Are Epicor Widgets Broken? 🤐

[SteveFossey]

@KevinK

I’ve actually never had custom code break after an upgrade

going from 10.2.100 to 10.2.700, most of my predecessor’s Db.Validate(); calls broke. The fix was to replace with BO calls (obviously preferred) or by explicitly specifying just what was being updated with ```Db.Validate(myVarName);``

Also some BO.Update(ref blahBlah); broke until implementing the BeforeImage concept found here.

Another one has been foreach(from var thing in Db.Table blah blah select thing){ do stuff} stopped working in some, not all, cases, and I had to first do var thing = (from th in Db.Table where blah blah select th).ToList()
and then foreach the list by itself.

I’m not defending widgets in their current state (actually hate 'em) but I can see that having Epicor test and vouch for them before upgrading is pretty useful, because the above examples are mostly trial-and-error.

[Doug.C (Doug Crabtree)]

Whenever I need to iterate, I use a custom code block. Everywhere else I try to use widgets. It’s easier for others to maintain, as not all of IT/power users are C# developers and the flow chart design is easier for them to follow.

The only other exception where I use custom code block is when a condition block destroys data. I have to use custom code blocks in order to do a simple condition test to make sure we don’t lose serial numbers.

I have had custom code blocks break on upgrades, so I keep track of the BPMs that have those so I can easily target those for testing on upgrades.

[utaylor (Utah Taylor)]

@jdewitt6029 I am sure there are some BPMs from the uplift to Epicor 9 that have a tt table joined to an ERP table.

Me (being new to Epicor) probably just converted it to C#, checked to make sure it was working, and called it a day. Not sure if this is stated in any customization guides or anything. Would be a great addition.

[jgiese.wci (Joshua Giese)]

@KevinK

I’ve actually never had custom code break after an upgrade

Same mostly. I’ve had very minor things break but nothing near as bad as screen customizations. On a major version I might spend 1 hr fixing little BPMs here and there with custom code and another 9 on screens. I also use custom code blocks heavily and avoid widgets in most cases.

[KevinK (Kevin Krumwiede)]

Yeah, I curled up in front of the streaming TV fireplace with Orlicky and Plossl’s MRP books. I decided to start with Orlicky’s first edition and get a chronological overview of the state of the art through the decades.

[utaylor (Utah Taylor)]

Man…

[askulte (Andris Skulte)]

@JasonMcD

But BPM coding is not one of those 20-hour things; it is a like a college major or at least a minor.

Amen, Jason! I would LOVE a college-type course on Epicor BPM’s & customization. Something where we build on weekly, have homework & test, a final project, the whole deal. I think that would close the loop for a lot of us non-computer science folks, and give enough time to learn the why, rather than rush through an example or two like Insights Extended Ed.

Having a teaching plan where each week we get a complete understanding of why something is done a certain way before building on it would be huge (at least for me). Rather than rote memorization of ‘do this, and it works’.

Not sure if Epicor or a third-party is willing to do that, but please take my $! I’m sure there are others in the same boat that fell into coding Epicor throughout their career trajectory, and didn’t come from a CompSci background.

Sorry for the ramble…

[utaylor (Utah Taylor)]

Andris, way to hit the nail on the head. That is exactly what I wish we could learn about and be taught. Someone needs to start it on Coursera!

[hkeric.wci (Haso Keric)]

I will teach it if I can get 50 sign ups at 350$ I will even buy fancy software, cameras and do a live workshop.

[JasonMcD (Jason McDermott)]

[askulte (Andris Skulte)]

@hkeric.wci

I will teach it if I can get 50 sign ups at 350$ I will even buy fancy software, cameras and do a live workshop.

I’m in, seriously. If others are interested, can this be split off to a new thread?

[SteveFossey]

@askulte

If others are interested, can this be split off to a new thread?

I will say the words “best practice” “this is what was missing” and “scalable” and I think our company would sign up at least a couple of people. Even if they don’t, I’m in.

[JasonMcD (Jason McDermott)]

@SteveFossey

I will say the words “best practice”

“Back when I worked at XYZ we never followed best practices, and we liked it.”

[Vinaykamboj]

I will sign up for classes. A separate thread is needed for this.

Thanks @hkeric.wci for the offer.

Vinay Kamboj

[wcouch (Wesley Couch)]

You take Venmo?

Seriously though - even if it’s just a teams meeting or something I would absolutely pay $350 out of pocket for this.

[SteveFossey]

dude. uncool. I never said I’d FOLLOW them.

[Ernie (Ernie Lowell)]

I wish I could give this one more likes.

[hkeric.wci (Haso Keric)]

@SAD

Thank you! Never heard about this recommendation. I never saw directives with such code. More precisely, no one sent such directives to me for review.

@SAD just wanted to throw this out for reference.

If you use Client WCF it actually handles the BeforeImage and stripping everything out from the dataset.

If you invoke a BO from a BPM it doesnt handle BeforeImage and it also sends the entire dataset to your PRE BPM:

using (var bo = Ice.Assemblies.ServiceRenderer.GetService<Erp.Contracts.ReceiptSvcContract>(this.Db))
{
   var dsReceipt = bo.GetByID(vendorNum, purPoint, packSlip);
   int seqNum = GetReceiptLCMiscChargeSeq(Session.CompanyID, vendorNum, purPoint, packSlip);
   var row = dsReceipt.RcvMisc.Where(x => x.MiscSeq == seqNum).FirstOrDefault();
   row.RowMod = IceRow.ROWSTATE_UPDATED;
   bo.OnChangeMiscDocActualAmt(vendorNum, purPoint, packSlip, seqNum, 10.00, ref dsReceipt);
   bo.Update(ref dsReceipt);
}

Which makes calling a Business Object from a BO sometimes tricky. Nontheless. I wonder if Epicor Functions can use the BO.Proxy or if someone who calls multiple BO’s in a eFX needs to really, really know what theyre doing (havent tried yet).

[SAD (Sergey Davydkin)]

The BPM and EFx behave like any other server-side code. So, as in the case of other areas, it is the ‘developer’s’ responsibility to call a service method correctly.

Moreover, (it seems to me that I’ve mentioned that earlier), even client code creates diff-grams only when tableset parameter has ref modifier. If a parameter is “by value” (no modifier provided), then a client proxy sends the whole dataset to the server.

Potentially, Invoke BO method action can be updated to behave like a client-side proxy, but it is the breaking change. I see only one solution that can be applied - a special check-box in Invoke BO Method action configuration (something like ‘mimicks smart client proxy’).

Actually, I’m mostly sure that this behavior was implemented as the performance optimization - to minimize data traffic between client and server. In the case of the server-only code, such behavior creates unneeded memory allocations

[hkeric.wci (Haso Keric)]

Gotcha. I should be fine. In cases when I need a more Client like approach when my Facades (BPMs) are legacy and not well written (should be fixed). I use something along the lines of:

This way I get Unmodified Row and Modified Row as well as required parent rows. But in most cases It may not matter… Well unless you are doing an Order dataset with 100 lines and 500 releases

//
// For show only Code should be optimized
//
var dsReceipt = bo.GetByID(vendorNum, purPoint, packSlip);

// Probably another good way to fill it instead is using GetRows
 
// 
// Example how to Copy a few Tableset rows to New Tableset
//
var dsNew = new Erp.Tablesets.ReceiptTableset { 
    RcvHead = { 
        Epicor.Data.BufferCopy.Clone(dsReceipt.RcvHead[0]) 
    },
    RcvMisc = {
        Epicor.Data.BufferCopy.Clone(dsReceipt.RcvMisc.Where(x => x.MiscSeq == seqNum).FirstOrDefault()),
        Epicor.Data.BufferCopy.Clone(dsReceipt.RcvMisc.Where(x => x.MiscSeq == seqNum).FirstOrDefault())
        //new Erp.Tablesets.RcvMiscRow { EnableToBuildYourOwn }
    }
};
 
dsNew.RcvMisc[0].RowMod = "U";
 
 
// 
// Example how to Copy a LINQ Row to Tableset
//
 
// Erp.Tablesets.ReceiptTableset 
var dsNew3 = new Erp.Tablesets.ReceiptTableset {
    RcvHead = { 
        Epicor.Data.BufferCopy.Copy<Erp.Tables.RcvHead, Erp.Tablesets.RcvHeadRow>(Db.RcvHead.Where(s => s.Company == Session.CompanyID 
                    && s.PackSlip == packSlip 
                    && s.VendorNum == vendorNum 
                    && s.PurPoint == purPoint).FirstOrDefault())
    },
    // Erp.Tablesets.RcvMiscTable
    RcvMisc = {
        // Erp.Tablesets.RcvMiscRow
        Epicor.Data.BufferCopy.Copy<Erp.Tables.RcvMisc, Erp.Tablesets.RcvMiscRow>(Db.RcvMisc.Where(s => s.Company == Session.CompanyID 
                    && s.PackSlip == packSlip 
                    && s.VendorNum == vendorNum 
                    && s.PurPoint == purPoint
                    && s.MiscSeq == seqNum).FirstOrDefault()),
        // Erp.Tablesets.RcvMiscRow     
        Epicor.Data.BufferCopy.Copy<Erp.Tables.RcvMisc, Erp.Tablesets.RcvMiscRow>(Db.RcvMisc.Where(s => s.Company == Session.CompanyID 
                    && s.PackSlip == packSlip 
                    && s.VendorNum == vendorNum 
                    && s.PurPoint == purPoint
                    && s.MiscSeq == seqNum).FirstOrDefault())
    }
};
 
dsNew3.RcvMisc[0].RowMod = "U";
 
bo.OnChangeMiscDocActualAmt(vendorNum, purPoint, packSlip, seqNum, _value, ref dsNew);
bo.Update(ref dsNew);
 
 
// 
// Example how to Copy a LINQ Row to a LINQ Row (Erp.Tables.RcvMisc)
//
 
// Epicor Clone and Copy both will create a new SysRowID when the target is a LINQ Row
var LINQtoLINQExample = Epicor.Data.BufferCopy.Clone(Db.RcvMisc.Where(s => s.Company == Session.CompanyID 
    && s.PackSlip == packSlip 
    && s.VendorNum == vendorNum 
    && s.PurPoint == purPoint
    && s.MiscSeq == seqNum).FirstOrDefault());
 
// If you want to Preserve the GUID you must use Copy with 3rd param true
Erp.Tables.RcvMisc linqRowExample2 = new Erp.Tables.RcvMisc();
Epicor.Data.BufferCopy.Copy(xrow, linqRowExample2, true);

I have yet to figure out the RowMod “D” sometimes RowMod D doesnt work and you have to use SetRowState but then the Facade doesnt always get notified, because you basically deleted the row from your dataset.

// ILSpy how Epicor Uan UpdateExt handle RowMod D
// They Delete the original row but keep a 2nd version with RowMod "D"
IceRow firstRow = (IceRow)fullTs.Tables[0][0];
IceRow backupRow2 = CreateNewRow(workingTs.Tables[0]);
OnUpdateExtCopyRowForTable(UpdateExtRowAction.BackupExistingRow, firstRow, backupRow2, updateSystemColumns: true);
workingTs.Tables[0].Add(backupRow2);
backupRow2.SetRowState(IceRowState.Unchanged);
firstRow.RowMod = "D";
IceRow deletedRow = CreateNewRow(workingTs.Tables[0]);
OnUpdateExtCopyRowForTable(UpdateExtRowAction.BackupExistingRow, firstRow, deletedRow, updateSystemColumns: true);
workingTs.Tables[0].Add(deletedRow);
deletedRow.SetRowState(IceRowState.Deleted);
changedRow = deletedRow;
hasDif = true;

Perhaps I should use UpdateExt, it might be fine in this scenario and may not cause bugs because it looks like it may even be handling the Before/After Rows