Friday, April 22, 2022

Power Automate Business Central Journal Line Import Error

by Steve Endow

NOTE:  I'm encountering this error as of April 22, 2022.  If this ends up being a bug in the Power Automate BC connector that is fixed, I'll post an update.


A customer is interested in importing General Journals into Dynamics 365 Business Central using Power Automate.

Simple, right?  Just one Power Automate flow, right?  How hard could it be, right?

Well, it depends.

This is the error that I get in my Power Automate environment.

You must specify a journal batch ID or a journal ID to get a journal line

When I ask why it doesn't work, I get responses that seem to indicate that it should work.

"It works fine for me"

"You must be doing it wrong"

"Did you try doing it this way?"

But no matter what I try, the flow gives me the same error:

ErrorCode: Application_DialogException  You must specify a journal batch ID or a journal ID to get a journal line.  

Thursday, April 7, 2022

Resolving Business Central AL Warning AL0603 - Implicit conversion to a value of type Enum

 by Steve Endow

While copying a standard Business Central Web API page to a new project to create a customized version of the API page, I encountered this compiler warning:


AL0603 - Implicit Conversion to a value of type Enum


An implicit conversion is being performed from a value of type 'Integer' to a value of type 'Enum "Attachment Entity Buffer Document Type"'. This conversion can lead to unexpected runtime issues. This warning will become an error in a future release.AL AL0603
(field) "Document Type": Enum "Attachment Entity Buffer Document Type"


I am vaguely familiar with this error, and I think I resolved it months ago in a different Business Central project, but I completely forgot how I figured it out and how I resolved it.  So I'm writing this post to remind me when I forget again in 6 months.

Friday, March 25, 2022

Getting Access to The Top Secret Business Central Insider Program

by Steve Endow

If you are a Dynamics 365 Business Central developer or ISV, you should definitely get access to the Business Central Insider program.

Business Central Insider Program

I don't know why the BC Insider program is so cumbersome to join, but I'm guessing it involves lots of lawyers. Which is unfortunate, since I think BC Insider is an essential program for any BC developer.

I thought I had a link to the BC Insider program on my BC Resources page, but apparently not, as it seems to require several steps, and is not available through a single URL, unfortunately.

I did a few DuckDuckGo searches, but came up with nothing.  I then did several Google searches, but still couldn't find any Microsoft pages explaining how to join the BC Insider program.

After several searches, I finally found Daniel Rimmelzwaan's excellent blog post from February 9, 2022:

http://thedenster.com/insider-builds-on-collaborate


Thankfully, he documented the process for signing up for Business Central Insider after going through the same puzzling search for one of his clients.  

Friday, March 4, 2022

Business Central Web API Error When Using $expand

 By Steve Endow

I recently responded to a Business Central Community Forum post here:

https://community.dynamics.com/business/f/dynamics-365-business-central-forum/448915/api-query-with-odata-date-filter-with-encoding

While researching that question, I learned something from that forum post:  $expand=*

Huh, I didn't know that was possible!

If you aren't familiar with the $expand OData query option, check out my blog post on the topic:

https://blog.steveendow.com/2021/09/using-metadata-and-expand-with-business.html

So it seems that you can use a wildcard with $expand to automatically expand all Navigation Properties available in a Business Central Web API endpoint. Very interesting!

I personally don't think I would ever recommend using such a query option in a real world API integration, but I was intrigued by the possibility!

So I fired up Postman and did some testing with my new found query option.

Query Option $expand=*

Friday, January 14, 2022

Is Agile Development viable for Business Central customizations?

 by Steve Endow

To the Agile Advocates (tm) who will immediately protest "Of course it is!" before reading on, I ask:  

Hear me out.


Reference:  What is Agile?

Reference:  What is Agile Development?

Reference:  Manifesto for Agile Software Development

Book:  Agile Project Management for Dummies 3rd Edition

Book:  Agile Estimating and Planning

Book:  Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time


Disclaimer:  I'm not an Agile expert.  I'm someone who has tried to learn about Agile (on several occasions) and tried to understand if and how some Agile practices might be used in the projects I work on.  I'm asking lots of questions, for which I'm having a difficult time finding answers on my own through part time self-study.


"Agile Development". It sounds cool. It sounds compelling. If you've ever suffered on a long, complex project that was over budget and seemed like it would never end, you'll likely appreciate some of the benefits that Agile claims to offer.  You'll read the Principles behind the Agile Manifesto and say, "Yes, please!"

It definitely appeals to me.

But then there is the reality that I personally work in.  Over the last 26 years, I have done consulting and development work mostly for "mid-market" customers in the US.  Based on my years of experience, admittedly with organizations and teams that didn't have "best practices", I'm having a difficult time trying to map Agile practices to the mid-market ERP projects that I typically encounter.

My inquiry is not about whether Agile is good or bad.  I'm trying to understand if Agile is a good fit, or even a viable option, for my customers and my projects.

Monday, January 3, 2022

The Business Central Default Dimension Priorities Feature

by Steve Endow

[NOTE: I'm new to Business Central Dimensions, so if I got anything wrong, or missed any important details, please post a comment below and let me know. Thanks!]

I have recently been exploring how Business Central can provide default values for Dimension Codes.

For example, if I create a new Sales Invoice in Cronus, select Alpine Ski House as the customer, and then add an ATHENS Desk as a line item, both the Customergroup Code and Department Code dimension fields remain blank on the line.

No Default Dimension Values

Why are these Dimension Code fields blank?  In this example, they are blank because I don't have any Default Dimension Value Codes defined for the Customer or Item records.  Let's explore how we can get Business Central to provide default values for those Dimension fields.

Friday, November 26, 2021

Business Central API - Filter Child Array Values Using $filter Query Option

 by Steve Endow

I had a difficult time finding an example of this type of API filtering using the OData $filter query option, so I wanted to share an example that I needed for a project.

For context, this is a very simple example of a Business Central API "child array" that I wanted to filter.  Technically, I think that OData calls this an "expanded navigation property".

Customers with Expanded contactsInformation Navigation Property


First, if you are not familiar with the OData $metadata URL and the $expand query parameter, please see my blog post here.

How many digits can a Business Central Amount field actually support?

 by Steve Endow (If anyone has a technical explanation for the discrepancy between the Docs and the BC behavior, let me know!) On Sunday nig...