Creating a module in Microsoft Dynamics 365: Create the Parameters Form [Part 4]

This post is part of a series on creating a module within a Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations application. Links to the other parts are available in the first post: Creating a Module in Microsoft Dynamics 365: Laying the Foundation.

A module in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is a grouping of similar business processes and functions that allow users to conduct business. Examples include General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, and many others. Developers create new modules to group new functionality in an equivalent manner or to produce third-party solutions.

In this series, I am creating a fictitious module called Generic Application Solution (GAS). The assumption will be that the reader has an intermediate knowledge of development in Dynamics 365 as well as best practices. This post will build upon the last post by creating the form and menu item for the parameters table.

Create the Form

The parameters form is a basic form that does not have any special rules except developers do not set the Title Data Source property on the form’s Design node (it is not needed since there is one record). Logically, the data source will be the module’s parameters table. Developers use the Table of Contents pattern when laying out the user interface.

It is recommended to have a general tab for parameters that do not fit into any specific category. Another recommendation is to have a number sequences tab; a topic discussed later in this series.

Finally, to ensure that the parameter record exists when the form opens, developers need to make a call to the static find method of the parameter table.

    public void init()
    {
        GASParameters::find();

        super();
    }

Create the Menu Item

Naturally, the menu item is like other menu items. It should be a display menu item and the configuration key property needs to be the module’s configuration key. The name of this menu item goes into the FormRef property on the parameters table.

Developers will need to add this menu item to at least one security privilege for best practices. Security will be a topic covered later. As this menu item is not a part of a menu, set the menu item as the startup object for the project and click the Start button in Visual Studio. Congratulations, you have a baseline parameters form.

In the next few posts, I will be discussing number sequences.

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