Microsoft Dynamics AX

Microsoft Dynamics AX was one of Microsoft's enterprise resource planning software products. It is part of the Microsoft Dynamics family. In 2018, its thick-client interface was removed and the web product was rebranded as Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations as a part of Microsoft's Dynamics 365 suite.
History.
Microsoft Dynamics AX was originally developed as a collaboration between IBM and Danish Damgaard Data as IBM Axapta. Axapta was initially released in March 1998 in the Danish and U.S. markets. IBM returned all rights in the product to Damgaard Data shortly after the release of Version 1.5. Damgaard Data merged with Navision Software A/S in 2000 to form NavisionDamgaard, later named Navision A/S. Microsoft acquired the combined company in July 2002.
In September 2011, Microsoft released version AX 2012. It was made available and supported in more than 30 countries and 25 languages. Dynamics AX is used in over 20,000 organizations of all sizes, worldwide.
The newest version, released in February 2016, dropped the nomenclature of year and version and was simply called AX, although was widely known as AX7. This update was a major revision with a completely new UI delivered through a browser-based HTML5 client, and initially only available as a cloud-hosted application. This version lasted only a few months, though, as Dynamics AX was rebranded Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations in October 2016, and once more as Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations in July 2017. An additional version is available focusing on Retail branded as Dynamics 365 for Retail. This has a slightly different licensing price than Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations.
Development centers.
MDCC or Microsoft Development Center Copenhagen was once the primary development center for Dynamics AX. MDCC is now located in Kongens Lyngby and also houses Microsoft Dynamics NAV and several other Microsoft Dynamics family products. Microsoft Denmark is also found in the same building. Microsoft employs about 900 people of around 40 different nationalities in Denmark. In addition to MDCC, Microsoft carries out AX development in Bellevue, Washington, Fargo, North Dakota, USA; Moscow, Russia; Shanghai, China; and Pakistan.
Features (modules).
Microsoft Dynamics AX contains 19 core modules:
Traditional core (since Axapta 2.5).
AX 2012 R3
Extended core.
The following modules are part of the core of AX 2009 (AX 5.0) and available on a per-license basis in AX 4.0:
External components.
Several external components are also available:
Architecture.
The Microsoft Dynamics AX software comprises four major components:
MorphX and X++.
Custom AX development and modification is done with its own IDE, MorphX, which resides in the same client application that a normal day-to-day user would access, thus allowing development to take place on any instance of the client. Since the Dynamics AX 2012 version, development can also be performed in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 through a Visual Studio plugin.
MorphX is an integrated development environment in Microsoft Dynamics AX that developers use to graphically design data types, base enumerations, tables, queries, forms, menus and reports. In addition to application object future versions of AX, it provides access to application code by launching the X++ code editor.
MorphX uses referencing to link objects, so changes in—for example—datatypes of field names automatically updates everyplace that uses those field names (such as forms or reports). Furthermore, changes made through MorphX show in the application immediately after compilation.
Microsoft Dynamics AX also offers support for version control systems (VCS) integrated with the IDE, which facilitates development collaboration. Another tool converts table structures and class structures to Visio diagrams. Actual implementation limits the practical use of both these features.
X++ itself is the programming language behind MorphX, and belongs to the curly brackets and .-operator class of programming languages (like C# or Java). It is an object-oriented, class-based, single dispatch language. X++ is derived from C++ (both lack the "finally" keyword for example) with added garbage collection and language-integrated SQL queries.
Code samples.
X++ integrates SQL queries into standard Java-style code. The following three examples produce the same result, though the first has generally better performance. Samples 2 and 3 hint at an object-like behavior from table buffers.
Sample #1
/// <summary>
/// This job is used as an X++ sample
/// </summary>
public static void xppTest1(Args _args)
 UserInfo userInfo;
 ttsBegin;
 update_recordset userInfo
 setting enable = NoYes::No
 where userInfo.id != 'Admin'
 && userInfo.enable;
 ttsCommit;
Sample #2
/// <summary>
/// This job is used as an X++ sample
/// </summary>
public static void xppTest2(Args _args)
 UserInfo userInfo;
 ttsBegin;
 while select forupdate userInfo
 where userInfo.id != 'Admin'
 && userInfo.enable
 userInfo.enable = NoYes::No;
 userInfo.update();
 ttsCommit;
Sample #3
/// <summary>
/// This job is used as an X++ sample
/// </summary>
public static void xppTest3(Args _args)
 UserInfo userInfo;
 ttsBegin;
 select forupdate userInfo
 where userInfo.id != 'Admin'
 && userInfo.enable;
 while (userInfo)
 userInfo.enable = NoYes::No;
 userInfo.update();
 next userInfo;
 ttsCommit;
Future.
On its Partner Source web site, Microsoft publishes a "Statement of Direction" for Dynamics AX that describes future development plans. It states that future versions of AX will include increased vertical market functionality, cloud computing, and HTML 5.
In reality however Microsoft will be discontinuing what is known as AX. There will not be an option of upgrading as seen between Axapta 2.5 -> 3.0 or from AX2009 -> AX2012 since the new Microsoft Dynamics 365 is based on a completely changed setup in every way possible.
Presence on the Internet.
One of the most notable sources of information about Axapta (prior to the Microsoft purchase) was technet.navision.com, a proprietary web-based newsgroup, which grew to a considerable number of members and posts before the Microsoft purchase in 2002.
After Microsoft incorporated Axapta into their Business Solution suite, they transferred the newsgroup's content to the Microsoft Business Solutions newsgroup. The oldest Axapta Technet post that can be found today dates to August 2000. During the Axapta 3.0 era, this newsgroup in conjunction with secured official Microsoft websites (Partnersource for Microsoft Partners and Axapta resellers and Customersource for licensed Axapta customers) accounted for most of the official documentation sources on Axapta. During this time, freely accessible documentation remained scarce. Following Microsoft's release of Dynamics AX 4.0, Axapta's presence on the World Wide Web greatly improved through heightened interest from professional blogs as well as a continually improving presence on MSDN. Though MSDN contained mostly placeholders immediately following the release, it now contains more detailed information—from a complete SDK, to white papers and code samples.
Community.
The AX community consists primarily of employees of Dynamics Partners, end-users, and MS MVPs (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional).
There are number of organizations dedicated to augmenting information provided by Microsoft.
Additionally, Microsoft hosts a forum for the extended community at https://community.dynamics.com/.
Events.
AXUG Summit
"AXUG Summit" is held each fall and is an independent, user-led conference.
Extreme Conferences
extreme365 is a conference for the Dynamics 365 Partner Community which now includes Dynamics AX, featuring an Executive Forum.
Personalization and predictive analytics.
At the National Retail Federation (NRF) Conference 2016 in New York, Microsoft unveiled its partnership with Infinite Analytics, a Cambridge-based predictive analytics and personalization company.