Warnings when running stored procedure script for Catalina’s API

When I run the script to install Catalina’s stored procedures, I get several messages like this:

The module ‘xct_spDSLXXXXXXXXX‘ depends on the missing object ‘xct_spDSLYYYYYYYYY‘. The module will still be created; however, it cannot run successfully until the object exists.

Don’t worry, those are not errors. They are just warnings that the stored procedure is referencing another stored procedure that hasn’t been created yet. It will get created later in the script.


Manage API Keys for Catalina’s RESTful API for Dynamics SL

You may want multiple users access Catalina’s API for Dynamics SL. When using the RESTful version of Catalina’s API, you can do this by managing the APIKEYSCONFIGFILE.xml (usually located on the web server at c:\inetpub\xctFiles\config — But could be somewhere else depending on the installation. Check with your installer)

NOTE: before doing any changes to Catalina configuration, make sure you backup the files you are updating first.

The APIKEYSCONFIGFILE.xml can be managed by a Catalina management tool called ctConfigEditor. (Normally located in C:\inetpub\xctFiles\ctConfigEditor — but could be in a different location based on installation). Once the ctConfigEditor is loaded, you will see a screen similar to this:

You will need to get your License Key and Site Key (found in the web.config file of the Catalina API for SL. — usually located c:\inetpub\xctFiles\web\ctDynamicsSL or c:\inetpub\wwwroot\ctDynamicsSL but could be located somewhere else based on installation). You will also need to point to the proper Config File.

Once you have loaded the APIKEYSCONFIGFILE.xml with the proper license key and site key, you will see a screen similar to this:

Here you can manage Authentication logins for the RESTful API. In the above example, there are 4 different keys. You can add new ones by just adding a line. and you can delete keys by clicking on the line item and hitting the delete key.

The columns of these API Keys are defined:

  • APIKey: the username of the authentication
  • SECRETKEY: The password of the authentication
  • SITES: a comma delimited list of sites the user has access to

(NOTE: A site is a configuration pointer. If you look at your DSLCONFIGFILE.XML file — usually in the same location as the APIKEYSCONFIGFILE.xml — you will see different Sites and SiteID’s. It is that SITE ID that you would put in the SITES column. If you want to give a user access to more than one site, you would then list all the sites comma delimited. Below is an example of what a DSLCONFIGFILE.XML looks like. You can see that there are two sites: LIVE and TEST.

Once you have finished editing your API Keys in the ctConfigEditor tool, you can then finish it and save by clicking on the “Finish” tab. You can click the Preview button to see what your APIKeys file will look like. You can also Save your file by clicking on the Save button.

Clicking on the save button will allow you to save to a file. You will need to save it on top of the existing APIKEYSCONFIGFILE.XML (NOTE: make sure you have this file backed up before overwriting it).

After you save the file, you will also need to reload your Application Pool in IIS to make the change stick.


Sending Information to Catalina Support

There are times that you might have questions or problems when developing using an API. You contact support and they will ask you to send you the “payload” you are using when communicating with the Catalina API for Dynamics SL. The easiest way to do this, if you are using Postman as your testing environment, is to export the code. This is done in these simple steps

Step 1:
Got to your postman tab you are making the API call from and click on the “Code” link on the right of the screen

Step 2:
On the popup, click on cURL and then copy the text provided, paste it into an email, and send to Support.


SL Quick Pay tips and tricks

Tips & Tricks for Catalina API for SL: Error Retrieving the COM class factory …

When you have an installation of Catalina’s API for Dynamics SL and you are receiving this error in your log files:

Err:Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {A440BD76-CFE1-4D46-AB1F-15F238437A3D}

This error is limited to SL7 installations and sometimes occurs during checkout or placing and order upon intial install of Catalina products; but usually after SL client updates or changes.

The problem is related to missing registry entry for: capicom.dll. This file is required by the the Microsoft Solomon components and used for database access. Capicom.dll is included in a variety of MS products and should already be located on the computer.

Common installation paths:
c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\capicom.dll
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\CAPICOM\CapiCom.dll

If the file is not located there, we suggest doing a file system search for “capicom.dll”.

Once you have located the file on your server, you need to register it.

  • Pull up a command prompt and change to the directory where the capicom.dll file is located.
  • Enter: regsvr32 capicom.dll
  • Test your catalina install