Can You Customize Base Code in Business Centre on Azure

Business Centre on Azure provides a flexible and scalable platform for building custom applications, but one common question is whether you can customize the base code. Fortunately, the answer is yes, you can modify the base code in Business Centre on Azure.

According to the documentation, Business Centre on Azure uses a modular architecture that allows you to customize and extend the base code through various APIs and tools.

This modularity is a key feature of Business Centre on Azure, enabling developers to build custom applications that meet specific business needs.

Customizing Business Central is a breeze, thanks to its user-friendly Designer tool. You can make rapid adjustments to the UI for all users within the organization without writing any code.

The Designer allows you to hide columns that aren't needed, drag-and-drop to reposition FactBoxes, bookmark links to commonly used lists, or show data fields that were previously hidden. These simple changes can be rolled out to an entire organization.

You can start customizing in either Designer or in Visual Studio Code. If you start in Designer, the AL source code generated by the Designer is downloadable, so you can continue developing in Visual Studio Code if needed.

To test your custom changes, you'll need to use hosted sandbox environments or Docker containers. This ensures business continuity and protects the integrity of live customer data.

Changes can be thoroughly tested in the browser by developers or even end-users until they're deemed fit to deploy into production.

If you need to trigger a data upgrade on your customizations, you'll need to create extensions for the target platform and include dependencies for the Microsoft System, Base, and Application extensions. This step is only required if you need to migrate data from custom tables or fields.

Here's a quick rundown of the steps to create extensions:

After creating extensions, you can start making API calls to the Business Central administration center using OAuth2Flows. This allows you to make requests to the API using the Rest Client for Visual Studio Code or any other HTTP client.

Managing Code and Version is a crucial aspect of modifying base code in Business Central on Azure. You can create extensions for customizations compared to the Microsoft system and base applications, which is a must for triggering a data upgrade.

To do this, you'll need to create extensions for the target platform, specifically for the 8.0 Business Central 2021 release wave 2. This includes dependencies for the Microsoft System, Base, and Application extensions for version 19.0.0.0.

For example, if your application includes custom tables, create extensions that include table objects and logic for the custom tables. This will ensure that the data currently stored in custom tables is migrated to the new ones defined in the extensions.

You can skip this step for any customization extensions that don't include upgrade code. However, for the System and Base Applications, this step is required to trigger a data upgrade.

After upgrading your application, it's recommended to change the application version by updating the build number stored in the database. This ensures that personalization works as expected and is useful for support purposes.

You can change the version manually to match the new current version, which isn't updated automatically during the upgrade process. For more information about version numbers, see Version numbers in Business Central.

Intriguing read: Azure Data Studio vs Azure Data Explorer

To make API calls to Business Central, you need to set up the Microsoft Entra application, authorize it in the Business Central administration center, and grant admin consent.

The Rest Client for Visual Studio Code makes it easy to see which HTTP calls are made against Business Central and Microsoft Entra ID.

Any HTTP client can be used to create the requests below, or you can choose a library like MSAL.

After setting up the Microsoft Entra application, you're ready to make API calls to Business Central.

Using the OAuth2Flows API in the Business Central administration center is the next step.

You can see which HTTP calls are made by using the Rest Client for Visual Studio Code or another HTTP client of your choice.

A unique perspective: Azure Administration