Month: March 2023

Reading Order: Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Series

Ian Grieve5 minute read0 comment

LiteratureThis article is part of the Reading Order series of posts where I am going to cover the reading order of some of the book series I enjoy.

This articles is on the reading order for Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series of books.

For those who don’t know, the Discworld series is a collection of novels by the late British author Sir Terry Pratchett, which are set in a fantastical world called Discworld. Discworld is a flat disc-shaped planet supported on the backs of four giant elephants, who in turn stand on the back of an enormous turtle, the Great A’Tuin, as it swims through space.

The Discworld series is a mix of satire, humour, and fantasy, and each book can be read as a standalone novel. However, as they are set in the same world, they are loosely connected with recurring characters and locations, such as the Ramtop Mountains and the city of Anhk-Morpork.

The series follows a wide variety of characters, including wizards, witches, thieves, police officers and many others, as they navigate the eccentricities of Discworld. The series is known for its witty dialogue, clever wordplay, and humorous social commentary on issues such as politics, religion, and gender.

I’ve included reading orders for the whole series as well as each of the major story arcs.

The Entire Series

  1. The Colour of Magic (1983)
  2. The Light Fantastic (1986)
  3. Equal Rites (1987)
  4. Mort (1987)
  5. Sourcery (1988)
  6. Wyrd Sisters (1988)
  7. Pyramids (1989)
  8. Guards! Guards! (1989)
  9. Fuast Eric (1990)
  10. Moving Pictures (1990)
  11. Reaper Man (1991)
  12. Witches Abroad (1991)
  13. Small Gods (1992)
  14. Lords and Ladies (1992)
  15. Men at Arms (1993)
  16. Soul Music (1994)
  17. Interesting Times (1994)
  18. Maskerade (1995)
  19. Feet of Clay (1996)
  20. Hogfather (1996)
  21. Jingo (1997)
  22. The Last Continent (1998)
  23. Carpe Jugulum (1998)
  24. The Fifth Elephant (1999)
  25. The Truth (2000)
  26. Thief of Time (2001)
  27. The Last Hero (2001)
  28. The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents
  29. Night Watch (2002)
  30. The Wee Free Men (2002)
  31. Monstrous Regiment (2003)
  32. Going Postal (2004)
  33. A Hat Full of Sky (2005)
  34. Thud! (2005)
  35. Wintersmith (2006)
  36. Making Money (2007)
  37. Unseen Academicals (2009)
  38. I Shall Wear Midnight (2010)
  39. Snuff (2011)
  40. Raising Steam (2013)
  41. The Shepherd’s Crown (2015)

ClassicPress Plugins Available From azurecurve | Development in 2023: Call-out Boxes

Ian Grieve2 minute read0 comment

ClassicPressIn this series of articles, I am going to introduce each of the plugins I have developed for ClassicPress, a hard-fork of WordPress, which was originally created to provide an alternative, yet compatible, CMS without the Gutenberg block editor.

The 6th plugin is Call-out Boxes.

Call-out Boxes
Place configurable call-out box in posts, pages or other post types.

Integrates with the Call-out Boxes plugin from azurecurve for call-out box icons.

The following parameters can be used with the 

call-out-boxes

shortcode:

  • icon
  • heading
  • width
  • margin
  • padding
  • border
  • border-radius
  • color
  • background-color

This plugin is multisite compatible; each site will need settings to be configured in the admin dashboard.

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Reading Order: Series Index

Ian Grieve1 minute read2 Comments

LiteratureWhile this blog is mainly dedicated to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, I do post on other subjects and sometimes some really “off-topic” subjects.

I’m going to start posting a few reading order lists for various book series which I enjoy; this will give me one place that I can look if I am unsure of the reading order, and I figure it might as well be articles here, in case they are of use to other people.

These posts will be intermittent, but the series index, below, will automatically update as each article is published.

Reading Order
Terry Pratchett's Discworld Series

ClassicPress Plugins Available From azurecurve | Development in 2023: Breadcrumbs

Ian Grieve2 minute read0 comment

ClassicPressIn this series of articles, I am going to introduce each of the plugins I have developed for ClassicPress, a hard-fork of WordPress, which was originally created to provide an alternative, yet compatible, CMS without the Gutenberg block editor.

The 5th plugin is Breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumbs
Allows breadcrumbs to be placed before and after the content on a post, page or other post type.

The getbreadcrumbs() function can be added to a theme template to position the breadcrumbs elsewhere on the page such as before the post heading; the [getbreadcrumbs] shortcode can also be used to place breadcrumbs.

Function usage, to avoid errors if the plugin is not active is: 

if (function_exists(azrcrv_getbreadcrumbs)){
	echo azrcrv_getbreadcrumbs('arrow');
}

Shortcode usage is [getbreadcrumbs=arrow] or [getbreadcrumbs=text] to choose between arrow and text breadcrumbs.

The plugin supports both text based and arrow breadcrumbs; styles maintainable via the admin console.

Backward compatibility for those migrating from WordPress to ClassicPress has been maintained by retaining the azc_b_getbreadcrumbs() function..

This plugin is multisite compatible; each site will need settings to be configured in the admin dashboard.

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New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1: Usability Improves for Warehouse, Inventory and Tracking Areas

Ian Grieve2 minute read0 comment

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business CentralThis post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1.

The twenty-first of the new functionality in the Application section is Usability improves for warehouse, inventory, and tracking areas.

Productivity increases when processes are easy, so Microsoft have improved the usability of several areas within inventory and warehouse management. For example, you can save a step by automatically releasing source documents, and in several places data is easier to access and digest.

Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: Mar 2023
General Availability: Apr 2023

Feature Details

Based on feedback from customers, Microsoft have made it easier to complete several business processes.

Automatically release documents

Source documents, such as sales orders, purchase orders, and transfer orders, are released automatically when you choose the Create Warehouse Receipt, Create Warehouse Shipment, or Create Inventory Put-away/pick actions on source documents. This saves unnecessary clicks.

Screenshot of Release line

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New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1: Usability Improves for Transfer Order: Select Multiple Items, Mandatory Fields

Ian Grieve2 minute read0 comment

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business CentralThis post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1.

The twentieth of the new functionality in the Application section is Usability improves for transfer order: select multiple items, mandatory fields.

Productivity increases when processes run smoothly, so Microsoft have improved the usability of transfer orders. For example, you can save a step by adding multiple items to the document.

Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: Mar 2023
General Availability: Apr 2023

Feature Details

The mandatory fields in the header on transfer orders help clarify how to work with the document.

Mandatory fields in transfer order

When you’re creating a transfer order, you can use the Select items action on the Lines FastTab to select and add multiple items to the order.

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New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1: Set Default Dimensions on Locations, Inventory Documents and Journals

Ian Grieve3 minute read0 comment

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business CentralThis post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1.

The nineteenth of the new functionality in the Application section is Set default dimensions on locations, inventory documents, and journals.

Dimensions are values that categorize entries so you can track and analyze them using various reporting tools. For example, dimensions can indicate the department or project an entry came from. Having default dimensions on entities helps people avoid making mistakes and having to enter dimensions manually on the transaction level if all goods come from a single location and department.

Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: Mar 2023
General Availability: Apr 2023

Feature Details

In this release Microsoft are completing the Default Dimension on Location feature that they introduced several releases ago.

You can set default dimensions for a location on the Location Card page by choosing the Dimensions action. When you choose the location on a line in one of the following documents, its default dimensions are copied to the document:

  • Transfer Order
  • Physical Inventory Order
  • Inventory Shipment
  • Inventory Receipt
  • Item Journals

If needed, you can delete or change the dimension on the line.

You can require that people specify dimensions for specific locations before they can post an entry. You can also include location dimension values in Default Dimension Priorities and Dimension Combinations for combinations of priority and dimension rules.

Because transfer order documents and reclassification journals deal with more than one location, the order in which you enter data is important. Default dimensions are copied from the last location field (In-Transit Location is ignored). The following examples illustrate the default dimension that will be used.

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New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1: Post multiple transfer orders at the same time

Ian Grieve4 minute read0 comment

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business CentralThis post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1.

The eighteenth of the new functionality in the Application section is Post multiple transfer orders at the same time.

Instead of posting individual transfer orders one by one, you can select multiple non-posted documents in a list to post them immediately or in a batch according to a schedule, such as at the end of the day. For example, this can be useful if only a supervisor can post documents created by other users, or to avoid system performance issues that might happen if you post during work hours.

Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: Mar 2023
General Availability: Apr 2023

Feature Details

To batch-post multiple transfer orders

The following procedure explains how to post transfer orders in a batch.

  1. Search for the Transfer Orders page, and then choose the related link.

  2. On the Transfer Orders page, select the orders to post.

  3. In the No. field, open the context menu and choose Select More.

  4. Select the checkbox for the lines for each order that you want to post.

  5. Choose the Posting action, and then choose Post Batch.

  6. On the Batch Post Transfer Order page, fill in the fields as necessary.

    For transfer orders that use an in-transit location, you can choose either Ship or Receive. Repeat this step if you need to do both. For orders where Direct Posting is turned on, both options work in the same way and post the order completely.

  7. Select OK.

  8. To view potential issues, open the Error Message Register page.

note Note

Posting multiple documents might take some time and block other users. Consider enabling background posting. For more information, see Use Job Queues to Schedule Tasks.

Post Batch action

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New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1: Easier to Create Opening Balances for Item Tracked Inventory

Ian Grieve4 minute read0 comment

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business CentralThis post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1.

The seventeenth of the new functionality in the Application section is Easier to create opening balances for item tracked inventory.

Businesses can easily move the inventory they track with serial and batch numbers into Business Central.

Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: Mar 2023
General Availability: Apr 2023

Feature Details

As the flow of goods in today’s supply chain becomes more complex, keeping track of items is increasingly important for businesses. For example, monitoring an item’s transaction flow is a legal requirement in the medical and chemical supply industries. Other businesses might want to monitor products with warranties or expiration dates for customer service reasons.

In this release wave, we’ve simplified the first steps, such as creating opening balances for items where item tracking is required. Because you can choose different warehouse configurations, there are two new options:

  • You can enable specific batches on the Item Journal page to let people enter serial, lot, and package data directly on journal lines.
  • For locations where the Directed Put-away and Pick toggle is turned on, you can use the Warehouse Physical Inventory Journal page to make all item tracking fields available. The fields that are available now include the Warranty Date and Expiration Date fields.

Item journal

  1. Search for the Item Journals page, and then choose the related link.

  2. Choose the Name field to open a list of item journal batches.

  3. Choose New to create a new batch, and then turn on the Item Tracking on Lines toggle.

    Item Journal Batch

  4. Choose OK to select the batch you created.

  5. Fill in the fields on the item journal line as necessary. Notice that the Lot No., Serial No., Expiration Date, Warranty Date, and Package No. fields are available (if the feature is enabled).

  6. Choose the Post action to adjust inventory.

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New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1: Demo Tool and Data for Warehouse and Inventory Scenarios

Ian Grieve3 minute read0 comment

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business CentralThis post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1.

The sixteenth of the new functionality in the Application section is Demo tool and data for warehouse and inventory scenarios.

To help partners demonstrate the advanced capabilities of Business Central, we’re making a demo tool that provides setup and data for warehouse and inventory scenarios.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Mar 2023
General Availability: Apr 2023

Feature Details

The Contoso Coffee app provides a demo tool and a related set of demo data for warehousing scenarios. You can install the extension in any environment. Presales specialists can run the tool on Cronus or MyCompany and get the setup and demo data needed to demonstrate various scenarios. For Business Central on-premises, the demo tool and data are available on the product media as source code.

The Contoso Coffee app provides three locations that are optimized for different scenarios:

  • SILVER: This location is configured to use bins. It can be easily configured to support basic or advanced warehouse flows.
  • YELLOW: This location uses the advanced warehouse configuration, but doesn’t use bins. It can be reconfigured to support basic configurations.
  • WHITE: This location uses the advanced warehouse configuration with directed put-aways and picks. Directed put-aways and picks let businesses use rules to control how items move throughout a warehouse.

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