Release Management with Artifacts & Stages – CI / CD 8

Release Management with Artifacts & Stages – CI / CD 8

In my last article of the CI/CD series I explained which package types I use to upload my Artifacts. As you can imagine, this is just one piece of the puzzle in my release management workflow for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. More important for me is the correct traceability of my artifacts. In other words, this is the key to keep control over my projects. As a result, I track each of my Artifacts respective to each deployment stage….

Read More Read More

Repository Template for MSDyn365BC Projects

Repository Template for MSDyn365BC Projects

Sometimes it’s hard to start. Especially when everything is new. You have to deal with the new programming language Microsoft AL. You are facing the challenge to use a new Source Code Management like Git. And finally, your CI build automation in Azure DevOps expect a well structured project. I know these problems. Therefor, I provide templates for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central projects to my developers. You find my example repository for Business Central (BC15) at GitHub: https://github.com/megel/MSDyn365BC-15-Template Company…

Read More Read More

Package Types for Business Central Artifacts – CI / CD 7

Package Types for Business Central Artifacts – CI / CD 7

In my last CI / CD post I promised to describe: “… why I use Universal Packages for my artifacts”. To explain this, I must answer the following question: What kind of artifacts do I have in my Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central projects? Well, my answer is simple: I usually have to manage files in my CD process… 😮 Simple Files My CI build pipelines compile and create my Apps-Files. In case of Hybrid-Development, my Artifacts are also FOB-Files….

Read More Read More

Improving PowerApps by Centralized Processing

Improving PowerApps by Centralized Processing

PowerApps are promoted as Low-Code / No-Code platform to write Apps and this is right! Power users can easily adopt the “programming” language which is similar to the Microsoft Excel Formula language. On the other hand, when developing PowerApps, users tend to duplicate command snippets and code fragments. I did this until I found a way to reduce this redundancy of my code copies in my apps. Let me show you this on a very simple example:Calling a Power Automate…

Read More Read More

Branching Workflow – CI / CD Part 6

Branching Workflow – CI / CD Part 6

“How to start?” … Well, I avoided answering this question a long time, until now. I found an approach which fits perfect into Azure DevOps and satisfy my CI / CD workflow. You know, Real-Life of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is development, deployment, support, and maintenance together. Therefore all of these processes need access to the right source code. Source Code Management (SCM) Some basics: Most of us know “OMA” (Object Manager Advanced). Microsoft Navision developers uses OMA since…

Read More Read More

Uploading a file from MSDyn365BC as “multipart/form-data” message

Uploading a file from MSDyn365BC as “multipart/form-data” message

Yes, uploading a file from Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to a Web API sounds easy because Microsoft AL provides all these new and cool objects like JsonObject, HttpRequest, HttpResponse and HttpClient. But sometimes the devil is in the detail…“How-to setup the corret HttpRequest message with all the needed HttpHeaders and how-to add the file content?” Swagger “Web API” Definition Good news, my Web API provide a Swagger definition. Now I see what is needed. Swagger-UI visualization display the API…

Read More Read More

Avoiding Parameter Chaos in PowerApps

Avoiding Parameter Chaos in PowerApps

I love PowerApps! This technology gives me the freedom to create a portable user interface (UI) for my demos in a couple of minutes. Well, sometimes it takes a little bit longer, especially when… Direct before NAV TechDays 2019 I decided to create a PowerApp to demonstrate the power of our Intelligent ERP framework. To execute the needed API calls I attached a Power Automate flow to my PowerApp. During setup of the flow I played a little bit to…

Read More Read More

NavTechDays 2019

NavTechDays 2019

An amazing week at Antwerp with lots of workshops, sessions and talks with experts is over. My personal conclusion after my 4th year at this high level technical #deep-dive conference: No “Big Surprises”, no “Big Changes”, but some “Promising Improvements” of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as product and a strong focus of Integration Scenarios. In my opinion the “Big Picture” at the roadmap gets more clear and many sessions provided a sneak peek into future with a common message:…

Read More Read More

Application Versions – CI / CD Part 5

Application Versions – CI / CD Part 5

Classic NAV development processes, customizations with C/Side became obsolete in the Business Central age was replaced by Apps. Apps have version numbers to identify which app version is newer, handle updates and finally synchronize data changes in the right order. New App Versions are produced by fully automated CI processes in a very short time and the generated Artifacts replace the installed version in target environments during automated CD processes. The application version helps to keep the necessary overview and…

Read More Read More

Another way to Setup Continuous Delivery​

Another way to Setup Continuous Delivery​

The Azure Portal offers a new option to set up Continuous Delivery for Virtual Machines and it’s currently marked as a preview feature. The setup wizard allows to select existing Azure DevOps organizations and projects, when the Azure DevOps tenant is connected to your AAD. Azure starts to configure the continuous delivery for this virtual machine after completing the information and install the deployment agent. After completion the Virtual Machine is present in the deployment group D365BC in the selected…

Read More Read More