Simon Butcher

On Monday, Mr. Brewer mentioned something about my Axapta posts looking messy and that they could probably benefit from a little thing called GeSHi. Having never heard of this before, I set out and asked the oracle what this was.

After finding this funky little toy, I set my heart on writing a tiny plug-in for Serendipity, but David Rolston beat me to it.

Sometimes I wonder if I have one of those information symbols glued to my forehead -- I feel like a walking tourist information booth. While I realise Brussels attracts a large amount of foreigners by its very nature, I do feel like I've become some sort of an tourist information point. This has reached a level now that I can't go to the GB without being asked for directions on the way home.

Our company was the first to use the European Commission's VIES system via SOAP to validate VAT numbers automatically. We used to have a custom hack to perform this operation within Axapta 3.0, waiting for what was then a rumour that Dynamics Ax 4.0 would be able to call .NET assemblies via CLR interoperability.

In my previous article, I touched on calling code within Ax from C#, but now I want to explain how this works the other way around.

No, not that IMDB, this IMDb! I've been hooked on this site since late 1994, however I used to skim over stuff on their old newsgroup haunt around 1991/1992. Today, IMDb is more than just alive and well, with yet another revision to their site's design being unveiled today - not bad guys!

I'm currently in the process of migrating our Axapta 3.0 system over to Dynamics Ax 4.0. This is a difficult process due to the number of customisations we have made in the system, and many changes between the two standard code-beds. In light of this, we've been conscious of new developments on the horizon, so some of our customisations had temporary snippets of code in them, waiting for enhancements such as .NET interoperability.

One of these temporary snippets of code is responsible for monitoring recurring batch job execution, and ultimately the use of a monitoring system completely outside of Dynamics Ax is preferable. This is where the .NET Business Connector steps in, and since a small number of licenses come with the base Dynamics Ax product, it can be a really useful development tool. Most of what's written here will also apply to the old COM Connector, in principle.

Now popularised by intense American commercialisation of the last century, Valentine's Day is possibly the most obtuse and superficial holiday on the occidental calendar. With its deep roots in history, this day has now become an significant cash cow in the Hallmark holiday line-up.

In the West, there is societal obligation that lovers must present each other with gifts, and somehow love each other more-so on this day than any other day. Chocolates, flowers (preferably red roses), and lingerie are the norm for intimate presents to one's other half, accompanied by the "traditional" pre-printed greeting card. In more Americanized [sīc] cultures, it is perceived that the expense and lavishness of a gift reflects proportionally on the degree of love being declared.

Does anyone else find this just a little repugnant?

Oddly enough, the STIB, in their infinite wisdom, started making public announcements that playing music on public transport is forbidden shortly after I wrote my previous rant about public transport. Since then, I have neither seen nor heard buskers within the public transport network here in Brussels. Hurrah!

This does seem related to the STIB's new efforts to secure public transport, including many new guys that just stand around wearing highly visible vests with the word "prevention" on them at trouble spots.

Spring is upon us here in Belgium, despite it being 45 days early. Trees are starting to grow new leaves, birds are building nests, and the weather this weekend has all the attributes of perfect spring days. It's at this point that I feel inclined to point out that I could have been wrong about it being winter in a previous post -- maybe winter was cancelled this year?