passing parameters between forms in AX

In dynamics AX, working with forms, there are times when you need to pass some information from current form to the opened form, so the question arrived is that what’s the best way to open the new form and pass information.

Answer: It depends upon the information that is needed in the new form; there is Args class that plays an important role to pass the information. Let’s take a look on some of the important methods of that class

Args class (Argument)

“The Args class is used to pass arguments such as a name, a caller, and parameters between application objects”

Some important methods are

Caller	Gets or sets the instance of the object that created this instance of the Args class.
name	Gets and sets the name of the application object to call.
parm	Gets or sets a string that specifies miscellaneous information for the called object.
parmEnum	Gets or sets the enumeration value of the enumeration type that is specified in the parmEnumType method.
parmEnmType	Gets or sets the ID value of any enumeration type.
ParmObject	Gets or sets an instance of any object to pass to the called object.
record	Gets and sets the record from the table on which the caller object is working.

There are four methods that can be used to pass extra information to the new class:

1. 
   
   The parm method – to pass strings


2. 
   
   The parmEnum and parmEnumType method – to pass enumeration values


3. 
   
   The parmObject method – to pass an object of any type.

Examples:

1.      If you need a data from the parent form main data source for the current record, so you don’t need to do anything in parent, just create a display menu item and give the form name that needs to be opened, create a menuItem button and assign the newly created menu item.

Override the Init method on opened form

And you get the parent dataset records as

element.args().record()

2.      Need to pass any object/string/Enum

Use the same approach for creating the button

Parent form

void clicked()
{
Args args;
FormRun formRun;super(); 

args = new Args(formstr(FormName));

 // To pass any string value
args.parm(<string value>);

 // To pass any object
args.parmObject(<object>);

 // To pass any Enum

       args.parmEnum( EnumValue);
args.parmEnumType( EnumNum( <EnumName>) );

 formRun = classFactory.FormRunClass(args);
formRun.init();
formRun.run();
formRun.wait();
formRun.detach();
parenttable_ds.refresh(); // Refreshing parent table DataSourceTable
parenttable_ds.executeQuery(); // Refreshing Parent DataSourceTable
}

Child Form

void init()
{
args = element.args();

    // get string parameter
<string> = args.parm();

    // get object parameter

    <object> = args.parmObject();

    // get enum parameter
if( element.args().parmEnumType() == EnumNum( <EnumName>) )
{
<enum contol/variable>  =( element.args().parmEnum() );
}

}3.      There are many parameters that you need to pass to the child form. 

               In that scenario, you need to create an extra class (parameter/contract class), you can first set the parameters in the init method for that class, use the parmObject for setting and gets the object on the child form

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Argument Passing between Forms in Dynamics Ax 2009

Here a sample code to pass argument to one form to another form and using of Args() class.
Steps:
1) Create two Forms named FormA and FormB
2)Use the EmplTable as the Datasource of both forms
3)Design FormA with one Grid and add 4 data fields to the Grid(EmplId,DEL_Name,Grade,EmplStatus…..)
4)Assign the datasource for the grid and the data fields
5)Add a Button in FormA
6)Override the Clicked() method and write the below code:
void Clicked()
{
Args    _args;
FormRun _formRun;
EmplId   _empId;
;
_empId = EmplTable.EmplId;  // Selected employee id in the Grid is assigned to the variable which is pass to the next form
_args = new Args(); // creating a object for args class
_args.name(formstr(VA_FormB));  // Form Menuitem
_args.caller(this);  // Form Caller(Current Form is mentioned as this)
_args.parm(_empId); // Employee Number is passed to next form[but parm() is not a best practise]
_args.record(EmplTable); // Table name is passed
_formRun = ClassFactory.formRunClass(_args); //new FormRun(_args);   // Creating object for FormRun
_formRun.init();   // Form Initialization for Load
_formRun.run();  // Form Run for process
_formRun.wait(); // Form Wait for Display
}
7) Open the Second Form – FormB
8) Add one Grid Control and set the Data Source is EmplTable
9) Add 4 data fields as same in the Form A
10)Now Override the Init() of Form
public void init()
{
parmid      _parmId;
EmplTable   _EmplTable;
//     DictTable   _dictTable;    FormBuildDataSource   _ds;    FormBuildGridControl frmGrid; // These are for dynamicForm creation so leave it
_parmId =  element.args().parm(); // Getting the argument value from the Caller
//info(int2str(element.args().record().TableId));
if(!element.args().caller())   // Check the form is called by caller or directly, if directly it throw error
throw error(“Cant Run Directly”);
if(element.args().record().TableId == tablenum(EmplTable))   // check if the sent Table and the Current form table are equal or not
{
//        _EmplTable = element.args().record();  // Assign the Received Table name to Local Variable
//_dictTable = new DictTable(element.args().record().TableId);  // leave it , is used for Dynamic Form Creation
//_ds = form.addDataSource(_dictTable.name());  // leave it , is used for Dynamic Form Creation
//_ds.table(_dictTable.id());   // leave it , is used for Dynamic Form Creation
//frmGrid = form.addControl(FormControlType::Grid, “Grid”);   // leave it , is used for Dynamic Form Creation
//frmGrid.dataSource(_ds.name());   // leave it , is used for Dynamic Form Creation
//info(strfmt(“%1     %2″,_EmplTable.EmplId,_EmplTable.DEL_Name));
//frmGrid.addDataField(_ds.id(),fieldnum(EmplTable, DEL_Name));  // leave it , is used for Dynamic Form Creation
//        EmplTable_EmplId.dataSource(_EmplTable);   // leave it , is used for Dynamic Form Creation
//        EmplTable_EmplId.dataField(fieldnum(EmplTable,EmplID));   // leave it , is used for Dynamic Form Creation
//        EmplTable_DEL_Name.dataSource(_EmplTable);   // leave it , is used for Dynamic Form Creation
//        EmplTable_DEL_Name.dataField(fieldnum(EmplTable,EmplId));  // leave it , is used for Dynamic Form Creation
//        EmplTable_DEL_Email.dataSource(_EmplTable);   // leave it , is used for Dynamic Form Creation
//        EmplTable_DEL_Email.dataField(fieldnum(EmplTable,EmplId));   // leave it , is used for Dynamic Form Creation
super();  // Form Initialization
}
else
{
info(“DataSet Not Received”);  // throw error
}
}
11)Override the Init() of the DataSource
public void init()
{
switch(element.args().dataset())// get the table id sent by caller
{
case tablenum(EmplTable):  // check the table if matches with this tableid
{
_EmplID  =   element.args().parm();  // get the argument value
query   = new Query();            queryBuildRangeProj =                                          query.addDataSource(tablenum(EmplTable)).addRange(fieldnum(EmplTable,EmplId));          // query build for the form to display
queryBuildRangeProj.value(_emplId); // Criteria for the form
EmplTable_ds.query(query); // execution of the query
break;
}
}
super(); //datasource  initialization on the form based on the criteria
}
12) Save it, and create two menu items for each.
13) It is important to change the runon property of the FormB as CalledFrom.
14)Run the FormA and select an Employee Record and click the button.
15)The FormB opens with the Related information of the Selected Employee on form.

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Passing values between forms

For passing parameters from one form to another a special class Args is usually used.

Example:

The code of button click event of FormA which calls FormB and passes some parameters to that form.

void clicked()
{
    // Args class is usually used in Axapta for passing parameters between forms
    Args            args;
    FormRun         formRun;
    // Our custom made class for passing complex set of parameters
    FormBParams     formBParams = new FormBParams();
    Array           items = new Array( Types::String );
    int         i;
    ;

    args = new args();

    // Our values which we want to pass to FormB
    // If we want pass just simple string we can use 'parm' method of 'Args' class
    args.parm( strValue.text() );
    // We also can pass enum value to FormB
    args.parmEnum( NoYesEnumValue.selection() );
    args.parmEnumType( EnumNum( NoYes ) );
    // and also can pass a cursor pointing to some record (in our case it is EmplTable )
    args.record( EmplTable );

    // If we want pass more complex set of parameters we can develop our own class
    // just for passing our parameters.
    formBParams.parmSomeDate( someDate.dateValue() );
    formBParams.parmSomeTime( someTime.value() );
    for( i=0; i<ListBox.items(); i++ )
    {
        items.value( i+1,  ListBox.getText( i ) );
    }
    formBParams.parmItems( items );
    // Pass our object to FormB
    args.parmObject( formBParams );

    // Run FormB
    args.name( formstr( FormB ) );
    formRun = classFactory.formRunClass( Args );
    formRun.init();
    formrun.run();
    formrun.wait();

    if( formrun.closedOk() )
    {
        answerFromFormB.text( args.parm() );
    }
    super();
}

The code of init method of FormB

public void init()
{
    EmplTable       emplTableRecord;
    FormBParams     formBParams;
    Array           items;
    int             i;
    ;
    super();

    // Check for passed arguments
    if( element.args() )
    {
        // get string parameter
        strValue.text( element.args().parm() );

        // get enum parameter
        if( element.args().parmEnumType() == EnumNum( NoYes ) )
        {
            NoYesEnumValue.selection( element.args().parmEnum() );
        }
        // get object parameter
        if( element.args().parmObject() )
        {
            formBParams = element.args().parmObject();
            items       = formBParams.parmItems();
            for( i=1; i<=items.lastIndex(); i++ )
            {
                ListBox.add( items.value(i) );
            }
            someDate.dateValue( formBParams.parmSomeDate() );
            someTime.value( formBParams.parmSomeTime() );
        }
        // get record parameter
        if( element.args().record() && element.args().record().TableId == TableNum( EmplTable ) )
        {
            emplTableRecord =  element.args().record();
            emplName.text( emplTableRecord.Name );
        }
    }
}

The code of ok button click event of FromB

void clicked()
{
    super();
    element.args().parm( strAnswer.text() );
    element.closeOk();
}

The above code is cut out from a demo which you can download here.

===========================================================================

For passing parameters from one form to another a special class Args is usually used.

Example:

The code of button click event of FormA which calls FormB and passes some parameters to that form.

void clicked()
{
    // Args class is usually used in Axapta for passing parameters between forms
    Args            args;
    FormRun         formRun;
    // Our custom made class for passing complex set of parameters
    FormBParams     formBParams = new FormBParams();
    Array           items = new Array( Types::String );
    int         i;
    ;

    args = new args();

    // Our values which we want to pass to FormB
    // If we want pass just simple string we can use 'parm' method of 'Args' class
    args.parm( strValue.text() );
    // We also can pass enum value to FormB
    args.parmEnum( NoYesEnumValue.selection() );
    args.parmEnumType( EnumNum( NoYes ) );
    // and also can pass a cursor pointing to some record (in our case it is EmplTable )
    args.record( EmplTable );

    // If we want pass more complex set of parameters we can develop our own class
    // just for passing our parameters.
    formBParams.parmSomeDate( someDate.dateValue() );
    formBParams.parmSomeTime( someTime.value() );
    for( i=0; i<ListBox.items(); i++ )
    {
        items.value( i+1,  ListBox.getText( i ) );
    }
    formBParams.parmItems( items );
    // Pass our object to FormB
    args.parmObject( formBParams );

    // Run FormB
    args.name( formstr( FormB ) );
    formRun = classFactory.formRunClass( Args );
    formRun.init();
    formrun.run();
    formrun.wait();

    if( formrun.closedOk() )
    {
        answerFromFormB.text( args.parm() );
    }
    super();
}

The code of init method of FormB

public void init()
{
    EmplTable       emplTableRecord;
    FormBParams     formBParams;
    Array           items;
    int             i;
    ;
    super();

    // Check for passed arguments
    if( element.args() )
    {
        // get string parameter
        strValue.text( element.args().parm() );

        // get enum parameter
        if( element.args().parmEnumType() == EnumNum( NoYes ) )
        {
            NoYesEnumValue.selection( element.args().parmEnum() );
        }
        // get object parameter
        if( element.args().parmObject() )
        {
            formBParams = element.args().parmObject();
            items       = formBParams.parmItems();
            for( i=1; i<=items.lastIndex(); i++ )
            {
                ListBox.add( items.value(i) );
            }
            someDate.dateValue( formBParams.parmSomeDate() );
            someTime.value( formBParams.parmSomeTime() );
        }
        // get record parameter
        if( element.args().record() && element.args().record().TableId == TableNum( EmplTable ) )
        {
            emplTableRecord =  element.args().record();
            emplName.text( emplTableRecord.Name );
        }
    }
}

The code of ok button click event of FromB

void clicked()
{
    super();
    element.args().parm( strAnswer.text() );
    element.closeOk();
}