adding twitter account information to dynamics ax contacts walkthrough

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© 2013 Murray Fife. All rights reserved. Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts Dynamics AX allows you to track the traditional contact details such as phone, fax, url, and email, but what if you want to also track social media accounts like Twitter. Although you could reuse one of the existing electronic contact types, it would be much better if you could have a dedicated contact type just for Twitter so that you can segregate out the data for reporting and analysis. In this worked example I will show you how you can easily add a new contact type to Dynamics AX for Twitter, and also any other Social Media type that you may want to track. Adding a New Contact Type for Twitter Adding a new contact type to Dynamics AX is not hard. You just need to know where to look. In this example I will show how you can find where the contact types are defined, and also add a new contact type for Twitter. HOW TO DO IT... To add a new Contact Type for Twitter, follow these steps: 1. The easiest way to find where the contact types are defined is to right mouse click on the Type field in the Contact Information tab of the Contacts form, and select the Personalize option

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Page 1: Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts Walkthrough

© 2013 Murray Fife. All rights reserved.

Adding Twitter

Account Information to

Dynamics AX Contacts Dynamics AX allows you to track the traditional contact details such as phone, fax, url, and email, but

what if you want to also track social media accounts like Twitter. Although you could reuse one of the

existing electronic contact types, it would be much better if you could have a dedicated contact type just

for Twitter so that you can segregate out the data for reporting and analysis.

In this worked example I will show you how you can easily add a new contact type to Dynamics AX for

Twitter, and also any other Social Media type that you may want to track.

Adding a New Contact Type for Twitter

Adding a new contact type to Dynamics AX is not hard. You just need to know where to look.

In this example I will show how you can find where the contact types are defined, and also add a new

contact type for Twitter.

HOW TO DO IT...

To add a new Contact Type for Twitter, follow these steps:

1. The easiest way to find where the contact types are defined is to right mouse click on the Type

field in the Contact Information tab of the Contacts form, and select the Personalize option

Page 2: Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts Walkthrough

Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts

© 2013 Murray Fife. All rights reserved.

from the context menu.

2. When the Personalization form is displayed, look in the System name field box, and you will be

able to see the table and field that is being used within the form.

In this case it is LogisticsElectronicAddressType.

3. If you open up AOT (Ctrl-D) and navigate to the field then you will see that the field is based on a

LogisticElectronicAddressModeType enumeration type. So we need to look somewhere else for

Page 3: Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts Walkthrough

Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts

© 2013 Murray Fife. All rights reserved.

the base definition.

4. When we look in the Base Enums group within AOT, then we will be able to find the

enumeration, and expanding it out, we can see that it contains all of the traditional contact

types.

5. Now that we know what to update, we should create a new project as a container for our

changes. To do this, select the Project option from the View menu.

6. When the Projects explorer is displayed, right mouse click on the Private folder group, and

select New and then Project to create a new project.

Page 4: Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts Walkthrough

Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts

© 2013 Murray Fife. All rights reserved.

7. Then give your project an appropriate name.

8. If you double click on the new project it will open in its own window, and then you can tile the

AOT explorer and the Project so that you can see them side-by-side.

9. Drag the LogisticElectronicAddressMethodType enumeration type from the AOT window over

to your new project so that we are able to modify the details at the project level.

10. To add a new Contact Type, right mouse click on the LogisticElectronicAddressMethodType

enumeration type and select the New Element option from the context menu.

Page 5: Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts Walkthrough

Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts

© 2013 Murray Fife. All rights reserved.

11. This will create a new enumeration. All you need to do is give it a better name and label.

12. Once you have made the change, select the Save All button from the menu bar to make the

change to Dynamics AX.

HOW IT WORKS...

Now, when you open up the Contacts form, you will be able to select a type of Twitter.

And now we can track all of the Twitter accounts against the contact details.

Adding More Social Media Contact Types

There is more to the social media world though than Twitter. What if you wanted to track other social

media details.

In this example I will show how you can further extend the contact types to include more social media

sources.

HOW TO DO IT...

To add more social media contact types, follow these steps:

Page 6: Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts Walkthrough

Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts

© 2013 Murray Fife. All rights reserved.

1. All you need to do to add the other major social media sources as Contact Types is add them

into your existing project and click the Save button.

HOW IT WORKS...

Now we have a lot of contact types available.

And we can capture all of the Social Media contact information directly within Dynamics AX.

Page 7: Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts Walkthrough

Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts

© 2013 Murray Fife. All rights reserved.

Summary

By capturing all of the social media contact information, and segregating the types out through the new

contact types, you start to open up the system to more features.

If you wanted to try extending out further, you could try:

• Creating dynamic fact boxes for contacts that show current social media feeds and activities

• Extend communication to social media in addition to the standard email options

• Analyze the contact activity by cross referencing with Power Query, and charting it with Power

View

The options are endless.

Page 8: Adding Twitter Account Information to Dynamics AX Contacts Walkthrough

About Me I am a Microsoft Dynamics AX MVP, a

Presenter, an Author, and Solution

Architect at I.B.I.S. Inc with over 18 years

of experience in the software industry.

Like most people I have paid my dues as a

developer, as an implementation

consultant, and a trainer. I have a hard to

find blend of technical and interpersonal skills and now spend my

days working with companies solving their problems with the

Microsoft suite of products, specializing in the Dynamics® AX

solutions.

Unable to completely kick the habit of being a developer,

countless prototypes have started their life on my desktop, only

to be turned into standard products and offerings. The projects

that are too visionary (a.k.a. too out there) usually live on through

my personal blog site (A Tinkerers Notebook -

http://www.atinterersnotebook.com) or my SlideShare account

(http://www.slideshare.net/murrayfife/presentations) waiting for

others discover them.

EMAIL: [email protected]

PHONE: +1 (770) 324-3862

TWITTER: @murrayfife

BLOG: http://atinkerersnotebook.com/

SLIDESHARE: http://slideshare.net/murrayfife/presentations

LINKEDIN: http://www.linkedin.com/in/murrayfife

© 2013 Murray Fife. All rights reserved.

The information herein is for informational purposes only and

represents the current view of Murray Fife as of the date of this

presentation. Because Murray Fife must respond to changing

market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a

commitment on the part of Junction Solutions, and Murray Fife

cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after

the date of this presentation.

MURRAY FIFE MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR

STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.