Features
Sidax is docked to the left side of Axapta (Dynamics Ax) window. At the left of Sidax there is a vertical toolbar which allows to switch features. It has following buttons:
- Window List - list of windows in Axapta
- Axapta Main Menu -
allows search through main menu
- Recently used projects -
projects you are recently opened
- About Sidax - information about Sidax
When you click a button it activites corresponding feature; whit feature is active already and you click button, Sidax will collapse and takes less screen space (similar to the Windows Taskbar). When you double-click this toolbar, Sidax will collapse too. This behavior is borrowed from the Opera web browser. Here are more about Sidax features:
Window management
Axapta comes with a menu named "Windows" but it is not enough. Firstly, you can not see windows while you work. And sometimes windows are not shown in this menu. The only thing you can do with this menu is to switch between windows.
Sidax gives you much more: you can see a list of all your windows and switch between them; close a bunch of windows; align pairs of windows (for example, it is useful to align Ledger Journal and Journal Lines so that the Ledger Journal uses the top part of the screen and Journal Lines uses the bottom part); copy window title; etc.
Use buttons and context menu (you can apply context menu action on several windows at once - just select them using Ctrl+Mouse Click).
Search through the Main menu
The Main menu of Dymanics Ax can be very big. It is boring to traverse through it when you already know the name of the menu item you want.
By just type a substring of the menu item name, and pressing "Enter", it allows you to see all the items that match the text you typed.
In addition, you can use the context menu to copy the full path of menu item. This is useful for sending it to somebody.
Recently used projects
Sidax remembers the development projects that you have recently used and allows you easily reopen them. Opened projects are shown in bold and move to the top of the list. This is very useful when you have many projects and wish to work only with just a small subset of them.
FREEWARE
Sidax is freeware; you can change its code if you want, but please let us know what you have changed and why, so we can make further improvements.
Pure X++ code
No extra DLLs (only button images but usable without them)
One form
One separate form in Axapta: no intrusion into existing code
Installation instructions
To install Sidax you should have developer's rights. Sidax is tested on Axapta 3.0 Sp2 and Sp3.
- download sidax.0.3.5.zip (20k)
- unpack (using free 7zip archiever for example)
- log in into Axapta (Dynamics Ax)
- import .xpo file in Axapta
- recompile the form 'Sidax' (or press 'Recompile all' in compiler output)
- copy "Sidax" folder to the Application\Share\Include (so it becomes, for example, "C:\Program Files\Navision\Application\Share\Include\sidax")
- run the 'Sidax' form
Side effects
Though Sidax is designed to cause less interference to normal Axapta behaviour, there are some known side effects
- When Sidax starts it begins to load the Main menu structure into the internal representation. During loading it traverses the Main menu and it causes the Properties window to load the properties of menu item being loaded. So it might be impossible to use the Properties window for other purposes during the small period of the Sidax startup.
- Sidax is an ordinary Axapta form and it works in background using a timer. Thus, if you want to profile your application you have to close Sidax in order to avoid having Sidax lines in the profile.
