Supported DAC Extension Formats

You can keep a DAC customization in a customization project in any of the following ways:
  • As a DAC item of a customization project in XML format. When you publish the project, the platform creates the DAC extension source code and saves the code in the <DACItemName>_extensions.cs file in the App_RuntimeCode folder of the website.
    Note:
    The system creates the file name based on the item name by replacing all symbols except letters and digits with the _ symbol and adding the _extensions suffix. For example, the extension code file for the PX.Objects.CR.Contact DAC item has the name PX_Objects_CR_Contact_extensions.cs.
  • As a Code item of a customization project that is the C# code of the DAC extension wrapped in XML format. When you publish the project, the platform saves the code in the <CodeItemName>.cs file in the App_RuntimeCode folder of the website.
  • As a .dll file of the extension library in the Bin folder of the website. The library contains the binary code of the DAC extension. To deploy the extension library to the production environment along with a customization project, you include the extension library in the project as a File item. See Extension Library for details.
By using the Customization Project Editor, you can:
  • Convert a DAC item to a Code item.
    Note:
    The system creates the Code name based on the DAC item name by using the last word of the name and adding the Extensions suffix. For example, the PX.Objects.CR.Contact DAC item is converted to the ContactExtensions Code item.
  • Move a Code item to the extension library included in the customization project as a File item.
If you have a customized data access class that is added to the project as a DAC item, then you can click Convert to Extension on the page toolbar of the Customized Data Classes page to convert the class changes into the class extension code used to complete the extension development in either the Code Editor or Microsoft Visual Studio (see the diagram below).
Figure 1. Converting the code format of a DAC extension in a customization project


For a Code item included in a customization project, if you want to move the code to an extension library to compile it into a .dll file, you can click the Move to Ext. Library button on the page toolbar of the Code Editor. After the operation is complete, the Code item that is currently displayed in the work area of the Code Editor is removed from the customization project. The file with the same source code is appended to the extension library that is bound to the customization project. If the Code item name was CodeItemName, the name of the created file will be CodeItemName.cs.