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Develop for multiple platform versions

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The AL language extension is compatible with multiple platform versions. You can install the AL Language extension from the Visual Studio Code marketplace and use it to develop solutions for Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Define the platform version

To set the platform version, add the runtime property in the app.json file. This attribute defines the platform version that the extension is targeting. Depending on the platform version, some features become available, while some features aren't supported. For example, OData-bound actions can only be used when the platform version is 2.0 or higher.

Note

The AL Language extension isn't compatible with Dynamics NAV 2018 version backwards. For Dynamics NAV 2018 development, the traditional method should be used. You must install the Visual Studio Code extension from the ALLanguage.vsix file shipped on the DVD.

Version compatibility

The following two elements are compared when you publish an extension.

  1. The runtime version of the extension defined in the app.json file.
  2. The runtime version of the platform that the extension is targeting.

In the app.json file, set the extension runtime version lower than the platform version. When you set the extension to a higher runtime version, the extension package may contain certain features that the platform may not support which would result in an error. Therefore, you must lower the extension runtime version than the one that platform supports in order to publish your extension.

Things to be aware of

  1. An error will be thrown when you publish an extension with a higher runtime version than the one that platform supports. For example, if you set the runtime value to 2.0, you get the following error message.

    The runtime version of the extension package is currently set to '2.0'. The runtime version must be set to '1.0' or earlier in the app.json file in order to install the extension package on this platform.

  2. When you lower the extension runtime version, you may get warnings about the newest features not supported by the earlier versions of the platform.

  3. A best-effort compilation is made when you publish an extension compiled with a lower runtime version. This is allowed in order to avoid recompilation of the extension package every time you upgrade the platform.

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