C/AL – ARKSD Consultancy Private Limited

AL, BC14, BC15, BC16, BC17, BC18, Business Central, C/AL, Cumulative Updates, Dynamics 365, End of Mainstream, Extension, Information, NAV 2015, NAV 2016, NAV 2017, NAV 2018, Navision, on-premises, Online, Updates, upgrade

Comparison of BUSINESS CENTRAL AND NAV

November 30, 2022 Ashwini Tripathi

First released in 1987, acquired by Microsoft in 2002, now called Business Central, Dynamics NAV is one of Microsoft’s most prolific software packages.

After Dynamics NAV 2018, Microsoft discontinued their popular, but on-premises only, ERP solution Dynamics NAV and replaced it with Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC-13). But what is the difference between the two systems, and why should your business make the switch? Let’s take a look at Business Central vs Dynamics NAV.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV was rebranded in 2018 to Microsoft Dynamics Business Central for on-premises and private cloud versions, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for the cloud version.

At the time of writing this comparison, BC-21 is available in market.

Since 2018, Dynamics NAV is no longer available for purchase. The only businesses that can use the system are those that already held licenses. Even for those who do still hold licenses, the system no longer receives updates, meaning the software will quickly become outdated and harder to use.

Mainstream Support for Dynamics NAV versions from 2013 to 2017 has already ended, with the 2018 version losing support in January 2023. This deadline is fast approaching, so if you are currently using NAV 2018 you should begin to consider your optimal course of action going forward.

With very little time remaining before the end of Dynamics NAV Mainstream Support in January 2023, the sooner you decide on your course of action, the better.

Microsoft introduced Dynamics 365 Business Central. Business Central is a newer version of Dynamics NAV, offering the same standard functionality in a much more user-friendly way. It’s also SaaS (Software as a Service) meaning it’s accessible from anywhere, with the same security that drives Microsoft 365.

In addition to the functions carried over from Dynamics NAV, the Dynamics 365 Business Central system affords users with access to:

Integration with Microsoft 365 applications for increased productivity and streamlined data

Data connectivity and business intelligence through Microsoft Power Platform

Microsoft Azure architecture for cloud security, presence, and scale

Increased pool of third-party software integrations

Multiple deployment options for on-premises, private server, or cloud hosting

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central helps with day-to-day business processes and operations. Its capabilities include financials, stock management, purchasing and much more, all with real-time data and analytics through Power BI.

Dynamics 365 Business Central is relevant for businesses adopting flexible, hybrid, or remote working models thanks to the scalable, cloud-based architecture and integration with Microsoft 365 and Power BI tools.

It is an all-in-one solution that can be adapted for many industries including software developers, IT services, financial services, healthcare, and educational institutions.

The system also has large user bases in manufacturing, distribution, ecommerce, and retail.

Features and functions are still the same as back in the NAV days, just with a more digital-focused platform. But still differ from old days Dynamics NAV.

Most of the base code of Business Central has been adapted from NAV, and it has enhanced the rich functionality its predecessor offered, with options to deploy as an on-premises or a SaaS cloud solution.

The Dynamics 365 Business Central web client, including its sisters, the tablet and phone clients (by the way, there is no longer a Windows client) has had a makeover!

Features include new and varied fonts to highlight important information such as a headline banner on the Role Centre, a fabulous teal Role Centre with easy navigation, and interestingly capitalised field names on lists!

They are curiously small differences but really nice touches.

Design Tool it’s as good as it used to be! In fact, it’s a very smart design tool. As a ‘non-developer’ you can amend pages, add new fields and save the result as an extension.

When comparing Dynamics NAV to Business Central, you must be aware of the substantial functional upgrades and new capabilities of Dynamics 365 Business Central. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is an upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics NAV that offers several notable improvements.

You’ll see numerous benefits in your business, including agility, ability to scale quickly, mobility, lower cost of ownership, and more.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central have many similarities, but there are many differences too that make many users move from NAV to Business Central.

You can also choose to deploy Business Central as an on-premises solution if that is a better fit for your organization. However, you may then miss out on integration and cutting-edge features.

While the two systems are similar, there are key differences that make Business Central the preferred option for many businesses:

	Business Central	Dynamics Navision
	Dynamics 365 Business Central is a cloud-based ERP solution. With Dynamics 365 Business Central, you can access your data and applications anytime, anywhere, and on any device. D365 Business Central includes a comprehensive set of features and functionality. Business Central is licensed on a per-user basis. With Business Central, you only need to pay for the users who will be using the system.	Dynamics NAV is an on-premises ERP solution. Dynamics NAV requires some customization and third-party add-ons to achieve the same level of functionality. Dynamics NAV is licensed on a per-server basis. Dynamics NAV, you need to pay for the server regardless of how many users are accessing the system.
Integration	Full (All Microsoft Products)	Limited, Version Dependent
Objects	49,999 objects are free to use on cloud	Objects need to be purchased for customizations
Search Interface	Advanced, with automatic categorization, smart search (search for misspellings or imprecise terms)	Basic, possibility of data duplication
Reporting	Power BI	Limited
Deployment	Cloud (No need to maintain servers and backups) although On-Premises option also available.	On-Premises, Cost for Server maintenance and backup management.
USER INTERFACE	Web-based app Improved design Much easier to navigate. More productive platform.	Desktop-based
	Business Central interface uses AL language in the code. Offers more customization than before and helps to make extensions and upgrades much easier to manage in the long term.	Dynamics NAV using C/AL coding
	Better integration with other Microsoft products already used by many businesses, including all applications within the Microsoft Dynamics suite, like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales (CRM) and Office 365 products, such as Outlook and Excel.
	Offers more automated operations to improve productivity. Native connectivity to Microsoft’s Power Platform (e.g., Power Automate) and powerful workflows and integrations can be created, by end-users without complex coding, sometimes almost no code.
HOSTING	Business Central is a SaaS solution – sitting on Microsoft’s Azure cloud, which enables you to specify the region where your data is stored and processed. There are many benefits to SaaS solutions, * Greater security * Less risk of data loss and * Better accessibility for your team. * Cloud hosting also works alongside the new coding to make upgrades and extensions much easier to carry out.	Only On-Premises capability. Need to invest in and manage your own in-house servers.
UPGRADES	Bi-annual release Sequential upgrades, Which happen automatically. Your systems are always up to date. With the on-premises or private cloud version of Business Central, upgrades are not automatic but are still relatively simpler compared to NAV. Plus, any third-party apps or customizations you have are also designed to be compatible with each new Business Central update.	No Automatic Upgrades.
	Your business is always using the most optimised version of Business Central.	Fuss and cost of manually updating the software.
	If you are apprehensive about an update, there is an option to delay its installation for up to 90 days. However, it’s good idea to staying as up to date as possible. Updates are introduced to improve overall user experience and security.	Hotfixes & Cumulative updates to be handled on own cost.
	Business Central, the modifications are made using AL language that creates extensions – leaving the core system untouched and making upgrades a lot easier.	NAV customization was written in C/AL language and was integral to the core system. This meant upgrades were a major undertaking as the whole system needed to be reviewed and potentially redeveloped.
USER LICENSES	Dynamics 365 Business Central uses a monthly/annual subscription model and is available in either (‘Essentials’ or ‘Premium’). Charges per user, meaning fees are based on the number of simultaneous users each month. You also get an option to pay a perpetual license fee. That means you can now Business Central as an operational expense or a capital expense, whichever makes more sense for your business. It also moves from a concurrent user to a named user licensing model.	Perpetual with yearly AMC 16% in license cost. Dynamics NAV is available in Starter Pack & Extended Pack.
	Business Central users can also benefit from Single Sign On and usability across multiple devices, and across iOS, Android, and PC.
	Remote working much easier, especially as the landscape of working life is becoming a blend of office-based and home working. Flexible and cost-effective for businesses.
	Now your staff can simply log into the web app from any device to get their job done. This makes the ERP solution much more cost-effective and flexible for your business.

HOW TO TRANSITION TO BUSINESS CENTRAL

Many companies have been using Dynamics NAV for years, so Nav users may be a little wary about making the switch to Business Central. But with even more functionality than the NAV solution and with better usability, you won’t regret taking the first step.

While some Microsoft products, like Office 365, can be bought directly from Microsoft, this is not the case for Business Central. Due to the complexity of the product, Microsoft Business Central must be purchased through an approved Microsoft partner.

The Business Central trial takes a few minutes to load, and you can start using the app.

Dynamics 365 Business Central Licensing

There are two main subscription licensing options:

Business Central Essentials

Business Central Premium.

To use this ERP software, you must license one of these plans. Both plans are licensed by user and are fast to implement as well as easy to configure. There’s also a ‘Team Members‘ licensing option to add on additional users.

The difference between a full user vs. an additional user:

A full user is someone who will be working heavily within Business Central on a daily basis. These will typically be your customer service employees, sales and marketing staff, finance employees, and supply chain managers.

An additional user or team member is a ‘light user’ or users who do not require the full capabilities of Business Central. For instance, they may need to view data reports, log their expenses or time, and other such activities.

Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials consists of several modules that are considered essential for any business.

Modules included within Essentials:

Financial Management
Supply Chain Management
Customer Relationship Management
Project Management
Warehouse Management
Human Resources Management

Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium

The Premium license has everything in the Essentials license plus service management and manufacturing.

Modules included within Premium:

Service Management
Manufacturing
Financial Management
Supply Chain Management
Customer Relationship Management
Project Management
Warehouse Management
Human Resources Management

AL, Business Central, C/AL, Development Tips, Events, Extension Package, How To, Information, Modern Development Tool, Publisher, Raise, Subscriber, Tip & Tricks, V2, Visual Studio Code

Event driven Programming – Business Central

December 24, 2018 Ashwini Tripathi

You can use events to design your application. Below are the benefits of using this model.

You can lower the cost of code modifications and upgrades.
You can customize functionality without modifying the original application.
Your program will react to specific actions or behaviours of original application.

The following table describes all the different event types:

Event types	Description
BusinessEvent	Specifies the method to be business type event publisher.
IntegrationEvent	Specifies the method to be integration type event publisher.
Global	Global events are predefined system events.
Trigger	Trigger events are published by the runtime.

You program events in the application to run customized behaviour when they occur.

What are Events?

A thing that happens. Event is declared by an AL method, which is referred to as event publisher function. Publisher method have only signature only and does not execute any code.

Publisher is the object that contains event publisher methods that declares the event. It serves as hook-up point in application, where subscribers use these points to extend the functionality, without even making any changes to the base application.

Only publishing an event do nothing in application, these events must be raised for subscribers to respond.

Especially Business and Integration type events must be published and raised, you need to create event publisher functions and add them to the objects manually.

Trigger events which occurs on Table & Page operations, are automatically published and raised by system at runtime, so no coding is required to publish them.

Subscriber is an AL method that subscribes to even publisher method, and logic to handle the event is implement.

Creating an event publisher method to publish business and integration events

Creating event publisher method is similar to other methods you define in AL. In addition some specific properties and few restrictions.

Can not include any code except comments.
You cannot define return values, variables or text constants.

You can define event publisher in any objects new or in existing objects and of any type of objects like codeunit, page or table.

If you define even as local then it will not be available for subscribers.

[IntegrationEvent(IncludeSender,GlobalVarAccess)]

local procedure MyProcedure()

begin

end;

[BusinessEvent(IncludeSender)]

local procedure MyProcedure()

begin

end;

Feel free to add as much of parameters and of any type as required. However it is advised not to include unnecessary parameters to Business events.

Raising Events

You need to modify the application to raise the event where ever it is needed. You call the event publisher method, same way you call any other methods in AL.

When the execution hits the evet publisher method, all event subscriber method that subscribe to the event are executed. Limitation will be you can not specify the order in which subscriber method will run, subscribers will be picked one at a time and in random order.

Subscriber Method

You can create new or use existing codeunits to define subscriber methods.

[EventSubscriber(ObjectType::Codeunit, Codeunit::, ‘OnSomeEvent’, ‘ElementName’, SkipOnMissingLicense, SkipOnMissingPermission)]

local procedure MyProcedure()

begin

end;

Add code to the method for handling the event.

Don’t worry at this point we will go through complete process programmatically in our next upcoming posts.

How to find which event to subscribe, and where to write our code.

Similar to earlier days we used Code Coverage, same way we have Event Recorder in Business Central.

Search for Event Recorder in RTC or alternatively you can launch from VS Code from Command Palate AL: Open Events Recorder.

Let’s look at a small example of finding Events.

I want to know what all events hit or available to subscribe when Sales-Order is Re-Opened.

Step-1: Open the Event Recorder and Click on Start.

Step-2: Perform Sales-Order -> Reopen

Step-3: Click on Stop.

Step-4: Scan from the list of events that you find suitable, to know how to subscribe to that event you can find AL Code. (Get AL Snippet)

All the recorded events display in the order they were called. The Event Recorder page provides information on the events that were raised including the details whether the raised events were trigger events or custom events. The custom events are either Business Events or Integration Events.

You can identify the Event types, additionally, you can discover which object types and methods raised the events with the details like calling methods, object types, and object names.

Readiness to Event:

Redesign your on prem to an event-based approach in C/AL.
This will prove to be best preparation for moving to VS Code AL extension.
You will be able to find any issues in your code that you need to refactor.
Next step will be to Lift your on prem product to VS Code AL extension.
Then extension can be published as a MSDY365 Business Central app.

Now you know about basics of Events. Understand Publisher, Raising Events and Subscribing to Events. Also how to trace and find suitable events to subscribe for your customization over base application.

Before we end the post let’s have a Recap to Events

Publish:

Announcement by the application
Function without code
Exposes the event to the outside

Raise:

Specifies exactly when the event happens
Call to the Publisher Function

Subscribe:

React to the event
Must be in codeunit, tableextension or pageextension.

Note: Raise order specified in code, Subscribe order undefined.

We will look into practical approach in our next post.

AL, Business Central, C/AL, Development Tips, Extension Package, How To, Information, Modern Development Tool, Tip & Tricks, V2, What's New

AL Basics – Part 4 [Page]

December 14, 2018 Ashwini Tripathi

Today we will see how to create pages in AL.

Before we dive into it lets have some basic concept for Pages.

If you navigate in Navision you may be familiar with page types we have in Navision.

Types of Page

Card Page
List Page
CardPart Page
ListPart Page
Worksheet Page
Document Page
RoleCenter Page
Confirmation Dialog Page
ListPlus Page
StandardDialog Page
Navigate Page

All above pages are just how we design and use them for specific purpose, I will not go in details what type of page is used for what purpose you can find them in any document or already familiar with.

When we design pages we should have idea of Page Controls

Different Page Controls you have on pages are:

Actions
Content Area
Factbox Area
RoleCenter Area

All controls are placed in pages using below arrangement

Type	SubType

Container	Content Area
	FactBox Area
	RoleCenter Area

Group	Group (Fast Tabs – on Card Pages)
	Repeater (List Pages)
	CueGroup (Rolecenter Pages)
	FixedLayout
	Grid layout

Field	Data from Table

Part	Display another Page, Chart, System defined features

Lets understand from below Customer List Page

Let’s create our First Page.

To Create a Page First we will create a File .al.

In Editor we fill type snippet tpage

You will get the options available, select Page of type list, we are going to create List Page.

Basic structure of the Page is given to you as below

Lets create our LoadoutPointList Page on Table Loadout Point table created in previous post.

Similarly we will create a Appointment Calendar Setup List Page, final code as below:

Similarly you can design Card Page Also:

I am not creating Page from scratch but will show you few properties, triggers from standard Page e.g.:- Cost Type Card

PageType you need to define as Card.

For FastTab you need to define group.

Above is the example of few properties for field control on Page.

To add factboxes to the page you define area(factboxes).

Here systempart for Links & Notes is added.

Above is actions to the page. Few properties how to define.

Above is the Page triggers.

Complete code for each objects is not possible to include in post.

But I will give to some tips using which you can explore equivalent AL Code and tryout them.

Suppose you want to see any feature how implemented in Customer Card.

Export that object as text, and convert using txt2al for equivalent al code.

You can refer back to my previous post Quick Start with Extensions for Business Central

Similar method I have explained in this post.

We will explore few more possibilities and Extending to existing Table & Pages in our upcoming post.

AL, Business Central, C/AL, Development Tips, Extension Package, How To, Information, Modern Development Tool, Tip & Tricks, V2

AL Basics – Part 3 [Table Continued]

December 12, 2018 Ashwini Tripathi

In last post we saw basics of how to Create Table and created a Loadout Point Table.

Today we will continue from where we left in previous post. If you missed previous post you can find here AL Basics – Part 2.

We will create one New Table say Working Calendar Time Slot. Since no new concept used in this table so without explanation I will directly share the final structure of this Table. I am using this table in today’s next Table which I will be creating later below.

So here is the structure of this Table.

Now coming to today’s topic. Creating Field Triggers & Functions.

I will be creating a new table Appointment Calendar Setup.

Here is the structure of same, and explanation follows after screen shot.

In this Table the Loadout Point field TableRelation to the Loadout Point table that we created in our previous post.

Similarly the field Start Working Hrs. & End Working Hrs. field, OnValidate() trigger is implemented which call to a function/procedure CreateTimeSlot() defined in this table itself.

Field Start Working Days & End Working Days is defined with option type.

When user Enters the Start Working Hrs. & End Working Hrs. we will create the Time Slot for that Location (Loadout Point).

Finally I have created a local procedure in the table, which as per the information entered it creates the Time Slot in Table we created above Working Calendar Time Slot. Also see I have created few local variables to the function of different types. You can see there is no difference in writing the code, it follows same syntax as in our Navision C/AL. Advanced coding options and what’s new will discuss separately in future posts.

Till here we have our basic structure of our Extension. We will see how to design page in our next post.

We will come with more advance points on Table Later as we proceed in completing our Extension. There is lots of things to share on this topic but sometime later in future posts. First Let us cover all Object Types.

AL, Business Central, C/AL, C/AL Editor, Development Tips, Dynamics 365, Extension Package, How To, Information, Instalation & Configuration, Modern Development Tool, Tip & Tricks, V2, What's New

Quick Start with Extensions for Business Central

December 8, 2018December 8, 2018 Ashwini Tripathi

Today I am going to give you a tip for getting started with Extension Building for Business Central.

As AL have newly introduced so it is going to take time to learn and be comfortable with programming using AL codes.

Best way of learning anything is learning by examples. What if we first learn what will be equivalent to actions we perform in Navision designer.

So to demonstrate this I will start with creating a small customization directly in Navision then convert it to Extension.

Are you ready? Let’s start with this exciting journey of 1-2-3 step.

Step 1.

Saving my Base Line Object (Prior to performing any Modification).

In this example I am going to Modify Table – Item & Page Item Card.

Let’s export this two object as FOB, Later we will require this to revert our customization.

Also export this two objects as txt. This we will require in our Extension building process. But need to follow instructions explained in below step, else this file will be rejected by the tool when we try to convert to AL. Follow the process of exporting text file explained after completing the Customizations in Step 3.

Step 2.

I will create one Table 50000 – Product Range as below:

Next I will create one List Page on above Table, Page 50000 – Product Range as below:

Also will Add Table Property as below to enable Lookup & DrillDown

Save your objects.

Now I will add one field to Table Item & Page Item Card as below:

Now I am done with my all customization and saved my modified & New Objects.

Step 3.

Now we will export these objects All New & Modified into Text File.

But we will not do it from Object designer rather will do it from command prompt.

Preparing for AL Conversion.

Run Command Prompt as Administrator.

Change to RTC folder.

Check your folder where you have installed, default location is as one I am using.

You can export all objects in one single file or one file per object. I am exporting one object per file, you can explore command parameter to use accordingly.

I will be using below commands.

First we will create 4 Folders namely Original, Modified, Delta & Result

Note: Make sure ExportToNewSyntax with command parameter is used else txt2al (which we will use below) will reject your files, it is mandatory.

Below command is to export Original objects before modification: (Save in Original Folder)

1. finsql.exe Command=ExportToNewSyntax, File=G:\RND\Txt2ALTest\exportedBaselineObjectsT27.txt, Database=”Demo Database NAV (13-0)”, ServerName=”KSD-DESKTOP” ,Filter=Type=table;ID=27

2. finsql.exe Command=ExportToNewSyntax, File=G:\RND\Txt2ALTest\exportedBaselineObjectsP30.txt, Database=”Demo Database NAV (13-0)”, ServerName=”KSD-DESKTOP” ,Filter=Type=page;ID=30

Below command is for New Objects: (Save in Modified Folder)

3. finsql.exe Command=ExportToNewSyntax, File=G:\RND\Txt2ALTest\exportedNewObjectsT50000.txt, Database=”Demo Database NAV (13-0)”, ServerName=”KSD-DESKTOP” ,Filter=Type=table;ID=50000

4. finsql.exe Command=ExportToNewSyntax, File=G:\RND\Txt2ALTest\exportedNewObjectsP50000.txt, Database=”Demo Database NAV (13-0)”, ServerName=”KSD-DESKTOP” ,Filter=Type=page;ID=50000

Below command is for Modified Objects: (Save in Modified Folder)

5. finsql.exe Command=ExportToNewSyntax, File=G:\RND\Txt2ALTest\exportedModifiedObjectsT27.txt, Database=”Demo Database NAV (13-0)”, ServerName=”KSD-DESKTOP” ,Filter=Type=table;ID=27

6. finsql.exe Command=ExportToNewSyntax, File=G:\RND\Txt2ALTest\exportedModifiedObjectsP30.txt, Database=”Demo Database NAV (13-0)”, ServerName=”KSD-DESKTOP” ,Filter=Type=page;ID=30

Our Next step will be to create DELTA files.

Open Business Central Administration Shell

Import your Microsoft.Dynamics.Nav.Model.Tools Module using below syntax

import-module “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central\130\RoleTailored Client\Microsoft.Dynamics.Nav.Model.Tools.psd1” -force –verb

Execute below Shell Command:

Compare-NAVApplicationObject -OriginalPath G:\RND\Txt2ALTest\Original\*.txt -ModifiedPath G:\RND\Txt2ALTest\Modified\*.txt -DeltaPath G:\RND\Txt2ALTest\DELTA\ -ExportToNewSyntax

After this process we will get our Delta files in Delta Folder, this will be input to our next command/tool.

Next we will convert Delta File to AL files.

On Command prompt used above run below command: (This is not Shell Window please make sure)

txt2al –source G:\RND\Txt2ALTest\DELTA\ –target G:\RND\Txt2ALTest\RESULT\

Here we will get our *.al files. Which will be used for creating extensions.

Step 4.

Perform clean up to the database.

Import the FOB exported in Step one to restore your original Table 27 & Page 30.
Delete New Created Objects.

Now our database in in original state as before performing customization.

Fresh and Clean Business Central Database without any customizations.

Step 5.

In this step we will create extension in VS Code using above obtained *.al file.

Open VS Code and Press <Ctrl>+<Shift>+<P> and select AL:Go! to create a project Folder

Enter your Project Folder and press enter

Update your app.json file as below:

Add Name & Publisher, also check available idRange all objects in this project must be in this Range.

Update your launch.json file with your server & authentication details accordingly:

Remove the HelloWorld.al file created by default by right click and select delete.

Now add your created *.al files

You can drag and Drop to your Project Folder.

Now you will get errors, to resolve it we need to download our Symbols from Navision.

To download press <Ctrl>+<Shift>+<P> to open command Pallet and select Al: Download Symbols

If your server settings in launch.jason is correct your Symbols will get downloaded.

Now let resolve any others errors that may have in your *.al Files.

First I will rename my all Files to meaningful name so that in future it is easy to manage.

To do so, right click the File and select Rename, in my case I have renamed as below:

Now we will open each file and perform required action to resolve the errors as below.

After changes don’t forget to save your files.

Ensure Object ID you use is within the range of id provided in app.json file. ID is not used in database or any other extensions. Else when you deploy the extension it will give errors, also make sure you give unique object names too.

DataClassification property is not available in Al so we removed it.

Now my all objects are error free, and ready to be packaged.

Step 6.

Now we will Deploy & Test our Extension.

To create a package press <Ctrl>+<Shift>+<P> to open command pallet.

You can choose AL:Publish also it will create package and Publish to the server.

Next you choose AL:Publish to deploy your Extension to the Business Central.

You can verify your Extension from Extension Management Page from Navision Client

Double click on your extension record to see details:

Now let’s see in action our extension.

Open Item Card.

Congrats, your First Extension is ready to use.

There is lots of many thing to explain, but in single post everything is not possible. I will come up with basic things and creating Extensions from scratch in some other posts.

It was just a quick idea, as everyone is looking option for upgrade so this information may be handy to plan their next move.

We will learn basics of AL and other fundamental things in our upcoming posts.

Before I close this post will like to share few more details to complete this post.

If you check your Navision you will not find any object or additional fields we added in our extension, then where is my data stored?

Let’s have look in SQL.

Item Extension & Product Group table is created with your app id of the extension.

We will discuss in more details about other things in details in our next upcoming posts.

Till then keep learning, and stay safe, take care.

AL, C/AL, Development Tips, Extension Package, Information, Modern Development Tool, NAV 2016, NAV 2017, NAV 2018, PowerShell, Tip & Tricks, upgrade, V1, V2, Visual Studio Code

Future of Navision is extensions V2?

November 1, 2018November 1, 2018 Ashwini Tripathi

With the release of Dynamics 365 Business Central a successor of Dynamics NAV, things are going to change. If I am not wrong from year 2020 Modern Development Environment will be the only platform available to developers.

In every NAV upgrades biggest challenge was customizations, since objects are fully accessible to developers, so we customize the solution as we want as a developer spreading unstructured, difficult to maintain, customized code everywhere and in all objects.

The beauty of product is, it is totally customizable and adaptable to customer’s business. Customizing Navision is easy and quick to deploy. C/AL is easy to learn and code.

Due to these heavy customizations and unstructured codes upgrade to new version of the product required long time and efforts. Hard to merge, too much efforts leading to high cost, usually many customer prefer to stay with their current version, and miss new capabilities of product available in future versions of Navision.

With release of NAV 2016 concept of extension was introduced. This introduced the concept of writing code isolated from the core objects and use events to interact with the standard codes. Now create the extension that can be installed or uninstalled any time without affecting the original base layer of the product. We call it extension V1.

These were also developed using C/AL and deployed using PowerShell. But still it always felt like something is missing. Then last year Microsoft came up with release NAV 2018 which introduced second generation of extension, we call it extensions V2.

This introduced completely new development platform based on Visual Studio Code Modern Development Environment. It uses new AL language an evolution of C/AL. Now this will be the future.

Dynamics 365 Business Central platform (on-premise and SaaS) uses this development model. Probably this will be the only development platform available from year 2020.

In Business central base application is now an entire extension based with some system objects in CSIDE, In future release you may not have any more side by side development, you will only be having AL and extensions.

So what next?

We should now concentrate on learning VS Code and AL as in future this will be the only way to modify the application.
Now we need to make our self-familiar with the Web Client as Windows Client will be obsolete soon.
We should start moving our all customization to extensions.
Now we should start thinking in direction of AL type customization rather than old C/AL type coding practice.

What do you think?

I will come up with more details as progress in this direction. Till then keep learning and sharing with others.

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