Types of tables in AX 2012

Prior to Dynamics AX 2012 versions, only one type of temporary table was available. In AX 2012, however, the Temporary property on tables was replaced with a new property: TableType, which has three possible values:

•         Regular - a standard physical table
•         InMemory - the type of temporary table which existed in the previous versions of Dynamics Ax. Such tables are held in memory and written to a local disk file once they grow beyond a certain point

•         TempDB - a new option in Ax 2012. They are "physical" temporary tables held in the SQL Server database.

TempDB tables

We call them TempDB tables because their TableType property value is TempDB. This value comes from the TableType::TempDB enum value. The TableType property value can be set at AOT > Data Dictionary > Tables > MyTempDBTable > Properties > TableType.

 

The new TempDB tables operate in a similar manner to InMemory tables but support more features from standard physical tables:

•   More powerful joins with physical tables are possible, and are properly supported by the database

•   Can be per-company or global

•    Support for normal tts transactions

 

 

In a developer's point of view, temporary tables store data in the same way as

 normal physical tables, except that the data is automatically dropped when no longer required.