Ax2012 Meta Model

What is new in the meta model for AX 2012? Quite a lot – here is a short summary:

• SSRS Report is added, it will replace Reporting Library and Report.
  Create an SSRS Report for any reporting needs.
• Parts are introduced: Info Part, Form Part, Cue and Cue Group.
  These all provides additional information that can be hosted on a form. An Info Part provides a simple grid, a Form Part can host a form inside a form, a Cue provides visual KPIs.
• Service and Service Group Provides capabilities for exposing X++ classes as .NET services – wsdl style.
• New security concepts: Role, Duty, Privilege, Security Policy, Code Permission and Process Cycle. These are all part of the new role based security framework. Notice the meta model contains Role – allowing the developer to specify predefined roles.
• Security key is deprecated
• Visual Studio Project is added
  You can now have VS projects (like C# and VB) in the meta model – yes, they support layer based customization and rapid deployment like all other meta model concepts.
• …. and much more

 The diagram below shows the most common relationships between concepts. Each arrow should be read as “using”. For example:

• Menu uses Menu Item. A menu has a collection menu items.
• Menu Item uses Form. A menu item references a form. This form is launched when the user clicks the menu item.
• Form uses Table. A form uses a table as a data source.
• Table uses Extended Data Type. The fields on a table is defined using extended data types. 

Provided the below diagram, and pinned it to a wall in my office. It serves me as a reference when I navigate the new areas of AX 2012. I hope it can do the same for you.