• Use Visual Studio 2005 to craft a .NET assembly (exe or dll)
• The classes in your assembly are "SalesLogix aware" by simply inheriting from a base SalesLogix class or implementing a SalesLogix interface (provided in a new DLL installed with SalesLogix)
• You add your .NET assemblies to the SalesLogix system as plugins via a new .NET Extensions Manager tool
• Add dependencies and other supporting files with your assembly (which all will also automatically sync out to remotes and be installed on all desktops as well)
• You can bundle your .NET assemblies in standard SalesLogix bundles
• The .NET assemblies will synchronize out to remotes and self-install
• The .NET assemblies are easily invoked from SalesLogix scripts
• You can easily pass parameters from SalesLogix scripts to the exposed classes your .NET assembly
• You can easily return values or objects from the exposed classes in your .NET assembly to the calling SalesLogix script
• The .NET assemblies used in SalesLogix can do basically whatever you want, from complex processing to launching forms to whatever
• The SalesLogix Application object automatically referenced by your classes for your use in the .NET code
• Built in support for licensing your .NET assemblies (more on this in a future article)
• All using .NET 2.0 (which will now also be installed by the SalesLogix installation - awesome!)

1. To go the "Project" menu and select "Add Reference"
2. In the Add Reference dialog, click the "Browse" tab
3. Browse to the SalesLogix directory and add the DLL named "Sage.SalesLogix.NetExtensions.Framework.dll"

namespace ClassLibrary1
{
    public class Class1 : Sage.SalesLogix.NetExtensions.BaseRunnable
    {
        public override object Run(object[] Args)
        {
            
        }
    }
}

Public Class Class1
    Inherits Sage.SalesLogix.NetExtensions.BaseRunnable

    Public Overrides Function Run(ByVal Args() As Object) As Object

    End Function
End Class

using Sage.SalesLogix.NetExtensions;

namespace ClassLibrary1
{
    public class Class1 : Sage.SalesLogix.NetExtensions.IRunnable
    {
        private SalesLogix.ISlxApplication _SlxApplication;

        public void Initialize(SalesLogix.ISlxApplication SlxApplication, Licensing.ILicenseKeyManager LicenseKeyManager)
        {
            _SlxApplication = SlxApplication;
        }

        public object Run(object[] Args)
        {
            
        }
    }
}

Imports Sage.SalesLogix.NetExtensions

Public Class Class1
    Implements Sage.SalesLogix.NetExtensions.IRunnable

    Private _SlxApplication As SalesLogix.ISlxApplication

    Public Sub Initialize(ByVal SlxApplication As SalesLogix.ISlxApplication, _
        ByVal LicenseKeyManager As Licensing.ILicenseKeyManager) _
        Implements IRunnable.Initialize

    End Sub

    Public Function Run(ByVal Args() As Object) As Object _
        Implements IRunnable.Run

    End Function
End Class

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Sage.SalesLogix.NetExtensions;

namespace ClassLibrary1
{
    public class Class1 : Sage.SalesLogix.NetExtensions.BaseRunnable
    {
        public override object Run(object[] Args)
        {
            string msg = "Hello .NET-SalesLogix World!\r\n\r\n" +
                         "Argument passed: " + (Args.Length == 0 ? "None" : Args[0].ToString()) + "\r\n" +
                         "Current userid: " + SlxApplication.BasicFunctions.CurrentUserID() + "\r\n" +
                         "Connection String: " + SlxApplication.ConnectionString;

            MessageBox.Show(msg, ".NET MessageBox");
            return null;
        }
    }
}

Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports Sage.SalesLogix.NetExtensions

Public Class Class1
    Inherits Sage.SalesLogix.NetExtensions.BaseRunnable

    Public Overrides Function Run(ByVal Args() As Object) As Object
        Dim msg As String = "Hello .NET-SalesLogix World!" & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & _
                            "Argument passed: " & IIf(Args.Length = 0, "None", Args(0)) & vbCrLf & _
                            "Current userid: " & SlxApplication.BasicFunctions.CurrentUserID() & vbCrLf & _
                            "Connection String: " & SlxApplication.ConnectionString

        MessageBox.Show(msg, ".NET MessageBox")
        Return Nothing
    End Function
End Class

Dim ext ' this variable will hold the handle for the loaded .NET Extension

    ' instanciate the .NET Extension
    ext = Application.Managed.Create("SLX NET Extensions Test", "ClassLibrary1.Class1")

    ' run it (and pass any arguments)
    Application.Managed.Run ext, "Hello from Architect"

    ' destroy the loaded .NET Extension
    Application.Managed.Destroy ext

• 9/25/2006 - Updated article for SalesLogix 7.0 Gold release syntax