Redesigned C/AL Editor – NAV 2016

The C/AL Editor in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Development Environment has been redesigned to give you more coding capabilities.

Coding in the new C/AL editor is like before except you benefit from new features such as IntelliSense, name completion, change tracking, improved syntax highlighting and colorization.

The new design has a look-and-feel that resembles the Debugger regarding breakpoints.

And here it is:-

 

And if you start typing then it will start IntelliSense and you can press tab/enter to name completion.

  

 

1).Name Completion:  

 

Now Editor suggests the Variable Names which are available.

2).IntelliSense:  

Now Editor Suggest available options for the variables.

3).Change Tracking:

  

4).Improved syntax highlighting and colorization:

NOTE: - Can we Use Old Editor in NAV 2016?

YES, If you still want to use old version editor, you can use the old version of the C/AL Editor by running the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Development Environment from a command prompt and setting the useoldeditor parameter.

Steps: - Run the command prompt (RUN) from the START Option. And add below string and Enter

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\90\RoleTailored Client\finsql.exe" useoldeditor=Yes

  

 Finsql.exe useoldeditor=yes

useoldeditor

Specifies whether to use the C/AL Editor that was available in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015 and earlier versions. The C/AL Editor was redesigned in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016. To use the old editor, specify the parameter as useoldeditor=yes or useoldeditor. To use the new editor, omit the parameter or specify it as useoldeditor=no.

With the Release of NAV 2016 Timestamp Field is Available in Tables

Timestamp Field Available in Tables

   1.         If you open a Navision table from SQL server you might have noticed that a timestamp field is available which is a hidden field and was not accessible from Navision in the earlier versions.

2.         With the release of NAV 2016 they made this available to NAV users and you can access that from the Navision, add filters and write code against it.

    3.         In order to access the timestamp field we need to add a custom field to the table with data type            biginteger and we can name it anything but in the properties of the field and we need to set the new property SQL Timestamp to yes.

Whenever you add a record to the table a row version number is generated for that record and stored in that field.

One important note you can only read the timestamp field we added and use if for filtering purpose or other purpose, but cannot write the data to the field.

Note: We cannot add the field as a key in the table, but that does not prevent us from sorting on it. This method will find not only new records, but also existing records that were modified since last check. To locate deleted records however would require some additional logic.

**But this field provide integer no not date and time

Autofill Local/Global Variable Name for forms, records, reports, xmlports, etc. in NAV 2015 & above

By accident I discovered something quite interesting last week and I thought it was worth sharing it through a blog post.

When you create an object type variable in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015 & above and you leave out the name then NAV will automatically suggest the name based on the subtype. So, when creating variables that are forms, records, reports, xmlports, etc. then there is no need to enter a variable name anymore. Nice! 🙂

Here is how it works;


Create a new variable by leaving the name blank and enter the datatype and subtype.

Now, when leaving the subtype field Dynamics NAV automatically populates the name as the subtype where the spaces, etc. been removed. Cool!

I will start using this all the time now, saves a lot of key strokes in my mind. It does assumes you are ok with the suggested name that is.

This new feature made my day when I discovered it, I bit nerdy I know. 🙂

If you create a second variable for the same object it gets the same name, would have been nice if it had added a ‘2’ to the end or something, but I guess you can’t get everything.

History of Navision / Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Brief history of Microsoft Dynamics Nav / Navision software versions: 

Dynamics NAV 2017
Oct. 2016 - Dynamics NAV 2017 was released

Dynamics NAV 2016
Oct. 2015 - Dynamics NAV 2016 was released

Dynamics NAV 2015
Oct. 2014 - Dynamics NAV 2015 was released

Dynamics NAV 2013 R2
Oct. 2013 - Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 was released

Dynamics NAV 2013
Sep. 2012 - Dynamics NAV 2013 was released

Dynamics NAV 2009
Dec. 2010 - Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 was released
Sep. 2009 - Service Pack 1 for Dynamics NAV 2009 released
Nov. 2008 - Dynamics NAV 2009 released (pre-relase name was Dynamics NAV 6.0)

Dynamics NAV 5.0
Dynamics NAV 5.0 Service Pack 1 (also called Dynamics NAV 5.1) released 
Dynamics NAV 5.0 released

Microsoft Business Solutions Navision 4.0
Navision 4.0 Service Pack 3 (also called Navision 4.3)
Navision 4.0 Service Pack 2 (also called Navision 4.2)
Navision 4.0 Service Pack 1 (also called Navision 4.1)
Navision 4.0 released

Microsoft Business Solutions Navision 3.7
Navision 3.70B (also called 3.7 Service Pack B)
Navision 3.70A (also called 3.7 Service Pack A)
Navision 3.70

Jul. 2002 - Microsoft Acquired Navision and creates Microsoft Business Solutions division
Navision Attain 3.x
Navision Attain 3.6
Navision Attain 3.1
Navision Attain 3.0

Navision Financials 
Navision Financials 2.x
1996 - Navision Financials 1.x
1995 - Navision Financials for Windows released (for Windows 95)


1985 - First version of proto-Navision released, "PC Plus" for DOS
1984 - Company founded in Denmark