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- Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
Gain useful insights to help you efficiently build, test, and migrate customized solutions on Business Central cloud and on-premise platforms
Key Features
- Explore enhanced functionalities and development best practices in Business Central
- Develop powerful Business Central projects using the AL language
- Master the new Business Central with easy-to-follow recipes
Book Description
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a complete business management solution that can help you streamline business processes, connect individual departments in your company, and enhance customer interactions.
Ok. That first part was really professional sounding, right? Now, let's get into what this cookbook is going to do for you: put simply, it's going to help you get things done. This book will help you get to grips with the latest development features and tools for building applications using Business Central. You'll find recipes that will guide you in developing and testing applications that can be deployed to the cloud or on-premises. For the old-schoolers out there, you'll also learn how to take your existing Dynamics NAV customizations and move them to the new AL language platform.
Also, if you haven't figured it out already, we're going to be using very normal language throughout the book to keep things light. After all, developing applications is fun, so why not have fun learning as well!
What you will learn
- Build and deploy Business Central applications
- Use the cloud or local sandbox for application development
- Customize and extend your base Business Central application
- Create external applications that connect to Business Central
- Create automated tests and debug your applications
- Connect to external web services from Business Central
Who this book is for
This book is for Dynamics developers and administrators who want to become efficient in developing and deploying applications in Business Central. Basic knowledge and understanding of Dynamics application development and administration is assumed.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Seitenzahl: 367
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
Ähnliche
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Cookbook
Copyright © 2019 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
Commissioning Editor:Richa TripathiAcquisition Editor:Shriram ShekharContent Development Editor:Divya VijayanSenior Editor: Afshaan KhanTechnical Editor: Ketan KambleCopy Editor: Safis EditingProject Coordinator:Prajakta NaikProofreader: Safis EditingIndexer:Tejal Daruwale SoniProduction Designer:Nilesh Mohite
First published: August 2019
Production reference: 1080819
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. Livery Place 35 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-78995-854-6
www.packtpub.com
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Contributors
About the author
Michael Glue began his Dynamics journey in June 2001, when he became a certified Dynamics NAV developer. Starting with building custom solutions, he later became a product architect, where he focused solely on building repeatable vertical products. Today, Michael works with a talented research and development team as they continue to push their products forward on the Business Central platform. In 2018, Michael was given his first MVP award in Business Applications. Along with his wife, Jennifer, they have four amazing kids and four very active dogs. From coaching his daughters' baseball team, to playing video games with his boys, to watching a good movie with his wife, not a day goes by that is devoid of excitement. You can follow Michael on Twitter (@navbitsbytes).
About the reviewer
Quenneth Surban is an enthusiastic solutions developer in the Philippines. Kicking off his career in 2016, he partnered with Microsoft to build innovative solutions to help businesses simplify their day-to-day operations. Since then, he has become a certified Microsoft Technology Associate on Software Development. More recently, he moved to become a Microsoft Certified Professional on Programming in C#, and also had the opportunity to work with several organizations to build solutions in Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft Azure. Today, he continues to design and develop solutions whilst closely working with customers to help them add value with these solutions.
Packt is searching for authors like you
If you're interested in becoming an author for Packt, please visit authors.packtpub.com and apply today. We have worked with thousands of developers and tech professionals, just like you, to help them share their insight with the global tech community. You can make a general application, apply for a specific hot topic that we are recruiting an author for, or submit your own idea.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Cookbook
Dedication
About Packt
Why subscribe?
Contributors
About the author
About the reviewer
Packt is searching for authors like you
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Download the example code files 
Code in Action
Download the color images
Conventions used
Sections
Getting ready
How to do it…
How it works…
There's more…
See also
Get in touch
Reviews
Let's Get the Basics out of the Way
Technical requirements
Setting up your development sandbox
Getting ready
How to do it...
Option 1 – Sandbox hosted in Business Central
Option 2 – Azure-hosted sandbox
Option 3 – Sandbox in a local container
Option 4 – Local sandbox using installation media
How it works...
See also
Creating a new AL project
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
Creating basic entities 
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Creating new business logic
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Classifying data
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
User permissions
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Creating new reports
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Adding help links
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Customizing What's Already There
Technical requirements
Adding fields to base application tables
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Modifying the base application interface
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Modifying the base application business logic
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Using In-client Designer
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Using Event Recorder
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Replacing base application reports
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Adding new profiles and role centers
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Adding filter tokens
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Adding application areas
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Let's Go Beyond
Technical requirements
Control add-ins
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Dependencies
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
Translations
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Adding new manual setups
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
Assisted Setup wizards
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Isolated storage
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Notifications
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Using the task scheduler
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
.NET interoperability
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Implementing telemetry events
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Testing and Debugging - You Just Gotta Do It
Technical requirements
Introducing the debugger
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Debugging SQL
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
The Automated Testing Toolkit
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Creating a test application
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
Creating automated tests
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Testing the UI
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
UI handlers
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Creating a test library
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Old School, Meet New School
Technical requirements
Converting CAL to AL
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
There's more...
Post-conversion cleanup
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
Upgrading data from CAL objects
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
Making Your App Extensible
Technical requirements
Publishing events in your code
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Enums
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
The Discovery design pattern
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
The Handled design pattern
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
The Variant Façade design pattern
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
The Argument Table design pattern
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Business Central for All
Technical requirements
Consuming external web services
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Publishing your own web service
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Enabling basic authentication
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
The Business Central API – exploring with Postman
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
The Business Central API – retrieving data
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
The Business Central API – creating data
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
The Business Central API – publishing a custom endpoint
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Power Platform – using Microsoft Power BI
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Power Platform – using Microsoft Flow
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Power Platform – using Microsoft PowerApps
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Consuming Azure Functions
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
DevOps - Don't Live without It
Technical requirements
Creating an Azure DevOps project
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Creating a code repository
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Connecting an AL project to Azure DevOps
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Installing a pipeline agent
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Creating a build pipeline
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Creating a release pipeline
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Enabling branch policies
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Time to Share Your Application!
Technical requirements
Developing for multiple platforms
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Protecting your Intellectual Property
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Signing your application
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
There's more...
See also
Installation logic
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Upgrade logic
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Installing applications with PowerShell
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Upgrading applications with PowerShell
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Deploying a tenant customization
Getting ready
How to do it...
How it works...
See also
Other Books You May Enjoy
Leave a review - let other readers know what you think
Preface
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a complete business management application. It can be used to streamline business processes in your company, connect individual departments across the company, and enhance customer interactions.
OK, that first part was really professional-sounding, right? Now, let's get into what this cookbook is going to do for you, and, quite simply, it's going to help you get things done. This book will help you get familiar with the latest development features and tools for building applications for Business Central. You'll find recipes that will help you build and test applications that can be deployed to the cloud, or on-premises. For the old-schoolers out there, you'll also learn how to take your existing Dynamics NAV customizations and move them to the new AL language platform.
Also, if you haven't figured it out already, we're going to be using very normal language here. We're trying to keep things light. After all, developing applications is fun, so why not have fun while learning to do it as well?!
Who this book is for
This book is for Dynamics developers and administrators who want to become efficient in developing and deploying applications in Business Central.
A basic level of knowledge and understanding of the AL programming language, along with an understanding of Dynamics application development and administration, is assumed.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Let's Get the Basics out of the Way, explains how to set up an AL development sandbox, either locally or online, and then goes through basic topics that will typically be a part of all Business Central applications that you create.
Chapter 2, Customizing What's Already There, explains how you can customize the base Business Central application.
Chapter 3, Let's Go Beyond, explains topics that are not necessarily going to be implemented in every application, but are extremely powerful tools to be aware of for when the need arises.
Chapter 4, Testing and Debugging - You Just Gotta Do It, explains how to create automated tests for your Business Central application, and how you can use the debugger to track down issues.
Chapter 5, Old School, Meet New School, explains how to convert Dynamics NAV solutions to Business Central applications.
Chapter 6, Making Your App Extensible, explains things you can do in order to give other developers the ability to extend and customize your application.
Chapter 7, Business Central for All, explains the things that you can do in your Business Central application to connect a Business Central system to other external services and applications.
Chapter 8, DevOps - Don't Live without It, explains how to use Azure DevOps to track source code changes, and to automate the building and deploying of your application.
Chapter 9, Time to Share Your Application!, explains how to deliver your application to customers, both on-premises and online.
To get the most out of this book
Although this book starts with some entry-level topics, it is expected that you have a general understanding of how to program using the AL programming language. If you plan on using a local, container-based development sandbox, you will need to have a basic level understanding of Docker and PowerShell.
Download the example code files
You can download the example code files for this book from your account at www.packt.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files emailed directly to you.
You can download the code files by following these steps:
Log in or register at
www.packt.com
.
Select the
SUPPORT
tab.
Click on
Code Downloads & Errata
.
Enter the name of the book in the
Search
box and follow the on screen instructions.
Once the file is downloaded, please make sure that you unzip or extract the folder using the latest version of:
WinRAR/7-Zip for Windows
Zipeg/iZip/UnRarX for Mac
7-Zip/PeaZip for Linux
The code bundle for the book is also hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Microsoft-Dynamics-365-Business-Central-Cookbook. In case there's an update to the code, it will be updated on the existing GitHub repository.
We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!
Code in Action
Visit the following link to see the code being executed:
http://bit.ly/2YUg1tI
Download the color images
We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/9781789958546_ColorImages.pdf.
Conventions used
There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.
CodeInText: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: "We can do that by adding code to the OnInsert() trigger of the table so that our logic executes every time a record is inserted."
A block of code is set as follows:
"startupObjectId": 50101"startupObjectType": "Page"
Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: "Your web browser will open and, once you log in, you will be presented with your new Television Show List page."
Sections
In this book, you will find several headings that appear frequently (Getting ready, How to do it..., How it works..., There's more..., and See also).
To give clear instructions on how to complete a recipe, use these sections as follows:
Getting ready
This section tells you what to expect in the recipe and describes how to set up any software or any preliminary settings required for the recipe.
How to do it…
This section contains the steps required to follow the recipe.
How it works…
This section usually consists of a detailed explanation of what happened in the previous section.
There's more…
This section consists of additional information about the recipe in order to make you more knowledgeable of it.
See also
This section provides helpful links to other useful information for the recipe.
Get in touch
Feedback from our readers is always welcome.
General feedback: If you have questions about any aspect of this book, mention the book title in the subject of your message and email us at [email protected].
Errata: Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you have found a mistake in this book, we would be grateful if you would report this to us. Please visit www.packtpub.com/submit-errata, selecting your book, clicking on the Errata Submission Form link, and entering the details.
Piracy: If you come across any illegal copies of our works in any form on the Internet, we would be grateful if you would provide us with the location address or website name. Please contact us at [email protected] with a link to the material.
If you are interested in becoming an author: If there is a topic that you have expertise in, and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, please visit authors.packtpub.com.
Reviews
Please leave a review. Once you have read and used this book, why not leave a review on the site that you purchased it from? Potential readers can then see and use your unbiased opinion to make purchase decisions, we at Packt can understand what you think about our products, and our authors can see your feedback on their book. Thank you!
For more information about Packt, please visit packtpub.com.
Let's Get the Basics out of the Way
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a complete business application management system. With it comes an exciting new development platform and tools. Using AL, the primary development language, and Visual Studio Code, the primary development tool, you can create incredibly rich and feature-packed Business Central applications to fit the needs of virtually any customer.
In this chapter, we're going to go over the basics (yes, exactly like the title says!). Some of the recipes in this chapter are very simple, and you might wonder what the point of them is, but don't discount them. There is a reason behind each one, and I'll explain them along the way.
We will start this chapter with a recipe for setting up your development sandbox. After all, we can't build any applications without a place to test them! Once we have our sandbox in place, we will install and configure Visual Studio Code in order to connect it to the sandbox. We'll then move on through a set of recipes that will show you some of the basic components that almost every application you build will have.
In this chapter, we will cover the following recipes:
Setting up your development sandbox
Creating a new AL project
Creating basic entities
Creating new business logic
Classifying data
User permissions
Creating new reports
Adding help links
Technical requirements
In order to complete the recipes in this chapter (and this book, for that matter!), you need to install Visual Studio Code on your machine. You will use this to code your AL applications, but you can also use it for a myriad of other programming languages and scripts. You can read and obtain Visual Studio Code at https://code.visualstudio.com/.
If you plan on using a Docker container on your local machine, then you'll also need to install Docker. You're going to want to make sure you install the right edition, based on your OS:
Windows 10:
https://store.docker.com/editions/community/docker-ce-desktop-windows
Windows Server:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/quick-start/quick-start-windows-server
If you have a Business Central license file, you should upload it somewhere that you can access it using a secure URL. For example, you can upload it to either an Azure Storage or Dropbox account. You must be able to get a secure URL for direct download.
Code samples and scripts are available on GitHub. Each of the recipes in this chapter builds on the previous recipe, so you can always download the previous recipe's code to get a quick jump on things if you don't want to work through them all in order. You can download everything you need from https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Microsoft-Dynamics-365-Business-Central-Cookbook/tree/master/ch1.
For the reporting recipe, you'll need to have Microsoft Report Builder installed. You can download that from Microsoft Download Center at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=734968.
Setting up your development sandbox
Well, we're kicking things off with a bang! Our first recipe is probably the longest recipe in this book, but that's because you have choices when it comes to setting up your development sandbox. Will you use a sandbox hosted in Business Central or will you set up your sandbox on a machine? Will that machine be hosted in Azure or on your local machine? Will you use a container or not? The choice is yours, and we'll go through each process in this recipe. By the end of this recipe, you will have a place to do all of your AL coding!
Getting ready
Depending on how you want to set up your development sandbox, you may need to do a few different things to prepare:
Sign up for or get access to a Business Central subscription
Sign up for or get access to an Azure subscription for which you can create virtual machines
Install Docker
Obtain the latest Business Central installation media
How to do it...
We have four different choices here. If you're super savvy, then by all means, try them all out, but really, you only need to do the one that fits you best.
Option 1 – Sandbox hosted in Business Central
If you want to set up your development sandbox to be hosted in Business Central—which, by the way, is the simplest of all the options—perform the following steps:
Sign up for a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central sandbox at
https://aka.ms/getsandboxforbusinesscentral
.
Install the AL Language extension from the Visual Studio Code Marketplace at
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-dynamics-smb.al
:
There are just two steps to getting your sandbox! Once you go through the signup process, you'll be logged into your sandbox and will be greeted with a message similar to the following:
Option 2 – Azure-hosted sandbox
If you want to use a container hosted on a virtual machine in Azure, perform the following steps:
If you have not already done so, you can sign up for an Azure subscription at
https://azure.microsoft.com
and start with a free account.
Now that we have an Azure subscription, we need to create a virtual machine within that subscription. This virtual machine will host a Business Central environment inside a Docker container. To make this easy, there is an
Azure Resource Manager
(
ARM
) template available for you to use.
You can access the template at https://aka.ms/getbc. Make sure to use your Azure subscription login credentials.The template contains a lot of options, but for our purposes, we're going to focus on just a few of them. Once you're familiar with the process, take a look at the other options and do things such as connecting your sandbox to an Office 365 account! See the options in the following table:
Option
Comment
Resource Group
Select
Create new
to create a new resource group for this virtual machine. You can name it whatever you like.
Location
Choose the region closest to where you are connecting from. Selecting a region on the other side of the world from you will impact connection performance.
VM Name
Give your machine a name – any name you want! Azure will make sure that the name you choose is acceptable.
Time zone Id
Select the time zone you wish to work in.
Accept EULA
You must accept the
End User License Agreement
(
EULA
) by selecting
Yes
for this option. The EULA can be found at
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=861843
.
Remote Desktop Access
Use this option to configure whether you are able to use
Remote Desktop Protocol
(
RDP
) to remotely log in to the virtual machine. Set this to an asterisk (*) if you want to connect to this machine from any machine.
VM Admin username
You can leave this as the default value,
vmadmin
, or change it to one that suits you better. This login will be used to remote connect (via RDP) to the machine. This login is configured as the local administrator for the virtual machine.
BC Admin username
You can leave this as the default value,
admin
, or change it to one that suits you better. You will use this login to launch the Business Central Web Client. This user is configured as a super user in the Business Central system.
Admin Password
Set this to any password you want. This password applies to both the
virtual machine
and BC admin logins. Azure will ensure that the password you enter is strong enough.
BC Docker Image
Here, you can configure the Docker image you wish to use. Set this option to
microsoft/bcsandbox:xx
, where
:xx
represents the country localization you want (for example,
microsoft/bcsandbox:ca
for Canada). For the list of countries available, see
https://hub.docker.com/_/microsoft-businesscentral-sandbox
.
License File URL
If you uploaded a Business Central license to an online storage account, specify the secure URL to the file in this option. You can leave this option blank if you want to use a demo license.
Once you have filled in the ARM template, accept the terms and conditions at the bottom of the screen and then click the
Purchase
button.
Now, you can just sit back and relax, and if your template was configured properly, your virtual machine will be created. Go grab a coffee and check back later.
To test the connection to your Azure virtual machine, you need to remotely connect to the machine to get some information from it. You need to use the Azure web portal (
https://portal.azure.com
) to find the address of your virtual machine:
In the Azure web portal, click on
Virtual Machines
in the navigation pane on the left:
If you do not see
Virtual Machines
, press
All Services
and search for
Virtual Machines
to select it.
Select the name of the virtual machine that you just created.
Look for the
DNS Name
and take note of the address listed below it:
For example,
myvirtualmachine.canadaeast.cloudapp.azure.com
We can monitor the status of the virtual machine configuration by navigating to the virtual machine landing page:
In your web browser, navigate to the
DNS Name
you noted previously.
Click the
View Installation Status
link. Here, you can see when the virtual machine configuration is complete and is ready to use for development.
Once the virtual machine has been fully configured, the landing page will look similar to this:
Now, we need to take note of a few pieces of information, for later.
At the bottom of the landing page is a section named Access the Dynamics 365 Business Central Sandbox Environment using Visual Studio Code. In this section, take note of the following values:
Before we close the landing page, we need to install the security certificate so that we can connect to the sandbox:
On the landing page, click the
Download Certificate
link and save the file to your local machine.
Depending on which web browser you are using, click either the
Windows (Edge/IE/Chrome)
or the
Windows (Firefox)
link and follow the onscreen instructions to install the certificate.
Let's check to make sure we can connect to the Business Central Web Client:
Close your web browser and navigate to the landing page for your virtual machine.
Click the Web Client link on the right-hand side of the page.
You should now be looking at the Business Central login page:
Install the
AL Language
extension from the
Visual Studio Code Marketplace
:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-dynamics-smb.al
.
Option 4 – Local sandbox using installation media
If you want to install Business Central onto your local machine using the installation media, you can do that by following these steps:
From the installation media, run
setup.exe
.
You must accept the licensing terms. Once you do that, click
Advanced Installation Options
.
Here, you can choose between two setup options:
Install Demo
: This installs a pre-configuration selection of components without manual intervention.
Choose an installation option
: This allows you to choose which components to install and allows you to select some additional configuration options.
Click the
Choose an installation
option so that we can select the components that we need to complete the recipes in this book.
Click
Customize...
under the
Developer
option.
Make sure that the following components are set to
Run from My Computer
:
AL Development Environment
Server Administration Tool
Server
SQL Server Database Components
SQL Server Database Components | Demo Database
Web Server Components
Dynamics NAV Client | Development Environment (C/SIDE)
Here is a screenshot for your reference:
Click
Next
and you will see some additional installation parameters. For the purposes of the recipes in this book, you do not need to change anything here.
Click
Apply
to perform the installation.
Once the installation has completed, click
Close
to close the installation wizard.
You
can
verify
the
installation
by
opening
the
Business
Central
Web
Client
from
the
following
URL:
http://localhost:8080/BC130
.
Install the
AL Language
extension from the
Visual Studio Code Marketplace
at
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-dynamics-smb.al
.
How it works...
As you can see, you have a variety of ways you can configure your development sandbox. Personal preference may lead you to choose one way or another, but there are a few things to keep in mind when selecting which configuration to use:
Do you need offline access to your development sandbox?
If so, then an Azure-hosted system might not be the right choice for you.
Do you need to build for the current Business Central SaaS version?
If so,
then y
ou might want to consider setting up your development sandbox to be hosted in Business Central so that it is always on the current release.
Do you need to make sure your application will work on a future Business Central release?
If so, you will want to take part in Microsoft's
Ready to Go
(
http://aka.ms/readytogo
) program so that you can gain access to future releases made available via Docker images.
Do you need to have multiple versions of Business Central on your local machine?
If so, there's no easier way than using Docker containers to do that!
Each of the processes resulted in the same thing: a development system that will be used to build and test new Business Central applications. Whether it is hosted or not, or a container or local installation, the end result is the same: a development sandbox that you will build and publish your Business Central applications to.
See also
For more information on setting up development sandboxes, you can refer to the Getting Started With AL article on the Microsoft Docs website at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/devenv-get-started.
Creating a new AL project
In this recipe, we are going to create a quick and easy sample application. Of course, you can start from a blank slate, but we'll start with the built-in Hello World application. It's the easiest way to get your AL development up and running.
Getting ready
You need to have your development sandbox set up and know the address so that you can connect and log in to it. You should have also already installed the AL Language extension in Visual Studio Code. You're definitely going to need that!
How to do it...
Open Visual Studio Code.
Press
Ctrl
+
Shift
+
P
to open the
Command Palette
and type or select
AL:Go!
to create a sample
Hello World
application.
When prompted, enter the path to where the new project will be stored. You can leave it as the default path or type in a new one. Press
Enter
to confirm the path.
When prompted, you need to select the sandbox type based on what you are working with. You have two options:
Microsoft Cloud Sandbox
: Select this option if you are hosting your development sandbox in Business Central (Option 1 in the
Setting up your development sandbox
section). When you select this option, you will be prompted to log in with your Microsoft account. Use the account under which you created the Business Central sandbox.
Your own server
: Select this option if you chose to put your sandbox in an Azure virtual machine, or on your local machine using a container or the installation media (Options 2 - 4 in the
Setting up your development sandbox
section). When you select this option, you will be prompted to log in. Press
Escape
to cancel the login.
