Microsoft Dynamics NAV*
Use Microsoft .NET
Technology to offer solutions
integrated with Microsoft
Dynamics NAV
* Microsoft DynamicsTM NAV, formerly Microsoft® Business Solutions–Navision®
www.microsoft.com/dynamics/nav
2 MICROSOFT DYNAMICS NAV − .NET OPPORTUNITIES
Want to integrate to Microsoft Dynamics NAV using .NET
technology?
This document helps you understand the possibilities involved in using Microsoft .NET technology to integrate with Microsoft DynamicsTM NAV, formerly Microsoft® Business
Solutions–Navision®. It describes three ways to do this:
1. Use Microsoft Dynamics NAV .NET tools to integrate your own applications.
2. Work together with a Microsoft partner who specializes in Microsoft Dynamics NAV to integrate your own applications.
3. Start developing your own resources to work in Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
1. Use Microsoft Dynamics NAV .NET tools to integrate your own
applications.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a fully customizable business management solution that brings financial, manufacturing, distribution, customer management, supply-chain, analytics and e-commerce data together into one streamlined package. Selling Microsoft
Dynamics NAV offers a way to tap into the small and mid-sized business market. Microsoft Dynamics NAV has:
• Over 48,000 customers
• Sales in more than 130 countries
• Over 900 Add-on solutions in the Microsoft Solution Finder online directory
Microsoft Dynamics NAV already offers integration tools that bring the product closer to .NET, and the next version (Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0) will offer even more. These integration tools can help you capitalize on many of the opportunities that .NET
technology offers, such as collaboration across systems and seamless connectivity with a variety of business partners.
Easy access to data
C/FRONT .NET is a tool for accessing data in Microsoft Dynamics NAV from a .NET development environment such as Microsoft Visual Studio.
C/FRONT .NET provides three API (Application Program Interface) formats:
• The C-API format allows programs developed using the C and C++ programming languages to access C/SIDE directly, using a dynamic link library (DLL).
• The OCX-API format enables access to C/SIDE by any program that can act as an automation client. This includes products such as Microsoft Excel and
Microsoft Visual Basic.
• The CFRONT .NET API enables the same interface as C-API to be accessed by any .NET programming language or tool. For example C# or Microsoft Visual Basic .NET.
For example, if users want to build sophisticated budgeting functions that need the functions of a spreadsheet, they can configure Microsoft Excel to act as a controller to their Microsoft Dynamics NAV server. Budgets or actual figures can then be read from Microsoft Dynamics NAV, manipulated in Microsoft Excel, and written back to the database. No intermediate steps of importing or exporting data are required to
You don’t have to know how to code in Microsoft Dynamics NAV to use C/FRONT .NET. In fact, you don’t even have to work in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV development
environment at all. Via C/FRONT .NET you can, for example, access a specific company in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV database, read and write records, and update tables in your preferred programming language without worrying about programming in a different language.
Extending Integration Solutions
For those that do have Microsoft Dynamics NAV development skills the integration
possibilities with .NET are even more expansive today. Existing .NET versions of technologies and protocols like Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ) and .NET wrapped COM can be used from both Microsoft Dynamics NAV and from .NET development tools. This enables an integration projects to be built in Microsoft Dynamics NAV and in .NET and have them interoperate seamlessly.
Introducing Web services
The next version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV will offer more .NET technology. It will allow you to publish new and customizable web services, such as integration to Microsoft Office or automated business interactions between two company systems. It will include a new application architecture consisting of:
• A .NET middle-tier interface
• A Common Language Runtime (CLR)
4 MICROSOFT DYNAMICS NAV − .NET OPPORTUNITIES
2. Work together with a Microsoft partner specializing in Microsoft
Dynamics NAV to integrate your own applications.
C/FRONT and other tools help you access data in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution. But what if you want to access the business logic yet don’t have resources available to learn the C/AL language it’s written in? One possibility is to take advantage of a Microsoft partner with the right expertise and tools.
For example, Rue de net is a Microsoft partner that specializes in connecting .NET to the business logic in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Rue de net offers a product that uses the business logicand data structures already in place in Microsoft Dynamics NAV to make a direct connection to applications like Web, Mobile, Handheld and Windows applications and services.
“Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a great solution for Microsoft partners that want to work with .NET because it gives them a whole variety of business applications that are already available,” says Alfred B. Thordarson, technical director at Rue de Net.
Rue de net has helped a number of Microsoft partners connect their applications to Microsoft Dynamics NAV. One such application is a web-based application that allows fund managers to follow their portfolios online in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Another is a warehousing solution for a global medical supplier that allows the warehouse employees to use a web application to download scanner files directly from within the supplier’s head-office Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution.
Find a partner that can help your business
Rue de net is just one example of a partner that offers .NET development for other
3. Start developing your own resources to work in Microsoft
Dynamics NAV
According to AMR research, less than 20% of small and mid-sized businesses around the globe have purchased the business application software they need. A good way to capitalize on this opportunity is to learn all you can about the business application market. Programming skills in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV development environment will be a valuable resource in this respect.
The key to opening this market
Microsoft Dynamics NAV was designed specifically to help manage small and mid-sized organizations manage their businesses. Understanding the code in Microsoft Dynamics NAV can help you develop .NET integrations that make use of the existing business functionality in an optimal way. It can also help you to understand the underlying business processes.
Understanding business processes is crucial to selling applications in the small- to-mid-size business market. For example, to calculate invoice discounts, you must understand the associated business process. The same goes for VAT rules, inter-company transactions, credit card reconciliations – and the list goes on.
Learning to work with Microsoft Dynamics NAV is therefore not really so much about learning a new programming language. It’s more about learning how business processes work in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. This in turn will help you to develop the most efficient code and .NET integrations, and it will help you articulate to potential customers how the business application works.
6 MICROSOFT DYNAMICS NAV − .NET OPPORTUNITIES
Not only for developers
The C/SIDE development environment is accessible not only to developers, but also to experts in a given business area. For example, someone who understands the distribution business doesn’t have to be a trained programmer to make customizations for a
wholesale company. The source code’s components are very descriptive and the programming is in everyday easy-to-understand language. For example, when programming a currency function, you might find the following description of a line of code:
”IF Currency.FIND('-') THEN”
This line of code indicates that there will be a check as to whether the currency codes created are in the currency table.
The descriptiveness of the language makes Microsoft Dynamics NAV a good base for building on business expertise and learning the underlying processes of a specific business area.
Designed for building quality business applications
The foundation for all the business management functionality in Microsoft Dynamics NAV is in the C/SIDE development environment. C/SIDE:
1. Consists of building blocks called object types, which makes it simpler to build great applications.
2. Allows you to modify the entire application, and any level of customization is possible.
3. Makes it easy to understand the source code’s function when you customize. You can simply read the 4GL code for a structured overview.
New markets await you
Selling Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a great way to capitalize on the small to mid-sized business market. Microsoft Dynamics NAV offers integration tools that can help you take advantage of many of the opportunities .NET technology offers.
Another way to take advantage of the opportunities that Microsoft Dynamics NAV and .NET technology offer is to collaborate. Find a Microsoft partner to help you integrate your .NET-based applications to the business logicand data structures already in place in Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
Finally, if you put resources in learning programming in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV development environment, you may find that it pays off in a big way. Understanding the businesses processes can help you deliver the best solution integrations possible. This could be a smart long-term investment that will prepare you to capitalize on the small and mid-sized business application market.
How to take the next step
If you are interested in learning more about using Microsoft .NET to integrate to Microsoft Dynamics NAV: Contact your local Microsoft Office and ask to speak to the Microsoft Dynamics NAV product account manager.
Find out more about Microsoft Dynamics NAV at www.microsoft.com/dynamics/nav
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