SyteLine Event System Customization Guide
The SyteLine event system is the preferred method for extending CloudSuite Industrial functionality without touching base code. Events fire at specific points during form operations and IDO method execution, allowing developers to inject custom business logic that survives upgrades. Understanding the event architecture—pre-events, post-events, and event handlers—is essential for any SyteLine technical consultant. Misuse of the event system is one of the top causes of performance issues and upgrade failures in SyteLine environments.
Event System Architecture and Event Types
SyteLine events operate at two levels: form-level events tied to UI interactions and IDO-level events tied to data operations. Form events include LoadForm, UnloadForm, StdObjectModified, and button click handlers. IDO events fire during CRUD operations through the Infor Data Object layer. The critical distinction is that IDO events execute regardless of how data is modified—through forms, APIs, or direct IDO calls—making them the more reliable extension point for business logic.
- Use IDO-level events for business logic that must execute regardless of data entry method
- Reserve form-level events for UI-specific behavior like field visibility and validation messages
- Leverage pre-events for validation and data enrichment before transactions commit
- Use post-events for notifications, logging, and triggering downstream processes
Building Robust Event Handlers
Event handlers in SyteLine are .NET assemblies registered through the Event System Configuration form. Each handler must follow strict patterns: implement proper error handling to avoid blocking base transactions, respect the event context for accessing and modifying data, and manage database connections through the IDO runtime rather than opening direct connections. Poorly written handlers that throw unhandled exceptions will block the entire transaction chain.
- Always wrap event handler logic in try-catch blocks to prevent blocking base operations
- Access data through the IDO event context, never through direct SQL in event handlers
- Keep event handler execution time under 2 seconds to avoid user-facing timeouts
- Log handler execution details to a custom table for debugging and performance monitoring
Event System Governance and Upgrade Safety
The biggest risk with SyteLine event customizations is losing track of what fires where. Maintain a master event registry documenting every handler, its trigger point, business purpose, and owner. Before any SyteLine upgrade, export the complete event configuration and test every handler against the new version. Infor occasionally changes event signatures or timing between releases, and handlers that worked in version 10.1 may behave differently in 10.2.
- Maintain a master event registry spreadsheet tracking all handlers and their purposes
- Test all event handlers in a sandbox environment before every SyteLine version upgrade
- Version control event handler source code in Git alongside other SyteLine customizations
- Remove orphaned event registrations from decommissioned customizations to reduce overhead
Need expert guidance on SyteLine event customization? Our developers have built 500+ event handlers—talk to us.
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