Microsoft Dynamics AX and its predecessor, Axapta, have always benefited from a very active and enthusiastic developer community. Some of those developers are employed by mid-size to large fi rms that build their business selling solutions built on Microsoft Dynamics AX. Others are in the IT departments of companies using Microsoft Dynamics AX as mission-critical infrastructure.

One of the consistent pieces of feedback I’ve received from those developers over the years is how the raw power and agility provided by the Microsoft Dynamics AX toolset and metadata environment make them more productive than any other line of business application framework. With Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, we have taken the productivity and power of that toolset to a whole new level; delivering event-based customization, delta customization of forms, a new editor, date effectivity, and subtype/supertype support, to name just a few.

We continued the journey to expose the power of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) and Analysis Services directly within Microsoft Dynamics AX, moving all of the out-of-the-box reports and business intelligence inside the platform.

We back all of that up with almost three times the application footprint of prior versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX, truly making Microsoft Dynamics AX both a powerful developer environment and a rich out-of-the-box suite of applications.

This book focuses on the enhancements in the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 toolset and is written by the team that brought you those tools. It’s truly an insider’s view of the entire Microsoft Dynamics AX development and run-time environment. I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed writing the book and creating the product.

Thanks,

Hal Howard

Head of Product Development, Microsoft Dynamics AX

Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Dynamics Research and Development