Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 is a business management solution that helps simplify and streamline highly specialized business processes such as finance, manufacturing, customer relationship management, supply chains, analytics, and electronic commerce for small and medium-sized enterprises. ERP systems like NAV thus become the center of a company's day-to-day operations. When you learn to program in an environment like this it opens up doors to many other exciting areas like .NET programming, SQL Server, and Web Services.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Programming Cookbook will take you through interesting topics that span a wide range of areas such as integrating the NAV system with other software applications like Microsoft Office, creating reports to present information from multiple areas of the system, and so on. You will not only learn the basics of NAV programming, but you will also be exposed to the technologies that surround the NAV system such as .NET programming, SQL Server, and Web Services.

The first half of the cookbook will help programmers coming to NAV for the first time by walking them through the building blocks of writing code and creating objects like tables, forms, and reports.

The second half focuses on using the technologies surrounding NAV to build better solutions. You will learn how to write .NET code that works with the NAV system and how to integrate the system with other software applications like Microsoft Office or even custom programs. You will also discover some of the features of the Role Tailored Client including creating Pages and custom add-ins.

A set of to-the-point tutorials to quickly teach you what you need to know about NAV Programming

What you will learn from this book

• Learn basic programming concepts like variables, loops, and conditionals
• Build tables and perform complex actions on their data
• Design different types of forms to display and interact with business data
• Create reports to present information from multiple areas of the system
• Write C# .NET code that will work inside the NAV client
• Learn advanced security techniques including integrating your code with Active Directory
• Build solutions that work with the entire Microsoft Office suite of products
• Write code to interact with the Windows file system and registry
• Create objects to send your data to other applications and read data from other databases
• Learn to work with SQL Server and execute basic queries against the NAV database
• Design solutions for the Role Tailored Client

Approach

You won't find any fluff here. This book is written in a direct, to-the-point style to help you get what you need and continue working in NAV. At the same time it provides enough explanation so that you understand what we are doing and why it is necessary.

In many programming books you will find yourself searching through paragraph after paragraph to try to find what you are looking for. That's not the case here. Each recipe starts with a short description of what it will teach. It is immediately followed with directions, usually with illustrations, of how to perform the task. You will find the explanation of the code at the end, along with some advice for further reading or other tasks you might be interested in.

Who this book is written for

If you are a junior / entry-level NAV developer then the first half of the book is designed primarily for you. You may or may not have any experience programming. It focuses on the basics of NAV programming. It would be best if you have gone through a brief introduction to the NAV client.

If you are a mid-level NAV developer, you will find the second half more useful. These chapters explain how to think outside of the NAV box when building solutions.

There are also recipes here and there that senior developers will find useful.