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Navision, Web Services and the Future of the World
Cannikin
Member Posts: 72
Let me start by explaining our current situtation: we're running 3.7 right now, without Commerce Portal. We've got a very elaborate website constructed in ColdFusion. Right now, the only way to get data (pricing, product descriptions, inventory levels, etc.) out of Navision and onto the website is to run a DataPort each night, upload it to the web site's SQL Server and run a DTS (Data Transformation Service) package on it to insert the info in the database. Pretty crappy setup, but it was a hold-over from our old UNIX-based system.
Now we've finally got the time to do this the right way. And as far as I can tell, the "right" way would be this:
1. Somehow get data out of Navision (whether it's XML or some other format)
2. Create a Web Service to deal with this data and prepare it for the outside world
3. Get the web site to consume the Web Service
In this solution, the web site could be coded any way we want (ColdFusion, .NET, PHP, whatever) since all it will do now is consume a Web Service. In our case we would stick with ColdFusion.
We've done a little research and found a great product called Nav-to-Net: http://www.dvp.net/dvp_products_details.asp?docID=307 It really is a great solution -- there are Navision interfaces, a secondary database that mirrors Navision (in case Navision goes down, the website is still accessible) and a complete web site. The only problem, for us, is that everything is written in .NET. We don't have a .NET developer here, and I could learn it myself, but it'd be several months before I was proficient enough to make the kinds of changes we need on a regular basis.
They also have a product called Transaction Manager http://www.dvp.net/dvp_products_details.asp?docID=329 which gets data in and out of Navision in XML.
We proposed getting the Navision interfaces from Nav-to-Net, along with the data-moving of Transaction Manager. Then they could write some custom Web Services and we'd be good to go. Unfortunately, the company that makes these products refused to do that. And we were willing to pay for the full versions of both products, along with implemenation/custom programming costs! They still refused. And this would actually benefit them -- they could then reconfigure their own web site solution to use these new Web Services and then they'd have the additional selling point of using their web site, or keeping your own. They said that we're the first customer they've delt with who actually has technical knowledge about this stuff. So the customer usually has nothing and goes with Nav-to-Net, or already has a website and they go with Transaction Manager. We're kind of in the middle.
So now we're back where we started. We know what we want to do, down to a reasonably technical level, but don't know where to go to get it done. If we could get some kind of system that talks to Navision and let us get data out, I could build the web service myself and then integrate that with the website.
Are we looking for something like Commerce Portal? Unfortunately when we got a demo of CP it was with some crappy chair website that no one liked, so now Commerce Portal has a stigma attached -- everyone assumes CP = bad website. But is CP really just a way to get data in and out of Navision? It just happens to include a web site if you want to use it? I've also heard people mention BizTalk but I'm not familiar with that at all.
Sorry for the long post.
Any help would be appreciated!
Now we've finally got the time to do this the right way. And as far as I can tell, the "right" way would be this:
1. Somehow get data out of Navision (whether it's XML or some other format)
2. Create a Web Service to deal with this data and prepare it for the outside world
3. Get the web site to consume the Web Service
In this solution, the web site could be coded any way we want (ColdFusion, .NET, PHP, whatever) since all it will do now is consume a Web Service. In our case we would stick with ColdFusion.
We've done a little research and found a great product called Nav-to-Net: http://www.dvp.net/dvp_products_details.asp?docID=307 It really is a great solution -- there are Navision interfaces, a secondary database that mirrors Navision (in case Navision goes down, the website is still accessible) and a complete web site. The only problem, for us, is that everything is written in .NET. We don't have a .NET developer here, and I could learn it myself, but it'd be several months before I was proficient enough to make the kinds of changes we need on a regular basis.
They also have a product called Transaction Manager http://www.dvp.net/dvp_products_details.asp?docID=329 which gets data in and out of Navision in XML.
We proposed getting the Navision interfaces from Nav-to-Net, along with the data-moving of Transaction Manager. Then they could write some custom Web Services and we'd be good to go. Unfortunately, the company that makes these products refused to do that. And we were willing to pay for the full versions of both products, along with implemenation/custom programming costs! They still refused. And this would actually benefit them -- they could then reconfigure their own web site solution to use these new Web Services and then they'd have the additional selling point of using their web site, or keeping your own. They said that we're the first customer they've delt with who actually has technical knowledge about this stuff. So the customer usually has nothing and goes with Nav-to-Net, or already has a website and they go with Transaction Manager. We're kind of in the middle.
So now we're back where we started. We know what we want to do, down to a reasonably technical level, but don't know where to go to get it done. If we could get some kind of system that talks to Navision and let us get data out, I could build the web service myself and then integrate that with the website.
Are we looking for something like Commerce Portal? Unfortunately when we got a demo of CP it was with some crappy chair website that no one liked, so now Commerce Portal has a stigma attached -- everyone assumes CP = bad website. But is CP really just a way to get data in and out of Navision? It just happens to include a web site if you want to use it? I've also heard people mention BizTalk but I'm not familiar with that at all.
Sorry for the long post.
Any help would be appreciated! 0
Comments
I'm kind of looking for the same thing as you since direct communication with MSMQ is only Microsoft-friendly. Silver Solutions is the closest match thus far.
http://cms.silverproducts.de/spr/index.php/spr/silverproducts/products/online_shops/online_shop_mit_ez_publish/online_shop_for_navision
Do these guys provide any kind of additional interfaces in Navision to support the web site? For example, that Nav-to-Net solution that I posted a link to above has all kinds of neat forms that let you write descriptions, add specifications, images, etc. right in Navision.
NAS as means of getting the information out of the Navision DB, send the XML to a web site using XMLHTTP.Send. Where the XML will be processed and treated.
There are Codeunits in Navision that create an XML instance. This can be adjuste to about every table inside navision.
Standard CP puts the XML in MSMQ but this can be changed.
Regards
...
Everybody on-line.
...
Looking good!
Is there anywhere I can get some documentation on talking to NAS and getting data in and out? That's our biggest roadblock to a lot of things we want to do -- we can't find where anyone has written down how to do everything!
Are the basics for this installed by default, or would we have to purchase Commerce Portal in order to get access to the good XML stuff?
As for NAS it is used by Commerce portal, Commerece Gateway ADCS and Smart Tags at the very least so i think that will be around for a fair amount of time too.
As for documentation relating to NAS. I haven't seen any really good sources, but I am not a developer so it may be in some of the stuff i haven't read. You could try the apllication designers guide. Or look at how it is being used in Gateway or Portal as examples.
Cheers
Ian
Anyone know off hand which codeunits these are? I'm hoping I can take a look at them and start figuring them out ...
XML Creation and interpretation codeunits:
6224 XML DOM Management
6225 XML Document Encode
6226 XML Document Decode
6201 Conventions
Have fun !!!!
\:D/
...
Everybody on-line.
...
Looking good!