ArcherPoint Dynamics NAV Developer Digest - vol 217
The NAV community, including the ArcherPoint technical staff, is made up of developers, project managers, and consultants who are constantly communicating, with the common goal of sharing helpful information with one another to help customers be more successful.
As they run into issues and questions, find the answers, and make new discoveries, they post them on blogs, forums, social media…so everyone can benefit. We in Marketing watch these interactions and never cease to be amazed by the creativity, dedication, and brainpower we’re so fortunate to have in this community—so we thought, wouldn’t it be great to share this great information with everyone who might not have the time to check out the multitude of resources out there? So, the ArcherPoint Microsoft Dynamics NAV Developer Digest was born. Each week, we present a collection of thoughts and findings from NAV experts and devotees around the world. We hope these insights will benefit you, too.
Microsoft Acquisition of GitHub Officially Complete
Satya Nadella welcomes GitHub to the Microsoft family of companies. New GitHub CEO, Nat Friedman, shares his two principles for GitHub:
- GitHub will operate independently as a community, platform, and business. This means that GitHub will retain its developer-first values, distinctive spirit, and open extensibility. We will always support developers in their choice of any language, license, tool, platform, or cloud.
- GitHub will retain its product philosophy. We love GitHub because of the deep care and thoughtfulness that goes into every facet of the developer’s experience. I understand and respect this, and know that we will continue to build tasteful, snappy, polished tools that developers love.
He also shares the top three objectives he says will be top of mind as they look to the future:
- Ensuring GitHub is the best place to run productive communities and teams
- Making GitHub accessible to more developers around the world
- Reliability, security, and performance
What are your thoughts now that the acquisition is complete? I’d love to hear your comments!
How to Upgrade to Dynamics 365 Business Central On Premises
Saurav Dhyani gives step-by-step instructions for upgrading to Dynamics 365 Business Central on premises from Microsoft Dynamics NAV versions 2015 and higher. The steps are discussed in some detail and includes screen shots.
Which Object Ranges Can Be Used with Dynamics 365 Business Central?
As AL and Visual Studio Code have/will replace C/SIDE and C/AL, Microsoft also intends to modernize object ranges and transform customization opportunities with a modern approach.
Read the updated version of Kurt Juvyns’ post on the object ranges available for use with Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Automatic Sign Off of Inactive Dynamics NAV Users
Joe: “This customer has issues with users remaining logged into NAV too long after they have completed tasks. They cannot get the users into the habit of logging out when they anticipate they will not need to be in NAV. Can NAV be customized so that users are timed out if they are not active in it for a certain amount of time? If not, I will let them know that the only solution—if the users cannot change their habits—is to purchase additional licenses.”
Kyle asks: “What version of NAV are they on?”
Tim Lecander suggests: “The User Session Control add-on from Dynamics NAV AddOns might be an option.”
Chris Montgomery adds: “If they are using a NAS and Job Queue, a Job Queue task could be used to view the Session table every X minutes and delete any record that has been idle for Y amount of time. This can also be done through a SQL routine.”
Kyle notes: “NAV 2015 and newer have a setting on the service tier for timeout.”
Figure 1 – User session controls screen shot
Jon tags in: “Upgrade to Business Central. The BC Web Client is the way to go. Say goodbye forever to RTC and its finicky service tier. Even with the built-in settings and clever work-arounds, RTC is fraught with trouble and endless maintenance.”
Kyle replies to Jon:” The BC Web Client does not eliminate the need for a finicky service tier. In fact, it adds a second finicky service tier called IIS. Web Browser -> IIS -> NST -> SQL”
Jon responds: “True! And Touché.”
Saurav disagrees: “As Jon Long stated, upgrading to Business Central is the solution. Two new settings are available for the issue is being discussed, as in the image below.”
Figure 2 – User Session controls and settings in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Jim chimes in: “Joe, expandit makes a utility that does exactly what you are looking for.”
Joe then asks: “Jim, do you have a preference – expandit Client Manager or User Session Control from Dynamics NAV Addons?”
To which Jim replies: “The answer might be based on the version of NAV they are running. The older the version, the more I would lean towards expandit. They have sold a ton of this one over the years. I suspect both work pretty well, so maybe price wins the day.”
If you are interested in NAV development, be sure to see our collection of NAV Development Blogs.
Read the “How To” blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV, and contact ArcherPoint if you need assistance with Dynamics NAV.