Future Directions of Programmability in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Future Directions of Programmability in Microsoft Dynamics AX
This document has mainly addressed current programmability features in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. In this section some of the future directions surrounding programmability will be highlighted. From an overall point of view, it is safe to say that Microsoft Dynamics AX will move towards .NET in several ways.
Will X++ become a managed language?
No, however Microsoft will continue to increase the Interoperability between X++ and managed languages. As described previously in this document, we already have CLR-Interop and the possibility to call .NET assemblies from inside X++. One of the future plans for this feature is to make it possible to use the .NET assembly to call back into Microsoft Dynamics AX without having to use the .NET Business Connector Client for this purpose. Currently, there are no plans to replace X++ with a managed language.
What will happen to MorphX and the way to design application objects in the Future?
There is currently no end date for MorphX, but in the future versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX an increasing amount of application object types are expected to be designed from Visual Studio instead of from MorphX.
How will Business Intelligence and Reporting develop?
Microsoft will continue to increase the number of integration points with Microsoft BI and Reporting software. In addition Microsoft will also provide additional APIs that increases the ease of performing BI related functions from inside Microsoft Dynamics AX.
What will happen with Microsoft Dynamics AX in relation to Service Strategy?
Microsoft Dynamics AX supports consuming standards-based, external web services from within the application. Future releases of Microsoft Dynamics AX will support additional standards to enable additional scenarios. The related programming model will also be extended to further improve the development experience in particular for common scenarios. Moreover, Microsoft Dynamics AX can be exposed through Microsoft Dynamics AX services. Microsoft Dynamics AX can be published e.g. through WCF web services. Additional guidance and mechanisms for standardizing common functionality such as customization and validation will help accelerating the implementation of integrations. Furthermore, future releases of Microsoft Dynamics AX will aim at further simplifying the creation and management of Microsoft Dynamics AX services. Enhancements of existing functionality, which may include better support for digital signatures etc. will aid in deploying Microsoft Dynamics AX in scenarios where compliance is a high priority. Setup and administration of integrations will also be further streamlined.