Dynamics NAV / Business Central Developer Digest - Vol 377
ArcherPoint’s Developer Digest focuses on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central development and Dynamics NAV development. In Developer Digest Volume 377, we discuss resolving an Issue with VS Code in AL Object Designer, using BCContainerHelper to build Docker containers in older NAV versions, viewing base code in the most recent V19.2 versions.
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…so everyone can 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 this great information with everyone who might not have the time to check out the multitude of resources out there?
So, 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.
Resolving an Issue with VS Code in AL Object Designer
Shirley puts out the call: “AL developers: Have you ever seen this in VS Code before, and how did you resolve it? “Preload: discovering AL Objects and Symbols” message in the bottom right-hand corner just spins forever and never finishes. You may ask yourself, why do you care? Well, it’s because I’m having a bunch of issues in VS Code, and I don’t know if this is related, so I just thought I would throw it out there in case someone knows what it is, and in case fixing it would magically resolve all my other problems.”
Matt T responds: “I don’t like the AL Object Designer extension personally. I think it causes a lot of performance issues. I prefer AZ AL Dev Tools.”
Tom H adds: “If you’re having issues with AL Object Designer, you can always use page 696 to see all the objects.”
Shirley replies: “Thanks, Matt and Tom. Looks like I already have AZ AL Dev Tools, so I’ll just get rid of AL Object Designer—I didn’t even know if I was using it.”
Kyle adds: “I don’t use any of those object manager add-ons. I’m fine with the normal object viewer page (or at least a custom improved one) and GitLens. That’s all I ever use with VSC.”
Shirley concludes: “Thanks! Good to know.”
Using BCContainerHelper to Build Docker Containers in Older NAV Versions
If you are using BCContainerHelper to build docker containers for older versions of NAV (pre-2018), you will have to slightly alter your build script as of version 3.0.1 Freddy changed the way certificates are generated, and it breaks the older versions, as he explains in his response in Dynamics Nav 2016 Failed to start #2264.
Ability to View Base Code in the Most Recent V19.2 Versions
Matt T asks: “Did you all know that about a month ago Microsoft turned off (accidentally?) the ability to view the base code in the most recent 19.2 versions? This would affect a majority of our AL customers. Unless I missed it, no one has posted about it or brought it up. Makes me wonder. Have we gotten to the point where the vast majority of the time we just don’t need to see it? Did you just find a workaround?
Trish replies: “The majority of my work is on previous versions.”
Tom responds: “This hasn’t come up for me yet, as most of my client work is on version 18 and 19.1.”
Kyle adds: “19.3 is already out. Don’t know if they fixed this or not, but there are other ways to see source code. I have a PowerShell script that can extract the included source code from the on-prem installation kits to a workable VSC directory structure.”
Michael says: “Appreciate Kyle’s PS contribution. The source code is useful for analyzing functional areas, for automation solutions, and for determining the most suitable events for subscribers.”
Shirley replies: “I didn’t know that happened. I don’t have any customer work on BC19, so this hasn’t come up for me yet.”
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