Dynamics Business Central / NAV Developer Digest - Vol. 491
ArcherPoint’s Developer Digest focuses on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics NAV development. This week’s volume includes function calling in the AL Copilot Toolkit, performance in SQL Server, assigning separate salespersons to different regions, and setting up reminders in Accounts Receivable.
The Dynamics 365 Business Central community, consisting of developers, project managers, and consultants, collaborates across various platforms to share valuable insights. At ArcherPoint, we greatly value their dedication and expertise. To ensure widespread access to this technical knowledge, we created Developer Digest.
Function calling in the AL Copilot Toolkit
Business Central v24.2 supports function calling. Developers can use function calling in Copilot to extract arguments from user input and then use them as parameters in a function. Copilot will even determine user intent and call the appropriate function, making Business Central more interactive.
Microsoft states the following about function calling: “The function calling tool is designed to parse essential details from the user’s natural language input and use this as arguments for the functions that you’ve defined. This way, it bridges the gap between human language and programmatic functions, making the interaction more intuitive and user-friendly.”
To learn more, read Copilot Toolkit: Function Calling by Dmitry Katson.
Performance in SQL server
If you’re tempted to use backend processes to modify Business Central data directly in SQL, specifically, running custom triggers from underlying tables, don’t! Microsoft has never recommended that developers write directly to the server; in fact, discourages the practice for performance reasons. The company warns developers, “Adding additional SQL objects such as triggers or stored procedures directly on the database can break operations like upgrade and app/extension synchronization.”
Read Duilio Tacconi’s blog, Custom SQL Server Triggers vs Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2 (v23) metadata changes, to learn more.
Assign separate salespersons to different regions
Prior to Business Central 2024 Wave 1, only one salesperson could be assigned to the primary customer. If several salespeople serviced the same customer in different regions, it required a modification or configuring multiple related customers. Microsoft has now added the ability to add a different salesperson to each Ship-to-Address.
Brad Prendergast, who contributed to this modification, explains how it works in his blog, Dynamics 365 Business Central 2024 Wave 1 – Assign Salesperson to Customer Ship-to Addresses.
Set up reminders in Accounts Receivable
Reminders help notify customers their payment is due if they forget to send a payment.
A new Reminders section was added to the Role Center for Accounts Receivables Administrator in Business Central 2024 Wave 1. This section shows five cues for Reminders:
- Draft Reminders
- Reminders that have been issued but not paid
- Reminders that have not yet been sent
- Configured automations, and
- Automation failures
Alberto, the Business Central Geek, explains how to use this new functionality in his blog, How To Send Reminders In Business Central.
Also, watch Microsoft’s video introducing the new reminder automation in Business Central.
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