Programming Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: Build powerful, robust, and scalable extensions customized for your business requirements

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