Resource Page for Troubleshooting Common Office Add-in Issues for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
Overview
This page is intended to provide a list of published documentation, sources of information, known issues, solutions, as well as tips and tricks for troubleshooting Office Add-ins for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
Please note that some of the following links require you to have access to CustomerSource or PartnerSource.
On this page:
- Top Downloads
- Critical Hotfixes
- Related Resources
- Supported Services
- Supported Tables
- Document Services and the Office Add-ins
- Common Service Errors
- Common Problems & Solutions
- Troubleshooting Tips
- System Requirements for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
- Hot Fixes Released for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
- Microsoft Dynamics AX Installation Guide
- New, Changed, and Deprecated Features for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
NOTE: This article may provide early information on hot fixes released by Microsoft. This means the Knowledge Base (KB) article referenced may be in the process of getting written and published and not available yet. The KB article, if available, provides more details on the issue, resolution and hot fix availability. If the Knowledge Base article is not available, you can still request the hot fix by contacting support. Please refer to the Troubleshooting Tips section below for instructions on requesting a hot fix.
Most of the critical hotfixes are included in Cumulative Updates (CU). To learn about and download CU1 through CU5, see Hot Fixes Released for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. To learn about and download CU6, see Cumulative update 6 (CU6) for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2
The following KBs can be applied separately, but it is recommended that you go to the latest rollup Hotfixes.
- KB2632761 - Office Add-ins Excel AX 2012 might fail when importing large number of lines
- KB2647075 - Excel financial dimension data source permissions
- KB2665697 - Word template - multiple data source not filtered correctly
- KB2687238 - Excel Add-in excludes fields that are arrays
- KB2721075 - Excel Add-in publishes data to wrong AOS
- KB2837425 - Opening an Excel file embedded in Word returns an error that Excel is not installed
TechNet:
Blogs:
The following services are included in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and are supported without modification in the Excel Add-in:
- BudgetTransaction
- EMSMeterReading
- EMSSubstanceFlow
- GeneralJournal
- ProductionPickingList
- ProjectHourJournals
- SysImportBusSector
- VendGroup
- VendRequestSignup
You can add services to extend the scenarios where Excel can be used to update, create, and delete business data in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. For more information about how to add services, see Services and Application Integration Framework (AIF).
Not all tables presented in the Add tables dialog box can be used with the Office Add-in for Excel. Supported tables must meet the following requirements:
- Visible identity: There must be a unique index on the table, which does not contain RecId as a component. This can be either the replacement key, or the primary index.
- Valid references: All relations in the relations collection for the table that refer to other tables by means of the RecId must be related to tables that have a replacement key specified.
Document Services and the Office Add-ins
A document service is based on a query that defines its structure. Not all query structures are supported. Services that violate these rules can be added to the Document data sources form by an administrator, but will result in errors when accessed in the Office Add-in for AX 2012. For this reason, it is important that developers and administrators test services for use with the Office Add-in prior to adding the services to AX 2012. The restrictions on queries that form the basis of document services are as follows:
- Replacement keys: The root level of the document service, also known as the parent data source, must have unique indexes other than RecId. This can be in the form of a non RecID primary index or a replacement key.
- Related replacement keys: Each field within the service, which is a RecId-based foreign key, must relate to a table that has the specified replacement key.
- Relationship direction: When a parent-child relationship exists in the underlying query that is associated with the service, only relationships originating with the child element and pointing to the parent can be used. For example, in the custCustomerService service, the custTable parent data sources holds a foreign key to the dirParty child data source. This pattern is not supported in the Excel Add-in.
- Query and service consistency: Document services are based on an underlying query, which defines the data contract that is used in the service at the time that the service is generated. The Excel Add-in uses this query definition to perform a Read operation when refreshing data in the workbook. Because of this, any overrides to the read method, or extension of the schema beyond what is in the underlying query will not be reflected in the service.
- View support: Views can be used within document services to provide a data model that is easier to read for users. However, the PrepareForXXXExtended methods must be implemented to properly handle information that is sent to the service within the views. Views can be used only as the leaf-level node in the underlying query. For instance, if there is a query Parent, child, grandchild, only the grandchild node can be a view.
These restrictions affect many services that are included with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. As a result of this, many services cannot be used with the Office Add-ins unless you make custom modifications to the underlying tables. For some of the more common services, particularly global address book services, Microsoft provides resource kits that you can use to import these structures into Microsoft Dynamics AX. Some of the common errors that might occur for requested services are listed in the following table.
Service | Error | Error Text | Explanation |
BillOfMaterials | Invalid Keys | Cannot load [AxdBillsOfMaterials]. The data source [BOMVersion] does not have a valid replacement key or a primary index other than RecId. | The root of the underlying query has no visible means of identifying the BOMVersion recordbecause RecId is the only unique index. |
CustService | Invalid Relation within the service | The relation between data source CustTable and data source DirParty contains an unsupported RecId relationship. | The parent data source custTable references the child data source dirParty. Child data sources must reference the parent for use with Excel Office Add-in. |
ExchangeRate | Invalid relation outside the service | The relation between data source CurrencyPair and data source RateType contains an unsupported RecId relationship | The field CurrencyPair is a RecId-based relation to the Rate Type external table which has no replacement key specified. |
VendTable | Invalid Relation within the service | The service [VendTableService] has surrogate foreign key expansion errors: The table [VendTable] surrogate foreign key field [Party] does not have a reference data source.
| The parent data source vendTable references child data source dirParty. Child data sources must reference the parent for use with Excel Office Add-in. |
This section lists the most common issues encountered in the Office Add-ins for Microsoft Dynamics AX and the solution recommended by the Microsoft Dynamics AX Support team.
| Issue: | Error message when inserting a table into the Excel Office Add-in component. The error is: Cannot load [tablename]. Tables must have a valid replacement key or a primary index other than RecID for using in the Office Add-ins. |
| Solution: | Modify the table to have a valid replacement key to allow the Office Add-in to function the way you want it to. |
| Issue: | Dynamics AX 2012 Office Add-ins and Office 2007 Compatibility |
| Solution: | See Dynamics AX 2012 Office Add-ins and Office 2007 |
| Issue: | Dynamics AX 2012 Excel Add-in: Timeout issues when working with a lot of data |
| Solution: | See Dynamics AX 2012 Excel Add-in: Timeout issues |
1. Ask the community of users like yourself through the Microsoft Dynamics AX Community here.
2. For Technical support questions, contact your partner. If your organization is enrolled in a support plan directly with Microsoft, you can enter a new support request to Microsoft Dynamics Technical Support from CustomerSource or PartnerSource under Support >> Submit an Online Technical Support Request.
3. You can also contact Microsoft Dynamics Technical Support by using these links for country-specific phone numbers:
Partners – Global Support Contacts (requires PartnerSource login)
Customers – Global Support Contacts (requires CustomerSource login)