The AX2012 R3 version of DIXF has introduced automation for file based integrations. It is now possible to configure a periodic processing to monitor a directory for incoming files and to import them into the DIXF staging tables. Furthermore, the ‘Execute Target Step’ setting on the definition group execution, allows the source-to-staging process to also execute the staging-to-target logic. This turns DIXF into a rounded solution, which supports full end-to-end source to target scenarios out of the box. Add to all this the excellent staging and tracking capabilities, and this turns DIXF into an excellent candidate for integrations, rivaling in many respects the AIF framework.
The automation functionality described above had to be custom coded in the previous versions of AX – see the following blog for example.
What is still missing from this version of DIXF, however, is the automation capabilities for other sources, such as ODBC. That is, if you’re reading the source data from SQL, for example, you’re still unable to execute the import steps in a Periodic batch job.
If you do need to implement such automation, have a look at the following script for inspiration.
static void DIXF_Automation_ODBC(Args _args)
{
DMFDefinitionGroupEntity entity = DMFDefinitionGroupEntity::find(‘<Processing Group>’, ‘<Entity>’);
DMFStagingWriterContract contract = new DMFStagingWriterContract();
DMFStagingWriterService service;
contract.parmExecutionID(‘wolftek1’); //todo: get from num seq
contract.parmDefinationGroupName(Entity.DefinitionGroup);
contract.parmEntityNameList(Entity.Entity);
contract.parmFilePath(entity.QueryForODBC);
contract.parmRunInBatch(true);
contract.parmExecuteTargetStep(true);
service = new DMFStagingWriterService();
service.executeService(contract);
}
