© 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
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
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.