Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 : Building Lookups - Choosing a font

The Dynamics AX Options from Tools menu allows users to define their preferred fonts and sizes for various application areas. In custom functionality, it might also be necessary to add similar options allowing configuring font properties.

In this recipe, we will add an option to select a font in the Form setup form in the Accounts receivable module for sales invoice layout. The code in this recipe could be used in conjunction with the code that reads this parameter and actually changes invoice font.

How to do it...

1. 1. Open the CustFormLetterParameters table in AOT.

2. 2. Add a new field:

   Property	Value
   Type	String
   Name	InvoiceFontName
   ExtendedDataType	FontName

   
   

1. 3. Add one more field:

   Property	Value
   Type	Integer
   Name	InvoiceFontSize
   ExtendedDataType	FontSize

   
   

1. 4. Open the CustFormLetterParameters form in AOT, and add a new display method to the CustFormLetterParameters data source:

   display Name displayInvoiceFont(
   CustFormLetterParameters _custFormLetterParameters)
   
   {;
   if (CustFormLetterParameters.InvoiceFontName)
   {
   return strfmt(
   "%1, %2",
   _custFormLetterParameters.InvoiceFontName,
   _custFormLetterParameters.InvoiceFontSize);
   }
   return "";
   }
   

2. 5. Add a new group to the Invoice tab page right after the GroupInvoice group:

   Property	Value
   Name	GroupFont
   Caption	Font
   Columns	2
   Columnspace	0

   
   

1. 6. Add a StringEdit control to the newly created group:

   Property	Value
   Name	InvoiceFont
   AutoDeclaration	Yes
   Label	Font name & size
   DataSource	CustFormLetterParameters
   DataMethod	displayInvoiceFont

   
   

1. 7. Add a new Button to the same group:

   Property	Value
   Name	InvoiceFontLookup
   ButtonDisplay	Image only
   NormalResource	2633

   
   

1. 8. Override clicked() on the InvoiceFontLookup button with the following code:

   void clicked()
   
   {
   container font;
   ;
   font = WinAPI::chooseFont(
   element.hWnd(),
   SysFontType::ScreenFont,
   CustFormLetterParameters.InvoiceFontName,
   CustFormLetterParameters.invoiceFontSize);
   if (conlen(font))
   {
   CustFormLetterParameters.InvoiceFontName =
   conpeek(font,1);
   CustFormLetterParameters.InvoiceFontSize =
   conpeek(font,2);
   InvoiceFont.update();
   }
   }
   

2. 9. Here is how it looks in AOT after all the modifications have been done:

1. 10. To test the results, open Accounts receivable | Setup | Forms | Form Setup, and click on the Font lookup button on the Invoice tab page:

1. 11. Upon its closure, the lookup fills in the Font name & size field with the selected values:

How it works...

First, we create two new fields in the CustFormLetterParameters table for storing font name and size. We use standard FontName and FontSize extended data types to make sure that the fields inherit the correct properties.

Next, we modify the CustFormLetterParameters form. We will be adding the Font name & size control, which is bound to the display method displayInvoiceFont(). The method resides on the CustFormLetterParameters form data source and is responsible for displaying font name and size in one line separated by a comma. In this way, we save some form layout space instead of displaying font name and size in separate fields.

Dynamics AX does not have a standard font control so we "fake" it by placing a StringEdit field followed by a Button control together in one form group. We need to set few of the group's properties to make sure it has two columns, and there is no space between group elements, so the user will see those two controls as one.

The last thing to do is to modify the button. To make sure that it looks exactly like existing Dynamics AX font controls, we change its properties so that the appearance changes to a small three dot button. The clicked() method has to be overridden with the code that calls the lookup. Here, we use chooseFont() method of WinAPI application class to display the standard Windows font selection dialog. This method accepts four arguments:

1. 1. Current window handler.

2. 2. Selection between screen or printer font.

3. 3. Current font name, which will be preselected in the lookup.

4. 4. Current font size, which will be preselected in the lookup.

The chooseFont() method returns a container of two elements, where the first one is font name and the second one is a size. Note that although the font selection dialog contains Font style section, the style is not returned by this method.