independent programming language and so if you want your code to be operable on all currently supported databases ? you use Dexterity ranges and loops to manipulate the records

2. Great Plains Dexterity with SQL Stored Procs Nowadays, most of Great Plains installations are moved to SQL Server ? so you can use Dexterity for custom forms drawing only and make the buttons run SQL stored procedures.

3. COM Objects calls. Beginning with version 7.0 Dexterity supports COM objects ? you register them as libraries in Dexterity. Refer the manual. This technique allows you to call such nice things as web services across the internet.

4. Dexterity Forms ? if you like VBA and are comfortable to do all the business logic in VBA ? you can use Dexterity as new forms creator/editor. This is OK ? but you have to purchase VBA/Modifier and Customization Site Enabler from MBS.

Some restrictions. Great Plains is actually integration of multiple dictionaries: DYNAMICS.DIC, ADVSECUR.DIC, EXP1493.DIC, etc. In your Dexterity customization you can deal with one dictionary ? DYNAMICS.DIC. If you need cross dictionaries customization ? consider using SQL Stored Procs for crossing dictionary borders and pulling data/making changes in the other dictionary.

Happy customizing! if you want us to do the job - give us a call!

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies ? USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, based in Chicago, California, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New York and having locations in multiple states and internationally www.albaspectrum.com, he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

www.albaspectrum.com

disinfecting cleaning services Arlington Heights ..

In The News:

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

ChatGPT data breach exposes personal info of users through partner Mixpanel. OpenAI confirms names, emails compromised in security incident.

Android rolls out Emergency Live Video for 911 calls, letting dispatchers see real-time scenes during emergencies. Great for holiday travel safety.

Malicious Chrome and Edge extensions collected browsing history, keystrokes and personal data from millions of users before Google and Microsoft removed them.

Google's new Call Reason feature lets Android users mark calls as urgent before dialing, displaying an urgent label to recipients using Phone by Google app.

Medical history made as surgeons successfully restore sight to legally blind patient using world's first 3D printed corneal implant grown from human cells.

Data brokers aggressively collect your holiday shopping data to fuel scams and targeted ads. Learn how to delete your digital profile before 2025 starts.

Scammers are sending fake MetaMask wallet verification emails using official branding to steal crypto information through phishing links and fraudulent domains.

Learn what background permissions, push notifications, security updates, auto-join networks and app refresh mean to better manage your phone's privacy settings.

Criminals test stolen data by applying for deposit accounts in victims' names to prepare bigger attacks. Learn why banks won't share fraud details.

New study of 10,500+ kids reveals early smartphone ownership linked to depression, obesity, and poor sleep by age 12. Earlier phones mean higher risks.

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

Great Plains Dexterity History and Programming Overview

Software