Scripting

I created a script for a customer that worked great when running through MAS 200 normally (via sales order entry) however the customer launches orders via SageCRM and the screen bombed. Per Steffan of Sage, it's unclear whether scripts can be run when launched from SageCRM. Anyone else notice this? This customer is running version 4.40.

@DawnAnastasi - Who is Steffan? A customer service person or a technical person? My guess is that the scripts depend on the MAS framework. I'm unsure how they built the MAS screen pops within Sage CRM but, based on what you are reporting, I would bet that there is none of the surrounding framework and it doesn't know how to process it.

His title is ""Customer Support Specialist"". He responded that when you launch sales order from CRM, it's not really running the SO_SalesOrder_ui.pvc program file. When you launch the order entry screen through CRM you launch SO_CRMSalesOrder_ui.pvc.

I believe his name is Steffen Urban. Has been around for several years now. Straight shooter. Nice to work with. Seems to know his stuff.

Well he knows his stuff about some things, but not about others. He said button scripts work. I told him that I wasn't trying a button script, I was trying to use the built-in event driven scripting capability and it worked when running sales order normally but NOT through CRM and I see that as a big concern especially since Sage is giving away a CRM license with use starting in 4.5. If this functionality is crippled if you use SageCRM, you are effectively not gaining the advantages you should just by turning on SageCRM.

My question would be: how many MAS customers use custom scripts on Sales Orders? If it's a lot, then it should be a priority. If not, they should focus on the current set list: vendor integration, multiple company integration, native CRM screens for MAS orders, etc.

About 75% of the scripts I write are for S/O. This is a big deal.

Yeah, Dan - you've done 3-4 scripts or other programming for me and the 3 I can remember off the top of my head all involved Sales Order.

Steffen is getting another Sage tech who knows scripting involved on Monday.

Please keep us informed. @DanBurleson - 75% of your work was done with S/O but how many clients in total are having scripting work done on S/O? That's the question.

@PeterWolf I've done 24 client advanced script projects of which 18 where with S/O. I believe they are all to unique clients. Plus I have two S/O Script quotes outstanding.

I'm really surprised this has never come up yet. Dan, how many of the script projects were for customers using SageCRM to write sales orders?

That's 24 clients out of ... 20,000 MAS customers? It's hard to figure out proper prioritizations without the big picture. @DawnAnastasi - there are few MAS customers using Sage CRM yet so it's probably not a prevalent problem. Hopefully (?), that will change in the near future as Sage CRM adoption ticks up. I know nothing about MAS scripting but I wonder if you can duplicate the scripting on the SO_SalesOrder_ui.pvc file to the SO_CRMSalesOrder_ui.pvc file?

In MAS, you don't specify it for a particular program file. You specify the script on a data file. In this particular case, I was trying to attach it to a post-validate event on the column ItemCode on the SO_SalesOrderDetail table.

@DawnAnastasi Many of these were for other resellers including 90Minds members, but I don't know if any end users had Sage CRM. I have never encountered anyone using it. @PeterWolf 24 is a small picture in ocean of thousands, but I've not encountered a S/O user that coudn't benefit from an advanced script - perhaps like you've not encountered a S/O user that couldn't benefit from CRM. When you're a hammer everything looks like a nail, but these nails may be peas in a pod.

@DanBurleson - You could write volumes about what I don't know about MAS. From what I've heard the scripting feature is pretty valuable and I'm not suggesting otherwise. I'm guessing that a lot of MAS customers might use the vanilla out of the box S/O because they don't know about the benefits of scripting or maybe their needs are basic? Not sure.

I""m betting the amount of scripting will start skyrocketing as we get more people on 4.40 or higher, we get more comfortable knowing what is possible - and asking even if we don't think it is, and as resellers find sources for scripting (or scarily enough, try it on their own...). I'm just a little leery about 5.0 - I hope it doesn't cause a lot of scripts to stop working. But right now, I am more than happy to suggest scripting to clients and to tell them I'll ask about their sometimes outlandish requests rather than just telling them it can't be done without an MD.

What you can do with scripting is pretty much limited by only your imagination and the scriptors coding ability. I have had scripts written that auto sequence the vendor number when adding a new vendor (no sure why Sage didn't do this for vendors what they did for customers), auto number a new inventory item, compute a service fee on a sales order based on what was being purchased, translate a PO cost field based on a UDF containing Euro cost and the current exchange rate (this is a big deal when there are 75 lines on the PO) and I am currently working with a client with a complicated pricing script. You can also use scripting to link SO with UPS and write back the shipping details to MAS (Yes, crossware will do it also).

To follow up on this, it turned out it didn't have to do with scripting when launching SageCRM versus running it through sales order at all. The difference is in how the role permissions were set up. Steffan does not know scripting, so he was making some assumptions. I think the key is, that when you launch a sales order through regular MAS, it uses the user you are logged into MAS as. But when you launch it when in SageCRM, it actually launches it as the user you are logged into SageCRM as -- via cross-reference to the MAS user/salesperson list. And, if your script is accessing anything outside of sales order entry (which my script was) you better make sure you have permissions to access that task. Problem solved!

Thank you for posting the resolution.

So - to be 100% clear - scripts do work within Sage CRM?

It wasn't scripts IN SageCRM -- it was scripts in MAS when you launch from SageCRM.

I understand that. So ... to be 100% clear - scripts in MAS do work when launched from within Sage CRM?

As far as I can see. But I can't guarantee it 100% -- with Sage you never know. There are documented differences when running sales order from SageCRM versus when running it normally.