JSON Files in an AL project

Jatin Patel

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In an AL project there are two JSON files; the app.json file and the launch.json file. These files are generated automatically when you start a new project. The app.json file contains information about extension that you are building, such as publisher information and specifies the minimum version of base application objects that the extension is built on. Often the app.json file is referred to as the manifest. The launch.json file contains information about the server that the extension launches on.

App.json file

The following table describes the settings in the app.json file:

Setting	Mandatory	Value
id	Yes	The unique ID of the extension. When app.json file is automatically created, the ID is set to a new GUID value.
name	Yes	The unique extension name.
publisher	Yes	The name of your publisher, for example: NAV Partner, LLC
brief	No, but required for AppSource submission	Short description of the extension.
description	No, but required for AppSource submission	Longer description of the extension.
version	Yes	The version of the app package.
privacyStatement	No, but required for AppSource submission	URL to the privacy statement for the extension.
EULA	No, but required for AppSource submission	URL to the license terms for the extension.
help	No, but required for AppSource submission	URL to the help for the extension.
url	No	URL of the extension package.
logo	No, but required for AppSource submission	URL to the logo for the extension package.
dependencies	No	List of dependencies for the extension package. For example: “dependencies”: [ { “appId”: “4805fd15-75a5-46a2-952f-39c1c4eab821”, “name”: “WeatherLibrary”, “publisher”: “Microsoft”, “version”: “1.0.0.0”}],
screenshots	No	Relative paths to any screenshots that should be in the extension package.
platform	Yes, if system tables are referenced in the extension	The minimum supported version of the platform symbol package file, for example: “11.0.0.0”. See the Symbols for the list of object symbols contained in the platform symbol package file.
application	Yes, if base application objects are extended or referenced. The AL package will be compiled against the application that is present on the server that you connect to. This allows you to write a single AL Language extension for multiple country versions as long as you do not depend on country-specific code. If you do depend on country-specific code you should only try to compile your app against a server set up for that country.	The minimum supported version, for example: “application”: “11.0.0.0”
idRange	Yes	A range for application object IDs. For all objects outside the range, a compilation error will be raised. When you create new objects, an ID is automatically suggested.
showMyCode	No	This is by default set to false and not visible in the manifest. To enable viewing the source code when debugging into an extension, add the following setting: “showMyCode”: true
target	No	By default this is Extension. For Dynamics NAV, you can set this to Internal to get access to otherwise restricted APIs. The Dynamics NAV Server setting must then also be set to Internal.

Launch.json file

The following table describes the settings in the launch.json file. The launch.json file has two configurations depending on whether the extension is published to a local server or to the cloud.

Publish to local server settings

Setting	Mandatory	Value
name	Yes	“Publish to your own server”
type	Yes	Must be set to “.al”. Required by Visual Studio Code.
request	Yes	Request type of the configuration. Must be set to “launch”. Required by Visual Studio Code.
server	Yes	The HTTP URL of your server, for example: “http://localhost\|serverInstance”
serverInstance	Yes	The instance name of your server, for example: “US”
authentication	Yes	Specifies the server authentication method.
startupObjectType	No	Specifies whether the object to open after publishing is a Page type (“Page”) or Table type (“Table”) object. The default is “Page”.
startupObjectId	No	Specifies the ID of the object to open after publishing. Only objects of type Page and Table are currently supported.
schemaUpdateMode	No	Specifies the data synchronization mode when you publish an extension to the development server, for example: “schemaUpdateMode”: “Synchronize Recreate” The default value is Synchronize. For more information, see Retaining table data after publishing This feature is not supported in Dynamics NAV.
breakOnError	No	Specifies whether to break on errors when debugging. The default value is true.
breakOnRecordWrite	No	Specifies if the debugger breaks on record changes. The default value is false.

Publish to cloud settings

Setting	Mandatory	Value
name	Yes	“Publish to Microsoft cloud sandbox”
type	Yes	Must be set to “.al”. Required by Visual Studio Code.
request	Yes	Request type of the configuration. Must be set to “launch”. Required by Visual Studio Code.
startupObjectType	No	Specifies whether the object to open after publishing is a Page type (“Page”) or Table type (“Table”) object. The default is “Page”.
startupObjectId	No	Specifies the ID of the object to open after publishing. Only objects of type Page and Table are currently supported.
tenant	No	Specifies the tenant to which the package is deployed. If you specify multiple configurations, a drop-down of options will be available when you deploy.

The platform symbol file

The platform symbol file contains all of the base app objects that your extension builds on. If the AL Language extension in Visual Studio Code detects that the referenced symbols are not present on local disk, you will get a visual prompt in Visual Studio Code to download the symbols from one of the servers specified in the launch.json file. For more information about the platform symbol file, see Symbols.

Source of Information : https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/devenv-json-files

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