Windows Form with SAP B1 Problem

Question

Dear all,
I'm building an add-on that use some windows form.
In Menu Event i placed the code for open my windows form:
                    MyForm xxx = new MyForm();
                    xxx.WindowState = System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState.Normal;
                    xxx.Visible = true;
                    xxx.ShowInTaskbar = true;
                    xxx.TopMost = true;
                    xxx.Text = string.Empty;
                    xxx.ControlBox = false;
                    System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(xxx);
All works fine, but, when my form is open i can't operate on SAP.
It's like my form is modal, and until I have it open I can't do anything outside the form.
Can someone help me?
Regards
Diego

Answer 1

Hi Diego
There's actually two ways to build an add-on, one that runs inside SAP Business One and one that runs along SB1 side but built on windows forms.  You can see this clearly if you try some of the add-on samples that come along with B1.  Overall, when I did the analysis I ended up with the conclusion that I was going to spend twice the work to achieve windows forms.
First, you would have develop classes and objects that keep in communication with Business One.  Second, you have to keep in mind that you cannot create, update, or delete data directly to the database unless you use the SDK provided objects and methods.  Which brings you back to the SAP data sources.
Furthermore, you can run into a bit of complexity do to the fact that to illustrate data in your form, you might have to "convert" your data.  For instance, say a SAP recordset into a dataset or ADO recordset.  In other words, you can end up with a bit more complex architecture the way I see it.
Using the Screen Painter and SAP Business One tools such as the BIDE you can construct bound form (UDOs) which can even require very little coding from your part (if forms are not to be too complex).  Once you get use to SAP's way handling data objects you see is a lot easier than trying the alternative.