Day: November 16, 2011

Do Not Use DEX_ROW_ID In Customisations Or Integrations

Ian Grieve2 minute read1 Comment

Microsoft Dynamics GPWell, after assuming it was a bad idea to rely on DEX_ROW_ID never changing, it is now officially a bad idea; David Musgrave has spoken on the Developing for Dynamics GP blog.

As David explains, DEX_ROW_ID was added when support for SQL Server was added to Microsoft Dynamics GP but is not guaranteed to always remain the same. For example, a change to the table structure during an upgrade could result in the DEX_ROW_ID changing. As it isn’t a fixed value, it should never by relied upon in customisations, integrations or custom code.

How To Rename A SQL Server

Ian Grieve2 minute read2 Comments

Microsoft SQL ServerLike some other posts recently, this one is the result of a conversation with a colleague at my new company, where I found they were unaware of something I took for granted; the ability to easily rename a comuter which has a stand alone instance of SQL Server installed.

I do this fairly often as I use quite a lot of Virtual Machines for testing different configurations, but I don’t want to have to build a new one every time, so I make copies of a base VM and rename it each time I want a new one (there is often more than one running at any one time and I want to avoid conflicts).

As well as renaming the machine inside the VM, I also rename the SQL Server to make sure it matches the name of the machine; I’ve had problems before with Microsoft Dynamics GP when I’ve not done so.

Doing this is actually very simple. Continue reading “How To Rename A SQL Server”