This week I have a quick tip written up by David Youngquist on how and when to use the GP – File destination in your SmartConnect maps:

Sending a map to file is an excellent way to troubleshoot a SmartConnect map. This is very useful if you need to see the result of any calculated fields or SQL lookups you have created. Here are the steps needed to run a map to file.
Steps to accomplish this:
  1. Open up the SmartConnect map in the Map Setup Window.
  2. Change the Destination drop down from “Microsoft Dynamics GP” to “Microsoft Dynamics GP – File”.
  3. In the Path field that becomes enabled, browse out to a location on the local machine where you can save the files. Typically I create a new folder on the desktop, but the location can be anywhere as long as you can find it after running the map.
  4. Run the map like you normally would. Typically the map will say all documents are successful.
  5. Open the folder where you sent the output of the map and open up one of the XML files. Typically I use Internet Explorer to open the files since it formats them nicely.
  6. Normally if you scan through the data in the file, you can determine what is causing the error. You may have a field mapped wrong, or your calculated fields might not be generating the result you expect.