Programming Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

Extend Microsoft Business Central with custom functionality using the AL language in Visual Studio Code, guided by practical examples, expert insights, and real-world use cases

Key Features

• Work with the new additions to the AL Language, Visual Studio Code, and Business Central
• Enhance your AL programming skills through real-world examples and best practices curated by industry experts
• Implement updated best practices for development to build efficient, reliable, and maintainable extensions
• Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Book Description

Business Central opens a world of endless possibilities for custom business logic and functionality through extensions and customizations. For beginners in the AL language, navigating the vast landscape can feel overwhelming. It’s challenging to know where to start and what’s essential to learn. This updated edition offers a concise and well-organized guide, featuring hands-on exercises to support a successful learning journey.

You’ll get to grips with the basics of Business Central and how to create your first Visual Studio Code project with the AL language. As you learn about the table data structure, simple and complex data types, relationships, validation, and data flow, you’ll be able to add and extend tables to your project. Progressively, you'll uncover the intricacies of user interfaces with pages, create advanced Excel report layouts, and harness the power of data queries. Immersing yourself in the AL language syntax, you’ll start with variables, methods, procedures, and statements. You'll explore advanced topics to create business logic such as FlowFields, filtering, CRUD methods, interactions between object types, and different API interfaces that can be created using the AL language.

By the end of this book, you’ll be equipped to build fully featured, robust extensions and custom capabilities for Business Central.

What you will learn

• Set up your first AL development environment with Visual Studio Code
• Understand the data structure and flow of Business Central
• Design, build, and extend Table, Page, Report, Codeunit, Query, and XMLport objects in Business Central
• Develop AL code for business logic and data manipulation in Visual Studio Code
• Use Excel layouts to report Business Central data
• Integrate Business Central with external systems using API web services
• Implement multi-language in your own extension
• Debug and troubleshoot Business Central applications

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone who wants to learn about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central's powerful and extensive development capabilities. ERP consultants and managers of Business Central development will also find this book helpful. Although you aren't expected to have previously worked with Microsoft Dynamics Business Central, having a basic understanding of programming and familiarity with business applications software will help you understand the concepts covered in this book.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Business Central
2. Tables
3. Data Types and Table Fields
4. Pages - The Interactive Interface
5. Reports and Queries
6. Introduction to AL
7. Intermediate AL
8. Extensibility beyond AL

Marije Brummel is a coach, author, programmer, consultant, project manager, presenter, evangelist, and a trainer. Marije has received the Microsoft MVP and the NAVUG All-Star awards, among several other awards. She has chaired the Microsoft Dynamics Credentialing committee and has authored official Microsoft Exam materials. She's the go-to girl for performance troubleshooting and upgrade challenges. One of her biggest achievements was introducing Design Patterns into the Business Central community. Her books, blog articles, and YouTube videos have influenced almost everyone involved with Business Central. She is a mother of five, enjoys the outdoors with her dog and loves spending time with her family.

Natalie Karolak works at COSMO CONSULT, a leading European provider of industry-specific business software and end-to-end IT solutions. As a product architect, she develops and maintains Business Central apps for Microsoft AppSource. Programming for NAV/BC partners since 2006, Natalie has always been passionate about knowledge gain and knowledge sharing. For her commitment to the German-speaking online community, she was presented with the MVP award from 2012 and 2016. She regained the award in 2024. Today, she shares English-speaking news and information for AL programmers on X, and on her blog that is named after the title that the community gave her: The BC Docs Librarian.

Chris Studebaker was a certified environmental consultant working with manufacturing facilities to meet national and state regulations before he started working with Business Central (then known as Navision) in 1999. After working on regulatory reporting, data analysis, project management, and subcontractor oversight, Chris has used those skills to sell, develop, and implement Business Central for more than 25 years. He has specialized in retail, manufacturing, job shop, and distribution implementations, mostly in high-user-count, high-data-volume applications. Chris serves as a technical consultant and trainer for customers and fellow Business Central professionals. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Illinois University and has done graduate work at Denmark Technical University.

David Studebaker has been designing and developing software since 1962 as a developer, consultant, manager, and business owner. In 1967, David co-authored the first general-purpose SPOOL system, an AT&T/IBM joint project. He has been a founding partner in several firms, most recently Studebaker Technology and Liberty Grove Software. David's publications include a decade of technical reviews for ACM Computing Reviews and a number of articles on shop floor data collection. David originated the Packt series of books on programming Microsoft Dynamics Business Central (aka Dynamics NAV). He holds a BS in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is a life member of the Association for Computing Machinery.