MODULE 10: POS THEMES

Module Overview
In this module you will understand how to change the look and feel of Microsoft
Dynamics AX for Retail POS registers by creating new Retail POS skins. To create
or modify existing Retail POS skins, you must obtain a license from DevExpress.
Retail POS uses DXExperience Winforms created by DevExpress. You can develop
your own forms without using DevExpress, but it is recommended you use these
to maintain a consistent look and feel.

Objectives

Understand how to create or modify existing Retail POS Skins

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POS Skins
Creating a new skin

Go to the SkinEditor tool, which is typically found at <root>\Program

Files (x86)\DevExpress 2011.2\Components\Tools\Windows Forms
(where 2011.2 is the version number of the product). Double-click the
SkinEditor icon to launch the tool.

Click File->New to open the New Project window.

FIGURE 10.1: NEW PROJECT WINDOW

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Set the Project Name to MyFirstCustomSkin.

Change the Template Skin: field from DevExpressStyle to Office 2010

Blue using the dropdown arrow.

Set the Skin Name: to MyFirstCustomSkin and click the OK button.

Your new skin project is now loaded within the SkinEditor tool, which
contains a list of UI elements called Products. For the remainder of
this topic, Products will be referred to as controls.

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Module 10: POS Themes

FIGURE 10.2: CUSTOM SKIN WINDOW

Setting color properties on your new skin:

Select the common property from the SkinEditor Tool

FIGURE 10.3: SKIN EDITOR TOOL

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Set the Common > Control color property to Blue.

Set the Common > ControlText color property to White.

Click File->Save.

You must now convert your project into an assembly that will be used
by Retail POS. Click File->Create Assembly. You should see a
confirmation dialog similar to the following:

FIGURE 10.4: ASSEMBLY GENERATED INFORMATION WINDOW

The newly generated skin assemblies are placed in the
<root>:\Users\<username>\Documents\My DXSkins\ directory. There will be a
folder beneath that directory with the same name as your skin, in this case
MyFirstCustomSkin. Inside that folder, you will find a MyFirstCustomSkin.dll.

Launching Retail POS with your new skin:

In order for Retail POS to load your new skin, you must place the skin assembly in
the Retail POS runtime folder. Copy the MyFirstCustomSkin.dll to the Skins folder
underneath the Retail POS runtime directory.
You also need to make Retail POS aware of your new skin.

Using Commerce Data Exchange: Synch Service

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Open Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail Headquarters and go to

Retail->Setup->POS->Profiles->Visual Profiles.

Right-click the Theme dropdown and click View Details.

Click the New button and set the POS skin name field to
MyFirstCustomSkin.

Close the POS skins form and with the POS visual profiles form still
open, set the Theme dropdown to MyFirstCustomSkin. Close the
form.

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Module 10: POS Themes

Go to Retail->Periodic->Data Distribution->Distribution Schedule.

Select the N-1090 job and then click the Run directly button. This will
synch the new skin to Retail POS. You can run the following query
against the AXRetailPOS database to make sure this procedure
worked:

SELECT POSSKINNAME, * from RetailVisualProfile

Launch Retail POS and your new skins visualization effects should
display similar to the following image.

FIGURE 10.5: SKIN VISULATION EFFECTS DISPLAY

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Module Review
Tools
DevExpress SkinEditor Tool.

Test Your Knowledge

Test your knowledge with the following questions.
1.

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How will you update the new skin created using the tool in POS

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Test Your Knowledge Solutions

Module Review and Takeaways
1.

How will you update the new skin created using the tool in POS
MODEL ANSWER:

In order for Retail POS to load your new skin, you must place the skin
assembly in the Retail POS runtime folder. Copy the
MyFirstCustomSkin.dll to the Skins folder underneath the Retail POS
runtime directory. Also update the new skin name in Retail->Setup>POS->Profiles->Visual Profiles and run the N-1090 scheduler job.

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