andy.nifongBloghttp://www.andynifong.com/blog/2011-11-02T12:00:11ZSquarespaceBusiness Portal Query Error – Cannot find table 0http://www.andynifong.com/blog/2011/11/2/business-portal-query-error-cannot-find-table-0.htmlAndy2011-11-02T12:00:11Z2011-11-02T12:00:11ZOne of my users ran into this message this past week while using the Accounts page in the Financial Center of Business Portal 4.0.  When selecting a certain account in the Account List web part, the Account Balance pane showed no results, with the message “Query error” at the bottom of the window.  Click on the “Query error” and then Details gives the following message:

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 The error only occurs on one account, only appears in the Account Balance web part, however you have to refresh the entire page before the various web part will function again.  Since it was only happening for the one account, I decided it had to be data-related, and began poking around in the various GL tables in this company’s database.  Since the only web part that returned an error was the Account Balance web part, I started with the Account Current Summary Master table, GL10110, and quickly found what I was looking for when I looked at all records for the problem account.   There was one record where the Year1 field was 0, and the PeriodID was also 0, and the amounts were zero, so the record was clearly invalid.  I found a similar record for another account and tested that account in the portal and got the same error.  I backed up the GL10100 table and removed the records in question, and the error went away. 

]]>You cannot open Microsoft Dynamics GP now because another user is entering Multicurrency access information.http://www.andynifong.com/blog/2011/10/28/you-cannot-open-microsoft-dynamics-gp-now-because-another-us.htmlAndy2011-10-28T11:00:21Z2011-10-28T11:00:21ZOther than having to define a functional currency to use econnect, I've never had the need to work with multiple currencies in GP until yesterday.  A colleague and I had defined the Singapore dollar and were in the process of granting the company access to the currency and to the exchange tables, when GP appeared to hang, giving the infamous "Not Responding" status.  We closed GP and attempted to get back in, however we were greeted with the message below:

 

I'd never bumped into this message before and my Google searches didn't seem to be bringing up anything very promising.  We removed our login from the ACTIVITY table, but still got the message.  We checked the usual suspects - SY00500, SY00800, SY00801, but still no luck.  We had 25 other users in the system and getting them all out wasn't an option, so we hadn't cleared the ACTIVITY, SY00800, SY00801 tables.  After sweating a bit, as users were unable to login to any company in GP, I found the line I was looking for in the ACTIVITY table:

We deleted the record where the USERID field was MC Access Setup, and users were able to login to GP again.  

 

]]>New Seasonhttp://www.andynifong.com/blog/2011/10/10/new-season.htmlAndy2011-10-11T00:47:17Z2011-10-11T00:47:17ZAfter 11 years, I've decided that it's time for me to move on from my position at my current employer and try something else. I'll be taking a position with a GP end-user, meaning instead of 100 different customers, I'll have 1 big customer, something I've often thought would be great to get a chance to do.  To really get to know the details of the entire implementation, optimize it, and make it my own has great appeal to me at this stage in my career.  I'll definitely miss the relationships I've built with the many customers I've had the opportunity to work with, but as everyone told me, "You'll know when it's time", and it's definitely time for me to go.  

I'm extremely grateful to have become a member of this awesome Dynamics GP community, and glad that I have had a chance to contribute.  Once things have settled down I hope to get back making regular posts on SQL and Dynamics GP, though things may take a turn toward more personal content, tech and gadget-related content, at least for a while.  Thanks to all for the support and encouragement.

 

 

 

]]>Twinshttp://www.andynifong.com/blog/2011/8/11/twins.htmlAndy2011-08-11T01:50:43Z2011-08-11T01:50:43Z

Had to post this pic my daughter grabbed tonight of twin fawns in our front yard. Amazingly they stood and browsed while she went out the door into the yard and took pictures. Finally some passing vehicles startled them and off they went. Love living out here in the boonies!

]]>Fair time!http://www.andynifong.com/blog/2011/7/9/fair-time.htmlAndy2011-07-09T11:52:38Z2011-07-09T11:52:38Z

Our county fair started yesterday - this is my view for the next week.

]]>Using SmartList Builder With A Linked Serverhttp://www.andynifong.com/blog/2011/7/6/using-smartlist-builder-with-a-linked-server.htmlAndy2011-07-06T14:17:09Z2011-07-06T14:17:09ZAaron Berquist comes through with a solution to a problem my team has run into several times before, which is including data from a linked SQL Server in a view for Smartlist Builder.  Check it out here.  

]]>Troubleshooting 101http://www.andynifong.com/blog/2011/5/16/troubleshooting-101.htmlAndy2011-05-16T19:41:36Z2011-05-16T19:41:36ZMike Walsh over at StraightPath Consulting has a nice post up on how to troubleshoot problems, whether with software or hardware.  The hardware in this case being a pickup truck, but the same methodology applies. 

]]>Excellent SQL Server Backup and Maintenance Solutionhttp://www.andynifong.com/blog/2011/1/24/excellent-sql-server-backup-and-maintenance-solution.htmlAndy2011-01-25T00:01:42Z2011-01-25T00:01:42ZOne of the first things I have to do after I’ve installed Dynamics GP and created the DYNAMICS, TWO and company databases, is setup jobs to backup and optimize those databases.  The best method I’ve found to do that is a free solution developed by Ola Hallengren that can be found here.  This solution received the 2010 Editor’s Choice Bronze Award for best Free SQL Tool, while the SQL Server Community gave it the Gold.  After a previous write-up of this solution Ola contacted me directly asking for my feedback, and he has been in touch several times since – he clearly cares about his solution and makes regular improvements as SQL Server features are added or changed. 

The solution can be installed by downloading and running a single sql script – direct link here.  Upon opening the script in SQL Management Studio, I typically make two changes.  First I change the value of the @BackupDirectory parameter, highlighted below, to point to the location I want the backups stored.  The backup job will create a folder with the server name in this folder, with folders for each database below that, followed by folders for each of the backup types – full, differential, and log.

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The second change I make is that I like to keep 3 days worth of backups on disk if possible, and the scripts defaults to cleaning up backups older than 24 hours, so I like to change that to 72 hours.  This can certainly be done afterwards by editing the job step but I like to do it up front.  I usually do a quick find and replace operation on “24, ” replacing with 72. 

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After the replace is completed, I run the script and the highlighted jobs below are created.  From there I open each job, set the desired schedule for each one, and I’m done.

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I use this script because I want consistently configured backup and database maintenance jobs on all of the SQL Servers I manage for my customers.  It takes 10-15 minutes to configure and I love that it’s smart enough to not throw an error on the whole transaction log job if someone creates a new company and the recovery is still set to Simple – it skips that database and moves on to the next one.  It is also much smarter then the SQL Server Maintenance Plans about whether it rebuilds or reorganizes the databases indexes.  Visit Ola’s site, http://ola.hallengren.com to read more about the solution or view the documentation.   

]]>Keep Investing in Yourselfhttp://www.andynifong.com/blog/2011/1/18/keep-investing-in-yourself.htmlAndy2011-01-18T16:36:08Z2011-01-18T16:36:08ZI just signed up for SQL Saturday #67 in Chicago!  SQL Saturday is a free one-day training event that is put on in cities around the country.  There may be a small charge for lunch – $7 in my case.  I’m completely comfortable with basic administration of SQL Server but I want to learn more about the internals and be able to quickly resolve weird performance issues.  I’m not expecting to get too deep into those topics in one day of free training but I do hope to network with some real SQL pros and get pointed in the right direction. 

Unfortunately not all of us work for companies that see the value of investing in their employees, so a fat training budget or professional development plan are not in the cards.  I’m left to pay for my training out of my earnings, so Convergence every year isn’t an option.  I genuinely enjoy my work, my customers, and most of the people I work with, so I want keep improving my skill set, which requires investing in myself.  There are a lot of good free and low cost options for Dynamics GP as well – free virtual conferences at MSDynamicsWorld.com, online training at Partnersource and Customersource, as well as two great books from Mark Polino and Victoria Yudin. 

So to all the GP admins out there, I encourage you to check out the SQL Saturday events in your area at the SQL Saturday page here.  It’s an excellent option for “sharpening your axe” – and if your employer won’t support you, don’t let that stop you.  You may find that demonstrating your commitment to learning and improving will change that in the future.  In addition to SQL Saturday check out 24 Hours of PASS at http://www.sqlpass.org/24hours/Spring2011/.

]]>New blog hosthttp://www.andynifong.com/blog/2011/1/14/new-blog-host.htmlAndy2011-01-15T04:18:16Z2011-01-15T04:18:16ZAfter too much fiddling with Wordpress, I decided to move the blog over to Squarespace.com, as I found their service to be powerful and yet simple to configure.  I think I've got everything moved over, now I just need to resume posting!

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