AxErd: Help

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2: AxErd

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Welcome to the Help documentation for the "AxErd" website for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2.

A good way to learn about this website is to recklessly click lots of links, to see all the other pages that you can navigate to.
The main idea of this website is to provide partners and customers with ERD diagrams for most of the core tables in each application module.
Next, when one of our provided ERD diagrams is insufficiently complete for your needs, you can use other pages on this website to easily extend our core ERD diagram.

How to Build or Extend an ERD, with Dynamics AX 2012 and Visio 2010

Phase I: in AxErd

Use the AxErd website to help ascertain a list of tables that you want on your new ERD.

Phase II: in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Start the standard ax32.exe client, and open a development workspace window.
Create, then open a new private project.
From under AOT > Data Dictionary > Tables, drag all the tables of interest onto the project window.
Drag each table, one by one, to its proper place to keep the project list alphabetized.
Right-click your project node, and then click Add-ins > Reverse Engineer.
In the dialog, select the radio ERX ER data model, because we want to output a .ERX formatted file (for Visio 2010 to later input).
Fill in a full drive + directory + filename path. The extension of the filename must be .ERX.
Click OK to complete the dialog. This causes the .ERX file to be written.

Phase III: in Microsoft Visio

Open Visio 2010, or 2007, or 2003.
(Note that Visio 2013 is unable to import .ERX files. Also, there might be a couple of odd tables that, if included in your .ERX file, cause Visio's import of the .ERX to fail.)
Create a new file of the template type that is labeled Database Model Diagram.
Menu: Database > Import > ERwin ERX file. Enter the full drive + directory + filename of your .ERX file. Then click OK.
Menu: Database > Table & Views, ensure the checkbox is checkmarked.
In the lower-left of the Visio window, see your tables listed.
Drag some or all of the tables onto the Visio canvas.
Ctrl+A to highlight-select all tables that are on the canvas.
Menu: Database > Display Options ...
> General tab: Select the Relational radio knob, and the Conceptual Names knob.
> Table tab: Uncheckmark - Indexes, Non Keys, and Annotations.
Click OK to complete the dialog.
Menu: Home > Auto Align & Space
Now all the tables almost fit on one page.
Click an unused point on the canvas to release the all-selected state.
Drag individual tables around on the canvas to untangle the arrowed connector lines.
Ideally none of the lines cross each other.
To help untangle a given arrowed connector line, click on any troublesome connector to select it, and then right-click on it to use the options that redesign the line.
Save the .VSD file.
Menu: File > Save As, and then save another version of the ERD diagram as a .PNG image file, for ongoing convenience.

There are several types of pages on this AxErd website. The following table describes the various page types.

Page Type	Link Behavior	Description of Page Type
TM Table-Module (application module)	Table Name: Link to the first row for that table in the correct PC file. Module Name: Link to the first MT file, in the short sequence of MT files, for that application module.	The TM pages list all Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 tables. These are the table that you can see in the Development Workspace, under AOT > Data Dictionary > Tables. There are approximately 40 TM pages. The TM pages have Previous and Next links that chain the pages together in alphabetical sequence. Each row on a TM page has the name of a table, followed by the name of the application module to which the table belongs. (Some of the application module designations are merely approximations of the module names that are displayed in the AX Workspace.)
MT Module-Tables	ERD: Link to the page of ERD links for the application module. Table Name: Link to the TM page that has the row for this table.	The MT pages list alphabetically all the tables that are in the given application module. For a typical module there are usually 1-4 MT pages. These 4 MT pages have Previous and Next links that chain the pages together in alphabetical sequence. Each row on an MT page has an ERD link, then the name of the module (as a constant down the whole column), and then the name of a table.
PC Parent-Children (tables, and their foreign key relationships)	Parent Table Name: Link to the first row for the same parent table in the corresponding CP page. IMPORTANT: On PC and CP pages, by clicking the table links in the left column, you can endlessly toggle between displays of all the child tables then all the parent tables, for the given table name link that you are clicking. On each row, the arrow at mid-row always points to the parent table, from the child table. Thus the direction of the arrow points left-ward on the PC pages, and right-ward on CP pages. Module of Parent Table: Link to the MT page for this application module, to the row for the parent table. Child Table Name: Link to the first row for the same child in the corresponding CP page. Module of Child Table: Link to the MT page for this application module, to the row for the child table.	The PC pages are perhaps the most important pages on the AxErd website (along with the ERD diagrams). The PC pages list all the parent tables that are in the given application module. The list is sorted alphabetically by the left column of table names, which are the parent tables. Within each set of rows for any one parent table, the child table names are listed alphabetically (in a column further to the right). For a typical module there are usually 1-6 PC pages (plus 6 CP pages). These 6 PC pages have Previous and Next links that chain the pages together in alphabetical sequence.
CP Child-Parents (much like the information available under AOT > Data Dictionary > Tables > MYTABLE > Relations)	(The links on this CP page type are analogous to those on the PC page type.)	(The description of this CP page type is analogous to the PC page type. The difference is that on CP pages the child table is in the important left column.)
ERDs	(Self-explanatory.)	For each application module, there is one page of ERD links, and it links to each ERD diagram that is available for the given module. No one ERD is a complete representation of all the foreign key relationships between all the tables within the module, not even close. Some ERD diagrams include tables from other application modules, although many more such tables could be added the ERDs. MAIN IDEA: If none of the provided ERD diagrams is sufficiently complete for your needs, you can use the PC & CP pages to easily find the information necessary to extend one of our provided ERD diagrams.
Home	(Self-explanatory.)	The AxErd Home page is the hub page that all others provide a link to. The Home page is also the default start page for the AxErd website.


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