Figure 18-7. The Project Filter form in Font

Generation EAN / UCC - 13 in Font Figure 18-7. The Project Filter form

Note When you open the Inquiry form, it will not match what you see in Figure 18-7. Select the Field column

in a row that has no value, select an option from the provided drop-down list, and then use the criteria to enter or select a value for the field. You can also change the Table field and add more rows as with any normal grid by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+N.

The rest of the project window is an object tree that resembles the AOT, with the difference being that you can create and place any object that you want in the root. While we regularly see objects like forms and reports being placed directly in the root of project folders, and there is nothing technically wrong with this, it s a good practice to follow the same pattern as in the AOT: create the appropriate object groups in the root and then place the objects that you want in the respective groups. The results should resemble the example shown in Figure 18-8 of our Experiment project.

Note When you create new objects, Axapta puts them at the top of the tree in the node where you create

them, and if you want to preserve the same order as in the AOT, start with the last group first. Alternatively, you can move them about afterwards by dragging them with the mouse this is not a straightforward thing, but we will leave it up to you as an exercise.

All nodes in a project have a corresponding pop-up menu. For the most part, the options are self-explanatory, but here are the ones that are less intuitive: New: Creates an object definition or a group. Object definitions are also created in the AOT, as the project only has a reference, and we recommend that you create groups of the different object types and then create objects of the corresponding type. Find: Evokes the Find utility that you can use to search for objects that match a given criteria. Delete: Deletes the object definition from the AOT, so as a precaution it always displays a dialog box to ask you to confirm that is what you want, or whether you just want to remove the object from the project. Contrast this to the Remove menu option given next. Remove: Removes the reference of the selected object from the project. Lock and Unlock: Locks and unlocks objects, respectively, in the selected node and all subnodes. It s a good idea to use these when you need to change an object to prevent developers from overwriting each others customizations. Locked objects have their icon overlaid with a lock on the lower-right corner and can t be changed by other users.

Note While groups are created in a project with an undefined type, and you can put whatever objects you

want in them, it s a good idea to go to the Properties window for the project use the pop-up menu or the keyboard shortcut Alt+Enter, set the ProjectGroupType property to one of the defined types, and name your groups accordingly.

Note When locking, you should lock only the object you really need; don t select the project node and

Oddly missing is an evident way of placing existing object definitions in your projects when you need to change existing ones as opposed to creating new ones. Fortunately, this is very simple and is one of those few things in Axapta that can only be done in one way. You select the objects you want in the AOT, drag them over to the project window, and drop them in the appropriate group. Note that when you drag an object from the AOT to the project tool, you do not chage anything in the AOT, you simply create a reference to it in your project. In this discussion of the Project tool, we have gone on about the AOT, so it s about time we gave you a closer look at it.