Identifying the cause when Microsoft Dynamics GP crashes with the Support Debugging Tool

David Meego - Click for blog homepageA recent support case again highlighted how useful the Support Debugging Tool for Microsoft Dynamics GP can be. This time the customer was having an issue where Microsoft Dynamics GP was crashing while they were working in a specific window.

We found out that the customer had a Dexterity based customisation active on that window, and as the window was stable for most users, we believed that the crashing issue was caused by this customisation.

The usual method of confirming or proving that the issue is not caused by the core Dynamics GP code is to remove or disable the customisation's product dictionary, either by editing the product out of the Dynamics.set Launch file or by disabling it using the Support Debugging Tool's Dictionary Control feature.

The problem was that if we removed the customisation, the customer would be unable to perform their day-to-day operations which relied on the functionality added by the customisation. Catch-22 you might think...

Well, using the Automatic Start and Stop method described in the Controlling Support Debugging Tool Manual Logging Mode article (part of the Understanding the Support Debugging Tool Series), we used the Support Debugging Tool to automagically capture a Dexterity Script Log, but only while the customised window was in use.

Each time there was a crash, we had the customer send us the latest logs captured and each time the very last script executed, as shown in the Dexterity Script Log, was a script from the customisation.

This identified what the last script being executed before the crash was. In this case it was from a customisation and we were able to direct the customer to work with the developer of the customisation to resolve the issue.

However, at other times it might be code from a Microsoft product... either way, identifying the last script to be executed before Microsoft Dynamics GP crashes goes a long way towards solving the cause of the crashes.

For more information on the Support Debugging Tool, check out the portal below:

Hope you found this interesting. 

David