Dynamics Business Central / NAV Development Developer Digest - Vol. 401
ArcherPoint’s Developer Digest focuses on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics NAV development. In Developer Digest Volume 401, you’ll read about Business Central and SQL queries, and the worst habits of AL developers — it’s a healthy list.
The Dynamics NAV and Business Central community, including the ArcherPoint technical staff, is made up of developers, project managers, and consultants who are constantly communicating, with the common goal of sharing helpful information with one another to help customers be more successful.
As they run into issues and questions, find the answers, and make new discoveries, they post them on blogs, forums, social media…fot everyone’s benefit. We in Marketing watch these interactions and never cease to be amazed by the creativity, dedication, and brainpower we’re so fortunate to have in this community—so we thought, wouldn’t it be great to share the wealth of information with everyone who might not have the time to check out the multitude of resources out there?
Thus, the ArcherPoint Microsoft Dynamics NAV/BC Developer Digest was born. Each week, we present a collection of thoughts and findings from NAV/BC experts and devotees around the world. We hope these insights will benefit you, too.
BC SaaS and SQL Queries
Kyle wants to know: “Those of you that deal with BC SaaS: is it possible to run SQL queries or stored procedures against the BC database, or is that all hidden from us?”
Matt responds: “200% no.”
Michael offers: “You’ll have to consider alternative (creative) approaches to achieve your goals, such as the use of APIs, Azure Functions, or Power Platform.”
Tom ponders: “I wonder if you could use the query object to get what you’re wanting. But I don’t know what you’re wanting, so it’s hard to do anything but suggest.”
Jon replies: “Query object can create the dataset, then expose it as a web service, page or whatever.” He then shares this video from Erik Houggard, Use a Query Object if You Have an Urge for SQL in BC.
Kyle clarifies: “I am trying to speed up Inventory Valuation. I have a SQL query that can populate a BC table with the relevant data that is a whole lot faster than the AL report.”
Matt suggests: “I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, just look at it, but you might try the performance profiler.”
Mohana adds: “Please check the Inline Query on GitHub.”
Kyle exclaims: “Oooh – shiny!”
Worst Habits of AL Developers
Waldo gets the Twitter convo started with his question, “What are the top 3 worst habits that you have seen in terms of AL development?”
He gets some rich answers, so check out the post for the full list, but here are some of the top responses:
- Hardcoding values
- Implementing customization for functionality that already exists
- Jumping into coding without understanding the problem/ROI/design upfront
- Thinking AL Development and AL programming are the same thing
- Giant blocks of code / big functions
- Not being thoughtful of comments (or commenting out the code that causes an error – really?)
- Coding as if no one will ever see your code again
- Not testing your code (or writing a test script for your code)
My favorite piece of advice came from Krzysztof Bialowas (KB): Simply act as if you are a guest in BC – you are not there to redecorate.
Interested in Dynamics NAV and/or Business Central development? Be sure to see our collection of NAV/BC Development Blogs.
Read “How To” blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Dynamics 365 Business Central.