Dynamics Business Central / NAV Developer Digest - Vol. 525
ArcherPoint’s Developer Digest focuses on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics NAV development. This week’s volume includes deleting large data in BC, new methods for accessing properties and array elements for JSON, and using OR filters in BC.
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.
Deleting large data in Business Central
Sometimes, certain database tables grow to enormous sizes, like logs, integration tables, and data archives. Some of these tables can exceed 50-60 GB of disk space.
The problem is that Business Central SaaS does not give you direct access to the database. So, deleting a large table containing data you don’t need anymore can be next to impossible. Even if you find a way, it will severely impact your system’s performance, and the process may never be complete.
For on-premises implementations, you have full access to the database and can accomplish the task using T-SQL rather than attempting it in AL code. Several options are available that work quickly and will minimize the operation’s impact on system performance.
Stefano Demiliani covers this topic in some depth, offering several techniques to delete large data in BC for SaaS and on-premises environments, in two blogs, Dynamics 365 Business Central: the problem of large data deletion and Dynamics 365 Business Central: the problem of large data deletion – part 2: AlterKey.
New methods for accessing properties and array elements for JSON
The new features in Business Central 2025 wave 1 (BC26) include the overloaded JsonObject data type GetValue method. In addition to GetText(), there are also GetBoolean, GetChar, GetDateTime, and many others that make reading values from JSON objects and arrays much easier.
To see it in action, Yun Zhu shows how to utilize these new features in his blog, Business Central 2025 wave 1 (BC26): Overloaded JsonObject data type GetValue method (New methods access properties and array elements for JSON).
Using OR filters in BC
Filters in Business Central are different than filters in SQL. Some even say that, while it’s easy to perform an AND filter, you can’t do an OR filter in BC.
However, Erik Hougaard demonstrates a trick using Filter Groups in Business Central that lets you perform the OR function in AL code. (Non-spoiler alert: The Microsoft documentation on using Filter Groups is not intuitive.)
Check out Erik’s video Filter Groups can give you the fabled “or-filter” to learn more.
Are you interested in Dynamics NAV and Business Central development? Check out our collection of NAV/BC Development Blogs.
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