When Acumatica first launched their mobile app a few years ago, I was very impressed with the vision. What made it special is that it wasn’t a separate app with a separate codebase like most mobile apps.
This was a very smart approach, especially for an ERP application, because there is a lot of business logic that goes into screens in an ERP system. The Acumatica mobile app simply sits on top of regular Acumatica screens, picking up any business logic that happens to exist on those screens (including entirely custom screens), as long as they were built in the Acumatica Framework.
But it was still a little tricky to enable screens for the mobile app. You had to create an XML file and put it in a directory on the server. This was especially problematic for Acumatica SaaS customers because they don’t get access to the server. You could do it through a Customization Project, but it wasn’t that intuitive.
This is how Acumatica does things. They do things the “right” way, even though it takes them longer to mature and they can be difficult to work with in the beginning.
Fast-forward a few years and the Acumatica mobile app is beginning to hit its stride. I think that we are going to continue to see a lot of momentum in this area in the next 1-2 years.
Ruslan Devyatko is the original Acumatica platform evangelist at Acumatica and one of the most experienced Acumatica technical resources on the planet. Additionally, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who cares more about teaching and helping people than Ruslan. He has a rare combination of programming skills, people skills, and passion for sharing information.
During this session, Ruslan showed us how to actually do those cool mobile app things that we’ve been seeing in demos the past couple of years.
This was my favorite session at Summit 2019.
Here are my Twitter notes from the session:
Starting a session on what's new in the Acumatica mobile app #AcumaticaSummit pic.twitter.com/QkHB26pnPf
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
How the mobile framework began pic.twitter.com/DHCywYqNQQ
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Then MSDL was introduced pic.twitter.com/RFJxIV83fh
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
XML has been retired and replaced by MSDL which resides in Database now, no longer in files pic.twitter.com/GQD5NTRdji
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
3 major enhancements pic.twitter.com/fUlWZUQpUn
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
1. Per-Tenant pic.twitter.com/9G94xB848F
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Customization Project Editor pic.twitter.com/NwYCiAdCPe
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
3. Enhanced Screen Layout pic.twitter.com/YAYJqS9pIa
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Configuring GIs and Dashboards for the Mobile app pic.twitter.com/oK06PktX9C
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
We're adding the Generic Inquiry manually through the Customization Project pic.twitter.com/waszkBWitw
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Here is the code to grab the fields pic.twitter.com/B2ZsDmfh6I
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
This is how we knew the field names to use pic.twitter.com/4UYLIPdUf0
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
And the Result field names pic.twitter.com/0dylxTtVQq
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Now we need to Update Main Menu pic.twitter.com/Z166AAj1Mq
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
You get an error if you typed something in incorrectly pic.twitter.com/IFwfo7OfuZ
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Sales Orders and Quotes has been added to the Mobile app. Only available in one Tenant, not another. pic.twitter.com/pSrW1wQzhc
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Now adding Dashboard. pic.twitter.com/BKjKo2HFm9
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
We'll do this manually so we can place it wherever we want pic.twitter.com/UX5Pre7cVl
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
We're even adding it to a folder on the menu. Cool, I've never used folders on mobile before. pic.twitter.com/7fikiOIIwH
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Very cool. Make sure to add the GIs to mobile if you want to drill down. pic.twitter.com/JIfabgmnD1
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Keep in mind that you can add GIs using the "easy" way if you want. pic.twitter.com/PlQTVqjNnd
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Now adding a GI without a filter which should be easier pic.twitter.com/9JkTpNZUeX
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Add new screen first, then do this pic.twitter.com/WXy8mGGlOu
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Adding another Dashboard within the Dashboard folder pic.twitter.com/wRfhVbKLnL
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Drilling into a GI will show any Filters that you can choose from pic.twitter.com/F93cugEW3B
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Now for mapping User Defined fields to mobile app pic.twitter.com/4muBc5ppll
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
We want to map these 2 fields pic.twitter.com/jmM4LvKJFu
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Note that this User Defined fields thing not currently available in the mobile app store app
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Secret trick to show right now is to set Visible to False pic.twitter.com/FBqr0bMPVx
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Choose Update Existing Screen pic.twitter.com/cZyYu0vtqW
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Choose Update Existing Screen pic.twitter.com/cZyYu0vtqW
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
This is the code for updating the screen pic.twitter.com/MceLUbRoOr
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Fields have been added to mobile screen. Fields still show in browser even though we used Visible=False because it's just a temporary workaround. pic.twitter.com/413VODeFDg
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Now how to add scan receipts option pic.twitter.com/fSMIR7QwE5
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
First, keep in mind that Result Preview shows the end result code pic.twitter.com/QjZy1VdcRq
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
This is the trick to get the scan receipt functionality in the Mobile app camera pic.twitter.com/np4xHRLzwy
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Now we get that extra functionality in the camera pic.twitter.com/MSyHwtj6sH
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Now for Reports and Signature Capture pic.twitter.com/qcx1Eh4dHd
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Can add Reports to a screen or to main menu pic.twitter.com/RSIcPPEd4y
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
These three lines add a Report to the Sales Order screen pic.twitter.com/OFmnH61E7s
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Now we can print the Sales Order from the mobile app Sales Order screen. Very cool! pic.twitter.com/6un5EiMFeH
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
We need to add the Report also or it won't run, including adding it to the main menu, even though we won't display it on the menu pic.twitter.com/TJq0oXD4eQ
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Now the report prints in the mobile app pic.twitter.com/3ODtiRmxIU
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Lastly, Signature Capture pic.twitter.com/IKBBU1kRHw
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
These SignReport lines are what we need pic.twitter.com/vHRc2PlnOR
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Now we can capture a signature which gets attached as a file attachment to the record pic.twitter.com/T9qa8G3nLo
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Like what you saw? Here are resources for more information pic.twitter.com/0QdiIHEzPA
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
As always, great session Ruslan. You are a huge asset to @acumatica #AcumaticaSummit pic.twitter.com/PvxLXDh239
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019
Ruslan's contact info pic.twitter.com/R3yQJQWlY1
— Tim Rodman (@TimRodman) January 29, 2019