Some NAV systems must communicate with other software or even with hardware. Sometimes that communication is Inside-Out (that is, initiated by NAV), and sometimes it is Outside-In (that is, initiated by the outside connection). It's not unusual for system‑to‑system communications to be a two-way street, a meeting of peers. To supply, receive, or exchange information with other systems (hardware or software), we need at least a basic understanding of the interface tools that are part of NAV.
Note
Because of NAV's unique data structures and the critical business logic embedded therein, it is very risky for an external system to access NAV data directly via SQL Server without using C/AL based routines as an intermediary.
NAV has a number of methods of interfacing with the world outside its database. We will review those very briefly here. To learn more about these, we should begin by reviewing the applicable material in the online Developer and IT Pro Help material plus any documentation...