Chapter 2. The New Extension Model
In the previous chapter, we saw an overview of the new Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central platform (the new Microsoft SaaS ERP proposition), from a user to a technical perspective.
In this chapter, we'll see an overview of the new extension model for developing solutions with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Here, you will learn the following:
- The basics of the new extension model
- The differences between traditional customizations versus extensions
- The event programming model in Dynamics 365 Business Central
Traditional Microsoft Dynamics NAV customizations
With the old-fashioned Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP (on-premise proposition by Microsoft), the traditional way for customizing the solution is to use the C/SIDE and C/AL languages.
C/SIDE is the standard integrated development environment (IDE) born with the first versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. With C/SIDE and the development environment application, you have access to all the NAV objects, and from here you can customize every part of the application:
With C/SIDE and by using the C/AL language, you can create new objects such as Tables, Pages, Codeunits and so on and you can edit standard objects (made by Microsoft) and modify them as to your needs.
With this traditional way of programming, you can write code in new objects and you can write code inside standard objects and inside standard Microsoft code (between lines). Isolation of customizations depends only on how the developer has written their code; there are no rules and barriers when...
In this chapter, we had an overview of the event-based development model for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and the benefits that it offers for developers. We also had an overview of the new extension model for developing solutions for Dynamics 365 Business Central (on-premises and SaaS) and the impact that this new model will have on the future of the Microsoft ERP customizations.
In Chapter 3, Modern Development Environment Overview, we'll see an overview of the new modern development environment. We'll see how to use Visual Studio Code for developing solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, how to customize it, how to handle source-code management, and tips and tricks for having an efficient development environment.
