I never Meta Data I didn't like.

Mining the metadata and authoring X++ best practice rules in Microsoft Dynamics AX click to download the slide deck
Mining the metadata and authoring X++ best practice rules in Microsoft Dynamics AX The Recording!

I recently watched the Lego Brickumentry and found out that the little bricks that I grew up loving originated in Denmark. I immediately thought that Denmark has produced some extraordinary influences; including Dynamics AX Rock Star, Peter Villadsen. Not only is Peter knowledgeable in AX but his style of delivery and cadence in his technical sessions are a genius blend of intellect and curmudgeonry that keeps a room of nerds on edge.

Meta Data has a HUGE role in the new AX...

Some of the most impressive aspects of the meta data shift is the accessibility of the data on which AX is built. This also shifts the processing from a server to file access!

Using nerdy code, Peter gave us examples of how we can now query AX and the speed at which it occurs were downright magical. 152 MS to read ALL of the classes and tables in the application... Less then a second to run super complex queries... Code compilations that used to take hours, nigh, days, can now be completed in minutes! 

Peter reports that Microsoft is open sourcing many technologies including .net and C# compiler.  It is time to embrace and give up the losing battle. He demoed BASE X, an open source software. Using Base X and X path he queried the DB to view data in under a second in many cases.

Dict classes from AX6 were brought over on top of the new MD and the support existing code.  But new MD is not leveraged. Peter did mention that some things might not work and that he should and can be emailed @ Peter.Villadsen@microsoft.com

Using VS Peter showed us how to easily create a VS Add-in to access the Meta Data file structure. He used it to create instances of tables. They envision an MS Marketplace to share add-ins int he future.

The meta data access extends to objects as well. An easily understandable example is tables. A table in AX, visible in the new AOT is actually a fully functional and customizable XML file. A developer can access the XML file and add elements to the table directly through the file. One concern to consider is that currently XML is lacking namespace.   

They are still working to improve the development experience and address concerns. They were not able to show O Data integration but you can Read more about ODATA here.

Hinted in the Q&A:

• The deprecation of MACROS and moving them to classes.
• Visio interpretation of tables will be upgraded to a richer experience from old 2012 tool.