When developing customizations in Acumatica, a common requirement is to save additional data to the database during the creation of new records. This can pose challenges, especially when ensuring data integrity and avoiding issues like infinite recursion. This article explores effective strategies for achieving this goal.

The Challenge of Timing

One of the primary hurdles is identifying the appropriate event to handle the saving of your custom data. While the RowInserted event might seem like a logical choice, it often lacks essential values that haven't been populated at that stage of the process. For instance, if you're working with shipment records, the shipment number may not yet be available during the RowInserted event.

The RowPersisted event, on the other hand, presents a more suitable opportunity. This event fires after a record has been successfully inserted, updated, or deleted in the database. By the time RowPersisted is triggered, all the necessary values, including those generated by the system, should be available.

Avoiding Infinite Recursion

A naive approach to saving data within RowPersisted might involve calling Base.Save.Press(). However, this can lead to infinite recursion because the Save action itself triggers the RowPersisted event.

The Solution: Direct Database Interaction

The most efficient solution is to bypass the standard Acumatica data access layer and interact directly with the database using PXDatabase. This allows you to update your custom data without triggering further RowPersisted events, thus preventing recursion.

Here's a code example demonstrating this approach:

Here we are using the prefix SOOrder and MyCustomObject as an example.

Alternative: Leveraging the Persist Method

Another viable approach, particularly if you're not dealing with timing issues related to system-generated values, is to override the Persist method in your graph or graph extension.

Within the overridden Persist method, you can add your custom data-saving logic after calling base.Persist(). This ensures that the standard Acumatica saving process completes before your custom code executes.

For a graph extension, the override would be like this:

public delegate void PersistDelegate();

[PXOverride]
public void Persist(PersistDelegate baseMethod)
{
    baseMethod();
    // Your custom code to save data here
}

Conclusion

Saving custom data during record creation in Acumatica requires careful consideration of timing and the avoidance of recursion. By leveraging the RowPersisted event in conjunction with direct database updates via PXDatabase or by overriding the Persist method, you can implement robust and efficient solutions that meet your customization needs. Remember to choose the method that best aligns with the specific requirements of your project.