NAV's integration tools are designed to allow direct input and output between NAV databases and external, non-NAV routines. However, they do not allow access to C/AL-based logic. The internal business rules or data validation rules that would normally be enforced by C/AL code or trigger actions or various properties do not come into play when the data access is by means of one of the following integration tools. Therefore, you must be very careful in their use.
N/ODBC: NAV provides the standard ODBC interface between external applications (such as Word, Excel, Delphi, Access, and so on) and the Classic NAV database. This is a separately licensed granule. N/ODBC does not work with the SQL Server database.
C/OCX: This provides the ability to use OCXs to interface with the NAV database. This is also a separately licensed granule.
C/FRONT: This provides the ability to access the NAV database directly from code written in languages other than C/AL. Earlier, this type of interface was primarily coded in C, but beginning with V4.0 SP1, we now have the ability to interface from various .NET languages. In future versions, this capability is likely to expand. This too is a separately licensed granule.
Automation: This allows access to registered automation controller libraries within Windows from in-line C/AL code (for example, C/AL code can directly push data into a Word document template or an Excel spreadsheet template from C/AL). Automation controllers cannot be used to add graphical elements to NAV but they can contain graphical user interfaces that operate outside of NAV. When it is feasible to use an automation controller for interfacing externally, this is a simple and flexible way to expand the capabilities of your NAV system.
Web services: This functionality is described in brief earlier and in much more detail later. Web services are an industry standard API to NAV tables (through published pages) and functions (through published codeunits).