Client server communication
The client communicates with various Microsoft Dynamics AX components as follows:
The client uses the remote procedure call (RPC) protocol to directly communicate with the Application Object Server (AOS). The client never accesses the database or metadata directly. The AOS sends the application objects and data to the client.
Form data sources and queries specified in metadata are the basis of the data layer that is used by the client. In addition, any X++ code that needs to retrieve data can use the built-in language support for querying and manipulating data.
The client uses a report Web Part to interact with the report server. The report control in the Web Part calls the Web services exposed by the report server to display information that is contained in SQL Server Reporting Services reports. These reports can include either transactional data from the Microsoft Dynamics AX application or OLAP cubes from SQL Server Analysis Services. Cubes provide business analytics and key performance indicators (KPIs).
The client provides workflow forms, alerts, and controls that users can use to participate in the business process using the Workflow system, a Microsoft Dynamics AX component to enable workflow processes using Windows Communication Foundation classes.
The client provides a help viewer application that displays context sensitive help topics that are retrieved from an on-premise help server.
The client also provides role centers, or role-based home pages, for users. These role centers provide role-specific tasks, activities, alerts, reports, and business intelligence to users to increase their productivity. The client uses a browser control to interact with the role centers which are part of Enterprise Portal and are hosted on IIS.