The Support Debugging Tool is a Dexterity built application which contains a collection of utilities and tools to make the task of supporting, developing and debugging Microsoft Dynamics GP easier and faster.
Examples of use
The Support Debugging Tool can be used for many purposes. Some examples of these are listed below:
- It can help you identify the specific series of events which lead up to an issue or bug in the code occurring.
- It can be used to quickly and simply turn on all logging and profiling capabilities without restarting the application. This can be useful when looking at performance problems.
- It can be used to find details about dictionary resources.
- It can be used to identify resources (forms, reports and tables) causing security access issues.
- It can be used to enable and disable third party products or change the order of the products in the launch file.
- It can be used to export data from and import to any table.
- It can be used to run SQL or Dexterity scripts without needing Dexterity or SQL Administration Tools installed.
- It can be used to capture and email or save screenshots of all open windows and a system status report.
- It can be used to send email to the system administrator, even on systems without a locally installed Outlook client.
- It can assist in resolving issues with reports using Report Writer (RW) user defined functions.
What can it do for me?
The tool currently contains the following Standard Mode features (that do not require system administrator or database owner (dbo) privileges):
- Manual Logging Mode
Turn on SQL logging, Dexterity script logging, and Dexterity script profiling with a single mouse click without needing to edit the dex.ini file or exit the application. Start logging just before an error or performance problem and stop logging immediately afterwards. - Individual Logging Mode
Control SQL logging, Dexterity script logging, and Dexterity script profiling individually. - Dex.ini Settings
Provides an user interface to a number of Debugging Tool, application and debugging related dex.ini file settings. - Resource Information
Identifies display names, technical names, physical names and resource IDs for dictionary resources (forms, windows, reports, tables and fields) from any one known value. Great for entering obscure SQL column names (physical names) and getting the field's technical name. - Security Profiler
Monitors all application level security requests. This is a great tool for identifying the cause of privilege errors caused by hidden windows. - Configuration Export/Import
Allows Support Debugging Tool settings to be exported and imported using XML files. You can create settings on your system and send them to the customer to use.
The tool currently contains the following Advanced Mode features (that do require system administrator or database owner (dbo) privileges. Dexterity and SQL skills are also necessary):
- Automatic Debugger Mode
This is the mode where you can create a Dexterity trigger to execute off almost any event. It can then run a sanScript script (which can include SQL queries) to check for some sort of error condition. While this mode is active, the system will be logging all Dexterity and SQL activity and so when the error condition occurs the complete logs of the events leading up to the condition have been captured. - Dictionary Control
This window allows the application dictionaries in the system to be control without manually editing the Dynamics.set launch file. You can disable triggers and use of alternate windows and these changes can be remembered for next login. Great for "removing" 3rd party add-ons when testing. You can also re-order products in the Dynamics.set launch file to resolve potential clashes between 3rd party add-ons. - XML Table Export
You can select any number of tables from any product in the system and export them as a single XML file. This can be used to backup demo or test data, or can be used to obtain specific data from the customer without sending a backup of the entire database. - XML Table Import
You can import back any table(s) previously exported using the XML Table Export tool. - Runtime Execute
This is a Dexterity sanScript editor which can be used to execute any script in the context of any dictionary. It includes a number of helper functions to make working across dictionaries easier. Sometimes fixing data is much easier in a procedural language environment rather than a SQL query. - SQL Execute
This is a mini SQL Query Analyzer which can be used to execute almost any Transact-SQL script. It includes the ability to automatically translate Dexterity technical names for tables and fields into their physical name equivalents used by SQL. No need to install the SQL Administration tools just to run a quick query. - Configuration Maintenance
This option just allows the settings in the tool to be cleared if they are no longer needed.
NOTE: While in Standard Mode, the Automatic Debugger Mode can be active, it just cannot have any settings changed.
The tool is free and available for download from CustomerSource. You can also contact support or your assigned consultant at Collins Computing and we can assist you with installing this very useful tool.
