Table Of Content

Programming Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV 2015 Sharpen your skills and increase your productivity when programming Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015 David Studebaker Christopher Studebaker BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI Programming Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV 2015 Copyright © 2015 Packt Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews. Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book. Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information. First published: July 2015 Production reference: 1240715 Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. Livery Place 35 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PB, UK. ISBN 978-1-78439-420-2 www.packtpub.com Credits Authors Project Coordinator David Studebaker Shweta H Birwatkar Christopher Studebaker Proofreader Reviewers Safis Editing Mark Brummel Danilo Capuano Indexer Rekha Nair Stefano Demiliani Commissioning Editor Graphics Taron Pereira Abhinash Sahu Acquisition Editors Production Coordinator Purav Motiwalla Melwyn Dsa Sam Wood Cover Work Content Development Editor Melwyn Dsa Neeshma Ramakrishnan Technical Editors Utkarsha S. Kadam Mohita Vyas Copy Editors Tani Kothari Kausambhi Majumdar Alpha Singh Foreword Like many other enthusiasts in the NAV community, David ran a family business with his wife, Karen. Their son, Christopher, got his start in NAV by working in the family business. This is the kind of business that made NAV more successful than any other product in the ERP mid-market. For many years, David has been a key influencer on the new versions of Dynamics NAV and has helped us evolve our developer Help. Based on this work, David wrote his first book on Dynamics NAV in 2007 about how to develop in "classic" NAV. In 2009, he wrote his second book to help close the gap between the Classic client and the new world of the RoleTailored client and RDLC reporting. Overnight, the book proved to be extremely helpful to the greater community to cross the chasm from the "old" world to the "new" world. Since then, David and his coauthor and, son Chris, also a NAV expert, have twice rewritten and extended these books to include new versions of Dynamics NAV. Reading the latest book reminds me of how far Dynamics NAV has evolved, both as a product since the first version came out in 1987 and as a thriving community with Karen and David as pioneers and later Chris as a key contributor to books like these. Michael Nielsen Director of Engineering, Dynamics NAV at Microsoft About the Authors David Studebaker is the Chief Technical Officer and a cofounder of Liberty Grove Software with his partner, Karen Studebaker. David has had a wide range of development, consulting, sales and management roles throughout his career. He has been a partner or owner and manager of several software development businesses while always maintaining a significant role as a business application developer. David started programming in 1962. He has been developing in C/AL since 1996. David has been an active participant in each step of computing technology from the first solid state mainframes to today's technology, from binary assembly language coding to today's C/AL. David's special achievements include his role as co-developer of the first production multiprogrammed SPOOLing system in 1967. He has worked on a diverse set of software applications including manufacturing, distribution, retail, engineering, and others. David has a BS in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has been writing for publications since he was an undergraduate and has had numerous magazine and reference books published. Prior to coauthoring this book, David was the author of Programming Microsoft Dynamics NAV (for the Classic Client), Programming Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 (for the Role Tailored Client), and Programming Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013. He has been a member of the Association for Computing Machinery since 1963 and was a founding officer of two local chapters of the ACM. Acknowledgments This book would not have been possible without my coauthor (and son), Christopher Studebaker. I'm very lucky to get to work with such a smart, knowledgeable son, who is also my good friend. I especially want to thank my partner in life and at work, Karen Studebaker, for her unflagging support, patience, love, and encouragement in all ways. The first 50 years we have been together have been great; I'm looking forward to the next 50. One of my life's principle treasures has been the enthusiastic support and love of my children, Christopher and Rebecca, of whom I am very proud. Both are successful, thoughtful, high quality professionals, and managers. More importantly, they each place the highest value to their roles as parents and spouses (here, I say "hi" to my special grandchildren, Cole, Alec, and CeCe, and my terrific in-law children, Elizabeth and Frederick). Special thanks are due to Michael Nielsen of Microsoft for his wholehearted support of this and the previous three Programming NAV books. Many thanks to Mark Brummel, who knows more about NAV than almost anyone (except maybe Michael) and generously shares his knowledge. I also wish to thank all the people at Microsoft and Packt as well as our technical reviewers who assisted us a great deal with their contributions and advice. Much of what I know about NAV was gained while working with excellent teams of associates at Studebaker Technology and Liberty Grove Software. All my life, I have benefitted from the help of many friends, mentors, and associates. Life would be very poor without all these kind and generous folks. May you enjoy using this book even a fraction as much as I enjoyed working on it with Chris. Christopher Studebaker is an NAV developer/implementer and has 15 years' experience in designing, developing, implementing, and selling in the NAV and SQL Server environments. He has specialized in retail, manufacturing, job shop, and distribution implementations, mostly in high user count and high data volume applications. Chris has worked on many NAV implementations with integrations to external databases and third-party add-on products. Some special applications include high-volume order entry, pick-to-light systems, procurement analysis, and web frontends. Chris acts in a consulting and training role for customers and for peer NAV professionals. He provides training both in informal and classroom situations, often developing custom course material to support courses tailored to specific student group needs. Courses have included various NAV functional and development areas. Before becoming a certified NAV developer, Chris was a certified environmental consultant working with manufacturing facilities to meet national and state regulations. His duties included regulatory reporting, data analysis, project management, and subcontractor oversight. His accomplishments include obtaining several safety certifications and managing projects for hazardous material management and abatement. Chris is an expert at NAV installation, configuration, and development. He has been working with SQL in both NAV and other Microsoft applications for over a decade. He has a bachelor of science degree from Northern Illinois University and has done graduate work at Denmark Technical University. Chris was the coauthor of the Packt Publishing book Programming Microsoft Dynamics 2013. First and foremost, I would like to thank my parents, David and Karen Studebaker, for giving me the opportunity to start in the NAV world and allowing me the room to grow on my own. Of course, I could not have participated in this book if it weren't for my wife, Beth. Having worked within the NAV community for the past decade, I have worked with many wonderful people, most notably, my parents (of course), Betty Cronin, Kathy Nohr, Tommy Madsen, Susanne Priess, David Podjasek, Joy Bensur , Diane Beck, Chris Pashby, and Anthony Fairclough. Without them, I would not have been the NAV professional I am today. About the Reviewers Mark Brummel is a freelance all-round Microsoft Dynamics NAV specialist focused on helping end users of the product. His passion is evangelizing and documenting the "NAV way". This is a combination of architectural principles and design best practices formalized in a workshop called Master Class for Microsoft Dynamics NAV Application Architecture and Design Patterns. The methodology helps in creating solutions that are easy to upgrade, recognizable for users, and maintainable outside the ecosystem of their creators. All three elements apply to the original Navision product that shipped in 1995 and are extracted, updated, and documented in this methodology. In 2015, his new book, Learning Dynamics NAV Patterns, will be published, which is a book about his methodology. He also organizes hands-on workshops together with a group of MVPs and MCTs all across the globe. Before starting freelancing in 2006, he started in 1997 as an end user and worked 8 years for NAV partners after that. Designing and maintaining add-on systems was his specialization. Some of these add-on systems exceed the standard product when it comes to size and complexity. Coaching colleagues and troubleshooting complex problems are his passions and part of his day-to-day work. Many end users of Microsoft Dynamics NAV struggle with questions about how to upgrade their two-tier solution to a three-tier solution. Mark can help you answer these questions and plot a roadmap to the future, retaining the investment in the solution. When Microsoft introduced the three-tier architecture in 2009, it was meant to be a major shift for experienced NAV developers and consultants. Mark has trained most of them in the Netherlands and Belgium. To be able to share knowledge in an efficient and global way, Mark wrote the book Dynamics NAV 2009 Application Design and Dynamics NAV 2013 Application Design, which is often referred to as the NAV Bible. Its content is applicable to newer and older versions of the product too.