Business Central – AL Configuration Files

Business Central – AL Configuration Files

Business Central AL extension contains two JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) files: ”app.json” and “launch.json” file. These files will be automatically created when you create a new AL extension.  These files are used to store configuration data to the Sand Box / Docker Environment or your Local Environment.

launch.json

Launch.json is a configuration file that contains information about the server where the extension will be deployed to test and debug. Two configurations can be used, depending on whether the extension is published to a local server or to the cloud.

Example from Local Server:

{

    "version": "0.2.0",

    "configurations": [

        {

            "type": "al",

            "request": "launch",

            "name": "Your own server",

            "server": "http://localhost",

            "serverInstance": "BC160",

            "authentication": "Windows",

            "port": 7779,

            "startupObjectId": 22,

            "startupObjectType": "Page",

            "breakOnError": true,

            "launchBrowser": true,

            "enableLongRunningSqlStatements": true,

            "enableSqlInformationDebugger": true

        }

    ]

}

Note: Must define “port”, if it is not default one 7049.

Setting	Mandatory	Value
name	Yes	Microsoft cloud sandbox
type	Yes	Must be set to .al. Required by Visual Studio Code.
request	Yes	Must be set to launch. Required by Visual Studio Code.
startupObjectId	No	Specifies the ID of the object to open after publishing.
startupObjectType	No	Specifies the type of object to open after publishing. This setting is used in combination with the startupObjectId setting. Only objects of type Page, Table, Query, and Report are currently supported.
tenant	No	Specifies the tenant to which the package is deployed. If you specify multiple configurations, a drop-down list of options will be available when you deploy. This parameter must contain a tenant Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) domain name, for example mycustomer.onmicrosoft.com.
sandboxName	No	Specifies which sandbox to use in cases where multiple sandboxes are owned by the same tenant.
breakOnError	No	Specifies whether to break on errors when debugging or not. The default value is true.
breakOnRecordWrite	No	Specifies if the debugger breaks on record changes. The default value is false.
launchBrowser	No	Specifies whether to open a new tab page in the browser when you are publishing the AL extension (Ctrl+F5). The default value is false. If the value is not specified or set to true, the session is started. If the value is explicitly set to false, the session is not started unless you launch your extension in debugging mode.
enableSqlInformationDebugger	No	Specifies whether the debugger shows the SQL information.
enableLongRunningSqlStatements	No	Specifies whether the debugger enables long-running SQL statements in the debugger window.
longRunningSqlStatementsThreshold	No	Sets the number of milliseconds that are spent before a SQL statement is considered as long-running in the debugger.
numberOfSqlStatements	No	Sets the number of SQL statements to be shown in the debugger.

App.json

The app.json file contains information about the extension that you are building, such as publisher information, name, and the minimum supported version. Often the app.json file is referred to as the manifest.

Example from Local Server:

{

  "id": "4b0d0d4f-f04b-4c12-b36f-07836ff5229b",

  "name": "ALProject4",

  "publisher": "Default publisher",

  "version": "1.0.0.0",

  "brief": "",

  "description": "",

  "privacyStatement": "",

  "EULA": "",

  "help": "",

  "url": "",

  "logo": "",

  "dependencies": [

    {

      "id": "63ca2fa4-4f03-4f2b-a480-172fef340d3f",

      "publisher": "Microsoft",

      "name": "System Application",

      "version": "16.0.0.0"

    },

    {

      "id": "437dbf0e-84ff-417a-965d-ed2bb9650972",

      "publisher": "Microsoft",

      "name": "Base Application",

      "version": "16.0.0.0"

    }

  ],

  "screenshots": [],

  "platform": "16.0.0.0",

  "idRanges": [

    {

      "from": 50100,

      "to": 50149

    }

  ],

  "contextSensitiveHelpUrl": "https://ALProject4.com/help/",

  "showMyCode": true,

  "runtime": "5.0"

}

Setting	Mandatory	Value
id	Yes	The unique ID of the extension. When the app.json file is automatically created, the ID is set to a new GUID value.
name	Yes	The unique extension name.
publisher	Yes	The publisher name.
brief	No*	Short description of the extension.  *Required for AppSource submission
description	No*	Longer description of the extension. *Required for AppSource submission
version	Yes	The version of the app package.
dependencies	No	List of dependencies for the extension package. For dependencies to the System Application and Base Application, you must have a reference such as: "dependencies":          [{"id": "63ca2fa4-4f03-4f2b-a480-172fef340d3f", "publisher": "Microsoft", "name": "System Application", "version": "16.0.0.0"},  { "id": "437dbf0e-84ff-417a-965d-ed2bb9650972", "publisher": "Microsoft", "name": "Base Application", "version": "16.0.0.0"}]
platform	Yes	The minimum supported version of the platform symbol package file. This setting is needed if system tables are references in the extension.
idRanges	Yes	A range for application object IDs. Objects outside the range will raise a compilation error. A new ID is automatically suggested.
runtime	Yes	The version of the runtime that the project is targeting. The project can be published to the server with an earlier or the same runtime version. The available options are: 1.0 - Business Central April 2018 release, 2.2 - Business Central October 2018 release CU 2, 3.0 - Business Central April 2019 release, 4.0 - Business Central 2019 release wave 2, 5.0 - Business Central 2020 release wave 1.

Content Source: Microsoft Docs