Book Image

Programming Microsoft Dynamics NAV

By : David A. Studebaker
Book Image

Programming Microsoft Dynamics NAV

By: David A. Studebaker

Overview of this book

<p>Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly known as Navision) is a well established Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application, part of the Microsoft Dynamics family.</p> <p>Renowned for its challenging learning curve, Dynamics NAV is a complex piece of software with a unique design structure and, for developers learning to modify or enhance it for vital business purposes, the task can sometimes be overwhelming.</p> <p>This book will ease you through the complexities of NAV application development. You will learn the skills and develop the confidence to tackle your own critical NAV applications. This book will act as your experienced NAV programming mentor, helping you to become productive as a NAV developer much more quickly.</p> <p>From basic NAV terminology and concept definitions, through the essential building blocks of NAV data structure and objects, you will gain an understanding of the fundamental underlying concepts of NAV. You will learn practical details about NAV object construction and the tools available, including the Table, Form, and Report Designers. You will learn how to use NAV's tools to effectively navigate through the various features of objects, including properties, triggers, and C/AL code and receive practical guidance on ways to develop and test in the unique NAV C/SIDE development environment.</p> <p>A section on software design for NAV is provided along with tips for efficient design of a new NAV application or enhancing an existing application. With its comprehensive collection of NAV information, this book is not only designed to help you learn, but can act as a reference as well.</p>
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Programming Microsoft® Dynamics™ NAV
Credits
Foreword
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Preface

XMLports


At first glance, XMLports are for importing and exporting data, similar to the Dataports. But XMLports differ considerably in their operation, setup, and intended usage. XMLport objects can only be used for XML-formatted data. They must be "fired off" by some other routine (i.e. cannot be run directly through a menu entry). XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language. XML is a markup language much like HTML. XML was designed to describe data so that it would be easier to exchange data between dissimilar systems, for example, between your NAV ERP system and your accounting firm's financial analysis and tax preparation system.

XML is designed to be extensible, which means that you can create or extend the definition so long as you communicate the revised XML format to your correspondents. There is a standard set of syntax rules to which XML formats must conform. XML is becoming more and more important because most software uses XML. For example, the new versions of Microsoft Office are quite XML "friendly".