What is it?

Dynamics 365 Business Central is the new and, I hope, the last official name of Dynamics NAV.

No more Dynamics 365 Finance and operations Business Edition, no more Dynamics 365 “Tenerife”, even no more Dynamics NAV (basically it is yes now, until Q4 2018, when D365BC on-premise will be released)!

The official announcement was made 4 days ago and can be found here.

2 days after at DirectionsASIA we’ve got much more information about the product from Microsoft team.

The official hashtag is #MSDyn365BC, and if you will search it on twitter you will find a huge portion of images and info about new web client, new roadmap, new possibilities and so on.

But this blog is not about What’s new staff. It is about How to get it?

Step 1. Register on collaborate portal

If you are already registered – skip it. If not, go to https://aka.ms/collaborate and register. 

The registration process is very nice described here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/collaborate/registration  

Just go steps by steps, and you should be able to see this

Step 2. Register on Ready to Go program (Updated)

After publishing first version of this blog, I've got many questions about why D365BC is not visible on collaboration portal. Because of this step was missed. Sorry. Updated.

If you are already registered – skip it. If not you should sign up for Ready to Go program http://aka.ms/ReadyToGo 

To do so, after step 1, please write an e-mail to Dyn365BEP@microsoft.com

When contacting, please provide following information:

The registration process should take 1-2 business days.

After successful registration, you will be able to see this

YES! This is pre-release version of NEW Dynamics 365 Business Central. 

If you click on it you will find something interesting, guess what?

.Zip, DVD?  No =)

You will find 2kb txt file with instructions of …. How to get it via Docker.

Download it.

Advantages of Ready to Go program

Ready to Go program, it is not only the possibility to download and play with pre-release versions of Dynamics 365 Business Central. 

The idea is to prepare every partner for new SaaS world. It consists of training materials on http://aka.ms/ReadyToGoOnlineLearning and also potentially coaching through a Development Centres

BTW. If you want to prepare yourself for new modern SaaS world, you can also contact me for individual workshops and coaching. 

Step 3. Create new Docker container with Dynamics 365 Business Central

But first, Install Docker.

If you don’t have docker, then download and install it. You can choose to download a full docker client or only a module.

You can download and install docker as a module executing this code in PowerShell

invoke-webrequest -UseBasicparsing -Outfile docker-17.09.0-ce.zip https://download.docker.com/win/static/stable/x86_64/docker-17.09.0-ce.zip
# Extract the archive.
Expand-Archive docker-17.09.0-ce.zip -DestinationPath $Env:ProgramFiles

# Clean up the zip file.
Remove-Item -Force docker-17.09.0-ce.zip

# Install Docker. This requires rebooting.
$null = Install-WindowsFeature containers

# Add Docker to the path for the current session.
$env:path += ";$env:ProgramFiles\docker"

# Optionally, modify PATH to persist across sessions.
$newPath = "$env:ProgramFiles\docker;" +
[Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH",
[EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", $newPath,
[EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)

# Register the Docker daemon as a service.
dockerd --register-service

# Start the Docker service.
Start-Service docker

#Next steps are optional!

#Run test container, to check that Docker is alive
docker container run hello-world:nanoserver

# Check what containers do you have
docker ps

Next, install Navcontainerhelper

I personally love what Freddy has done to us. So I will use navcontainerhelper to simplify my work.

Run next script in PowerShell

Install-Module -Name navcontainerhelper -Verbose

If, you are running it on Windows10, check that your policy is allowed you to install new modules.

If it is restricted, then change it

Create new D365 Business Central container

1)    Login to azure container register, to be able to pull (download) D365BE Image (also in powershell).

docker login "navinsider.azurecr.io" -u "insert-user-id-here-from-Build-21063.txt-file" -p " insert-password-here-from-Build-21063.txt-file "

2)    Choose what version of Business Central do you want.

Currently available 14 Versions and W1!

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-finat

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-finbe

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-finca

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-finch

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-finde

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-findk

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-fines

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-finfi

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-finfr

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-fingb

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-finit

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-finnl

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-finse

dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-finus

3)    Create new container

I will use W1 version, so I run next command in PowerShell

New-NavContainer -accept_eula -alwaysPull -imageName "navinsider.azurecr.io/dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0" -containerName D365BC-W1

and after a while - about 5 minutes of pulling (depends on your internet speed), and 2 minutes of initialization – we have it!

This wonderful, modern look and feel web UI

Hmm…. Not really what I was expected =)

Let’s try old trick =) We will add ?aid=fin to the end of our URL. 

So url will be http://d365bc-w1/nav/?aid=fin

Much better now!

By the way, if you will create a container from US image (dynamics-nav:11.0.21063.0-finus), then we will have new web UI by default.

Step 4. Extend it!

Install Visual Studio Code AL extension

First copy .vsix file on your host.

To do so, copy a link to vsix file from container creation log

Open it in a browser

Click Save. 

Open Visual Studio Code. Go to Extentions -> … -> Install From Vsix

Create new AL project

As usual, press Crtl + Shift + P -> AL:Go

We change server in launch.json (take it from container creation log), and authentication to Windows.

Press Crtl + Shift + P -> AL:Download Symbols

Then we will create some new code.

We will add one more insight to RoleCenter. This is really wow feature of new UI.

After publishing (ctrl+F5) we will see new insight!

And we've done!

I encourage you to take all advantages of Collaborate and start exploring Dynamics 365 Business Central right now!