Use Updategrams with Dynamics GP Data

In this article, you will create updategrams that can be executed by the CData BizTalk Adapter for Dynamics GP. You will design a schema and use it as a template for generating insert, update, and delete updategrams.

Add the Adapter for Dynamics GP to Your Project

Use the Add Adapter wizard to add the adapter to a BizTalk Server project in Visual Studio. You will use the adapter to query Dynamics GP for metadata about the table you want to modify.

1. Right-click on the project in the Solution Explorer and click Add -> Add Generated Items.
2. Select Add Adapter Metadata in the resulting dialog box.
3. In the resulting Add Adapter Wizard, select the CData BizTalk Adapter for Dynamics GP from the list view.
4. In the Port menu, leave the selection blank. Or, select a receive location or send port that has been configured to use the adapter.
5. When you click Next, the Schema Wizard is displayed.

Generate a Schema for an Updategram

Follow the steps below to create a schema in a BizTalk Server project in Visual Studio.

1. If you have not already done so, add the Dynamics GP adapter to your project.
2. On the Connection String page of the Add Adapter wizard, enter authentication credentials and other connection properties, if they were not already configured in the send port or receive location. Below is a typical connection string: CompanyId=mycompanyId;user=myuser;password=mypassword;URL= http://{servername}:{port}/Dynamics/GPService;

   To authenticate set the User and Password connection properties.

   To connect set the URL to the Web services endpoint; for example, http://{servername}:{port}/Dynamics/GPService. Additionally, set CompanyId; you can obtain this value in the company setup window: Click Tools -> Setup -> Company.

   By default, data summaries are not returned to save performance. Set LookupIds to true to return details such as line items; however, note that entities must be retrieved one at a time.

   See the "BizTalk Configuration" chapter in the help documentation for more information on the required connection properties.

3. On the Schema Information page, click Send Port in the General Options section. Select Updategram from the CommandType menu. If you are using the adapter in a solicit-response send port, disable the One-Way option.

4. On the next page, Statement Information, select the type of the updategram: Insert, Update, or Delete. Select the Table name and the columns you want to include in the schema. If you want to update or delete, the Id column is required.

   Note: When you create the updategram, you are limited to modifying the columns you include in the schema.

5. Click Next to view a summary of the schema and finish the wizard to create the schema. The resulting .xsd file is added to your project.

Generate Insert, Update, and Delete Instance Messages

After you create the updategram schema, you can use the .xsd file to generate the updategram: Right-click the .xsd file and select Generate Instance. You can also use this file as a template to manually create updategrams. Below are example generated updategram instances for inserts, updates, and deletes:

Insert

An example of INSERT is below. In this instance, there is only an after block, which specifies how the data will change.

Update

An example of UPDATE is below. In this instance, there is both a before block (how the data currently exists in the table) and an after block (how the data will change).

Delete

An example for DELETE is below. The after block will be empty to show that it is removing the item.

Processing Schemas

To use updategrams to insert, update, or delete Dynamics GP records, see the tutorial.