To get the maximum out of this book as a developer, the following should match you:
- Be an experienced developer
- Know more than one programming language
- Have IDE experience
- Be knowledgeable about business applications
- Be good at self-directed study
If you have these attributes, this book will help you become productive with AL and Business Central much more rapidly.
Even though this book is targeted first at developers, it is also designed to be useful to executives, consultants, managers, business owners, and others who want to learn about the development technology and operational capabilities of Dynamics 365 Business Central. If you fit into one of these, or similar, categories, start by studying Chapter 1 for a good overview of Business Central and its tools. You should then consider reviewing sections of other chapters, where specific topics may apply to your specific areas of interest.
This book's illustrations are from the W1 Cronus database, Dynamics 365 Business Central V2017.
You will need some basic tools to get the most of this book, including the following:
- A license and database that can be used for development experimentation. The ideal license is a full developer's license. If your license only contains the page, report, and table designer capabilities, you will still be able to do many of the exercises, but you will not have access to the inner workings of pages and tables and the AL code contained therein.
- A copy of the Business Central Cronus demo or test database for your development testing and study. Having a copy of a production database for examination is ideal. This book's illustrations are from the W1 Cronus database for V2017.
- The hardware and software requirements for installing and running Microsoft Dynamics Business Central can be found at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-nav/system-requirements-for-microsoft-dynamics-nav.
Access to other Business Central manuals, training materials, websites, and experienced associates will obviously be of benefit, but they are not required for the time spent with this book to be a good investment.