Chapter 1, Getting Started with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Services, introduces the concept of services and explores the new features and enhancements made to them in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

Chapter 2, Service Architecture and Deployment, dives deeper into the service architecture and explores the different options that are available when deploying services.

Chapter 3, AIF Document Services, focuses on the creation, deployment, and consumption of AIF document services.

Chapter 4, Custom Services, will show you how to create and deploy custom services and consume them using a WCF application using new concepts such as attributes.

Chapter 5, The SysOperation Framework, builds upon the knowledge gained from developing custom services to demonstrate how you can run business logic in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 using services and the SysOperation framework.

Chapter 6, Web Services, walks you through the steps needed to consume an external web service in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 using Visual Studio integration.

Chapter 7, System Services, demonstrates how powerful system services that are provided out-of-the-box can be, and how they allow you to build applications faster.

To use the example code files provided with this book, the following prerequisites must be available.

A full list of software requirements can be found in the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 System Requirements document available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11094.

When you are developing for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, you will certainly come into contact with services, even outside of integration scenarios. Because of that, this book is aimed at all Microsoft Dynamics AX developers, both new and those experienced with services and Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

This book assumes no other knowledge than a basic understanding of MorphX and X++. Even beginners will be able to understand and complete the examples in this book. Those new to services will get the most out of this book by doing a complete read-through, but those who are experienced can jump right in. The idea is that this book can be used both to educate yourself and as a resource that can be consulted during development.

Some examples use C#.NET, so experience with Visual Studio is a plus but not a must. This book is not aimed at .NET developers.

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text are shown as follows: "The service contract is a reflection of the DocumentHandlingService class that can be found in the AOT."

A block of code is set as follows:

public static void main(Args args)
{
    SysOperationServiceController controller;

    controller = new SysOperationServiceController();
    controller.initializeFromArgs(args);
    controller.startOperation();
}

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

T-000505 The Dark Knight 119
T-000506 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 112

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "Go to the Service Groups node, right-click on it, and click on New Service Group."

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