J.D. Edwards Oneworld: A Developer's Guide

I just completed a 21 day JDE developer course. Wow. I recommend the Developer Guide and suggest also getting the JDE Edwards training. The One World tool is very powerful and feature rich. I believe the Developer Guide is a very good book for beginner JDE programmers. One of the best features about the book is the note inserts. I really liked the Note inserts. The authors share their experience through helpful tips and warnings in each note. For example, in the Form Design Aid the authors state "In a Find/Browse form grid, you need to turn on the Multiple Select option in the Forms Option int the form's grid properties". The Form Design Aid chapter includes Step by Step instructions for Search and Select Forms, Find/Browse, Fix/Inspect, Header/Detail, Headerless/Detail, Parent/Child, and Message Form. You will learn how to add a single business view to the form and select fields for placement on the form. Each Form control is described: Check Box, Radio, textbox, UDC Edit Control, Media Object, Bitmap, Tree Control, and Tab Page. Additionally, you will learn how to modify grid properties. This is a big help because the Grid has properties and ER. A new concept for me to learn was data structures and processing options. The authors did a great job explaining how to create a data structure, what the data structure was used for, how to connect a processing option to a data structure, and using versioning to access the forms processing option. Also, you learn how to add menu items to your form. Next, Event Rule (ER) code is introduced to tie code to your Event Rule actions for the menu item. ER includes: Form interconnects, Table I/O, System Functions, Business Functions, Control properties, and if/else logic.I was able to successfully create each form type from the chapter. In future chapters ER and NER coding is explained. I recommend browsing the complete book to which areas which connect together, such as, controls, business functions, NER, and ER.The Book does a fair job of explaining Object Management WorkBench and CNC. They really need to separate the content into two books: one for CNC and the other for development. If I have a problem relating to CNC, I'm not going to try to fix it; let the CNC person fix it. The authors could have used those pages for more content on Development. The authors explained JDE naming conventions for forms, reports, business views, data structures, tables, and applications. Step by Step instructions are provided to create each object type.The Report Design Aid chapter was helpful as it explained the different types of reports. I personally, found the Report Design Aid to be a very well designed tool. The architecture and user interface is very easy to use. They say any report can be created using RDA. The Report training was very impressive, you think it, you build it. The authors not only walk you through the report wizards but they explain each part of the form: Report header, Pa

This book is for the beginner and intermediate level developer, has a lot of sample and case study to help understanding OneWorld development tools. Some tips on Developer's Corner are very helpful. JDE OneWorld Xe version added a cool object management tool OMW, this book will be excellent if keeping update with Xe version.

Overall, I would recommend this book for a new or intermediate level of developer. The material provides basic fundamentals and design for the new developer. It also extends JDE documentation for an intermediate level. The book should be on CD, as it would be a resource worth carrying. Big concern is the timeliness of updated material as release level changes affect developer's tools and techniques. The Developer's Corner sections are a good start at attempting to extend the material to senior level developers. Interesting to notice is the majority of the examples were specific the JDE's custom development (sys 55-59). JDE Event Rules and Business Functions warrant more examples. A Developer's Corner website would be in order, as the author's are made aware of the example improvement and a JDE developer forum. Part I. : A "must read" for anyone learning JDE tools. The material covered is detailed enough to lead people to proper conclusions. The material also acts as a trigger for knowledge previously learned and stored. Best way to describe it is "I knew that, but now I know the why and how it is related to other areas". Crossover is an aspect of JDE, and Part I helps with the understanding of the interaction of tools, CNC and the applications.Part II. : Good description of tool capabilities. I'm not sure the authors could go much deeper and not lose the readers. As with any tool set, imagination is part of the process of development.Part III. : Very good and detailed enough to provide a basic understanding of the JDE tools and object designs. Read it twice, so not to miss anything, because this is the basic premise of object-based systems and toolsets.Part IV.: The one area that I would suggest a senior level developer check out. The novice should fully understand the previous parts of the book. The JDE cache chapter provides one of the better definitions and use of JDE cache. The Developer's Corner should be expanded as the topic is involved and a good methodology description would be valuable.Good resource, worth the price.