Before getting started, there are a few more things to note to make the start easier. The fine folks at Acumatica made the software free to download in a fully functional 2 user demo mode. Furthermore, in the installation process you can install “Sales Demo” data for an instant sandbox to play in and learn the system. Acumatica even provides training videos for everything from system administration to development to end user training.
To setup your environment, make sure you have enabled IIS in Windows Program and Features. You can use a self-signed certificate, but most of the training can be done without an SSL certificate. However, the T400 training for web services will require secure communication to your instance. Also make sure you install .Net Framework 4.7.1 for 2019R1 and R2 or .Net Framework 4.8 for 2020R1.
You will need MS SQL for a database, and fortunately Microsoft provides developers a free (for development and testing purposes only) full featured license for Microsoft SQL Server. Just grab the Developer edition from the Microsoft website. The default settings will get most of the SQL features you need, but be sure to enable Semantic Search for Microsoft SQL Server for the full text search features of Acumatica. To make your life easier, be sure to also install the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio which is available for download via the MS SQL Server installation process.
If you don’t have Visual Studio installed yet, go ahead and download Visual Studio 2019 Community Edition. This version is free to use and provides full support for your training needs. One of the most useful tools to ensure your programming is up to par is an extension called Acuminator. It is not a requirement, but it highlights common mistakes and sometimes has the ability to fix the problems if you let it. Be sure to add the extension into Visual Studio for free.
Now you should be ready to install the main event. Head over to http://builds.acumatica.com/ and open the 19.2 folder. Open the folder for the latest version. You will want to install the file in the AcumaticaFramework folder to get started, you should complete the basic training on Acumatica’s xRP Framework. This is used for the T100 and T200 courses offered for free at https://openuni.acumatica.com/ in the Developer track. To access the training, you just need to sign in with Facebook, Google, or Twitter. Of course, if you happen to have an Acumatica Portal login from Acumatica, you can use that, too. Last time I checked the training was a little outdated, but the basics that you will learn are pretty much universal to Acumatica development.
It will take a few days to complete the T100 and T200 training courses from Acumatica, but they are the keys to building a good foundation. I’d recommend moving into the T300 course next, although you should be prepared that completing all 3 courses back to back is going to be mentally exhausting for most people. However, completion of those courses will mean you are ready to download and install AcumaticaERP from the same http://builds.acumatica.com/ location as where you downloaded AcumaticaFramework. Be sure to follow the installation guides from Acumatica and select “Sales Demo” during the install to get a sample site that you can use for development and testing.
Each training provided by Acumatica comes with instructions on installing the instance you need for the course, so I won’t get into anymore of those details here. The key takeaways are that Acumatica provides training and free copies of the software, and the links are provided for you. Hopefully, the rest of this has given you a general overview that will help you get an idea what lies ahead.
In closing out today’s post, I’d like to point you to some great links from the VAR that started up the Acumatica User Groups… Dynamic Tech Services (DTSI):