What Code Analyzers are right for you?

A code analyzer is a library that builds on the compiler's functionality to offer enhanced analysis of the syntax and semantics of your code at build time. The AL Language extension for Visual Studio Code contains four analyzers:

·        CodeCop is an analyzer that enforces the official AL Coding Guidelines. For more information about the CodeCop rules, see CodeCop Analyzer Rules.

·        PerTenantExtensionCop is an analyzer that enforces rules that must be respected by extensions meant to be installed for individual tenants. For more information about the PerTenantExtensionCop rules, see PerTenantExtensionCop Analyzer Rules.

·        AppSourceCop is an analyzer that enforces rules that must be respected by extensions meant to be published to Microsoft AppSource. For more information about the AppSourceCop rules, see AppSourceCop Analyzer Rules.

·        UICop is an analyzer that enforces rules that must be respected by extensions meant to customize the Web Client. For more information about the UserInterfaceCop rules, see UICop Analyzer Rules.

  

If you are developing an app for AppSource (ISV, Add-on Apps) then you need to enable below Code Analyzers

AppSourceCop 

CodeCop 

UICop 

 

If you are developing a customization for a specific customer then you need to enable below code analyzers

PerTenantExtensionCop 

CodeCop 

UICop 

Do not forget to set "al.enableCodeAnalysis": true

 

Change in sandboxName in Launch.json

 

I was delivering a D365 Business Central training to a client today and was explaining about Launch.json and mentioning that the launch.json file contains information about the server that the extension launches on.

And if we have multiple sandbox environments then we must specify which sandbox to be used in property called “sandboxName”

 

Tried to add the parameter and not able to find it.

 

Shocked for a second and noticed 2 new properties in the Launch.json

 

environmentType: Specifies environment to use to connect to Business Central.

Ex: Sandbox: Specifies a sandbox environment

environmentName : Specifies which production, or sandbox environment to use.

 

Looks like Microsoft has replaced sandboxName with environmentName and provided option to select the environmentType.   

 

Did not use Production option yet.

How to upgrade AppSource/Marketplace Apps without uninstalling and installing again

With latest Business Central Admin center, we can check if there are any latest version of app available in AppSource/Marketplace.

1.    Go to Business Central Admin Center

2.    Click on environment that you want to check for updates and click on it (ex: Production)

3.    Click on Manage Apps

4.    Here we can see if there is any new version available in “Latest Available Version” field and option install in “Available Update Action”

5.    In below example screenshot, we can notice that there is a new version 5.3.0.1 available Progressus Software and we can install by clicking “Install Update”

6.    We get confirm notification when we click on “Install Update”

7.    Update will be scheduled once we click on Yes

8.    Will start updating

9.    And finally will be updated

MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional) 2020

I am happy to announce that I was awarded by Microsoft, with the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for 2020-2021 in the category Microsoft Business Applications (D365 Business Central/Dynamics NAV). This is my 9th Microsoft MVP award. 

A big thank you for the Blog readers, Facebook Followers and twitter @mohana_cse06 Followers.  

Who are MVPs?

Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, or MVPs, are technology experts who passionately share their knowledge with the community. They are always on the "bleeding edge" and have an unstoppable urge to get their hands on new, exciting technologies. They have very deep knowledge of Microsoft products and services, while also being able to bring together diverse platforms, products and solutions, to solve real world problems. MVPs make up a global community of over 4,000 technical experts and community leaders across 90 countries/regions and are driven by their passion, community spirit, and quest for knowledge. Above all and in addition to their amazing technical abilities, MVPs are always willing to help others - that's what sets them apart.

Source https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/Overview

BC 16 update is ready for Business Central – are you?

Microsoft rolling notifications that Microsoft is ready to update tenants to BC 16 (wave 1 2020) and are we ready?

1.    Didn’t you get notifications?

Setup notification recipients in the Admin Center

How can I set that?

Follow the below link

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/administration/tenant-admin-center-notifications

Result should look like below

2.   How can we check whether we are ready?

Check the compatibility of PTEs with BC 16

How can we check?

One way is: We already have 16 version Preview available in Admin center so we can create a sandbox environment with 16 preview version and check our extensions compatibility and also test the new functionality and PTE functionality.

Another way is: create a container using below docker image which will give 16 version already.

     mcr.microsoft.com/businesscentral/sandbox:us

3.    What we have to do after we are ready for update to BC 16?

Microsoft notification email comes with lot of information.

Mainly, header part contains important dates

Example:

Updates will automatically start:    On or after 4/30/2020 (UTC)

First day to apply update:                4/16/2020 (UTC)

Last day to apply update:                6/15/2020 (UTC)

Scheduled time:                                Between 12:00:00 AM and 11:59:59 PM (UTC)

Bottom part contains versions:

Example:

Your service identifier (Tenant):      M365B085983-sandbox Environment:                                      Sandbox Version before update:                      15.4.41023.41345 Version after update:                         16.0.11240.11946

NOTE: Now the good news is: we have 60 days to select out update. Usually it was 30 days.

Microsoft gave us 14 days to set the update date:

From 04/16 to 04/29

If we did not set the update before 04/29 then Microsoft will update on or after 04/30 (may not be all on same day)

How can I set update date?

If we go to Admin center and the environment then we will see whether “update scheduling available”

If yes then it will show update will start on or after date: in this case 04/30 as I didn’t set update date yet.

On top, click on update and then schedule update

Here, we can select the version and date that we want to update our environment

I prefer to update Sandbox environments which is a copy of production first and test and then plan for Production later.

On top, click on update and then schedule window

We can also set update window: which means this is the time on the day the updates to be rolled out.

Note: make sure that your environments are on 15.4 to update to BC 16.

If your environment is below 15.4 then Microsoft will not schedule update to BC 16.

Stay Home and Stay Safe and enjoy the update.

Failed to connect to the database. Error message: bad JSON escape sequence: \S.

We recently upgraded one of customers from NAV2016 to BC Cloud.

One of the critical step in this upgrade is to move data from BC OnPrem to BC Cloud using Intelligent Cloud/Cloud Data Migration using “Microsoft Integration Runtime Configuration Manager” tool.

We got below error while testing the Connection to the database in tool.

Failed to connect to the database. Error message: bad JSON escape sequence: \S. Path ‘properties.ConnectionString’, line 5, Position 78

Solution: Make sure to use 2 back slashes in your SQL Server details.

We used 1 back slash in above image as CD-NavToBC\SQL2016

But it should be CD-NavToBC\\SQL2016

End of Mainstream support for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015

January 14, 2020 marks the end of mainstream support for Microsoft dynamics NAV 2015. We will not get any new regulatory features or hotfixes for this version anymore.

Please note the date, April 13, 2021 will be end of mainstream support for Dynamics NAV 2016.

Please migrate your NAV versions to D365 Business Central.

Please contact me if you have any questions on migration and/or training required on D365 BC at pmohanakishna@hotmail.com