FW: Tables, Maps and Views

Tables, Maps and Views

Tables, maps, and views are the objects through which data is stored and accessed in Microsoft Dynamics AX. Any of these objects can be used as a data source for a query. Tables, maps, and views have corresponding objects in the SQL Server or Oracle database and are continually synchronized with the database.

In Microsoft Dynamics AX, tables, maps, and views are located in the Application Object Tree (AOT) under the Data Dictionary in the Tables, Maps, or Views nodes respectively.

Tables

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Tables are the foundation objects in Microsoft Dynamics AX and store data used by the system. A table is comprised of records (or rows) that contain information about a single entry in the table; for example, a specific customer or product. A record consists of one or more fields (or columns) that contain a discrete piece of data of a specific data type.

Maps

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Maps define X++ elements that wrap table objects at run time. With a map, you associate a map field with a field in one or more tables. This enables you to use the same field name to access fields with different names in different tables. Map methods enable to you to create or modify methods that act on the map fields.

Views

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A view is a virtual table whose contents are defined by a query. Like a table, a view has fields and rows but its data comes from tables referenced in the query. Views allow you to join data from multiple tables and you can select which fields are returned by the view. A view isn't stored as a database object (like a table) but is dynamically created when the view is accessed.