Accessing Microsoft Dynamic NAV database.

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by Community Member Microsoft Employee

Hello experts,

I am a student on attachment in the IT department for a retail organization. We use NAV at our organization. My concern is: how do we connect/access Microsoft Dynamics NAV database from Netbeans? Can i query the database from Netbeans? I want to develop a software that generates reports using data from the database. NOTE: i asked the forum at one time and i realized that a developers licence is needed to access the web service of NAVISION. this is not what i want right now. What i want is to access the database itself so i can play around with the data using my own program written in java, exactly the way we do it with MS access. thanks in advance to your answers.

*This post is locked for comments

All responses (8)

Answers (5)

Community Member Microsoft Employee on at

Like (0)

Report

RE: Accessing Microsoft Dynamic NAV database.

hi Jonathan and Tharanga,

i have mysql workbench 5.2... version, is it the best tool so i can see the database

structure?

for names, i will have to see the database structure maybe i will see what i want exactly.

after all, thanks brothers, i am happy with this forum.
Community Member Microsoft Employee on at

Like (0)

Report

RE: Accessing Microsoft Dynamic NAV database.

hi Jonathan and Tharanga,

i have mysql workbench 5.2... version, is it the best tool so i can see the database

structure?
keoma 32,675 on at

Like (0)

Report

RE: Accessing Microsoft Dynamic NAV database.

please verify my answer(s), if they helped you to find a solution. thx.
Verified answer

keoma 32,675 on at

Like (0)

Report

RE: Accessing Microsoft Dynamic NAV database.

oh sorry. the config file is CustomSettings.config.

to manage the sql server database use the sql server management studio (download from the micrsoft site) or any other sql management tool. with that tool you can view the structure (columns, etc.) of each table.

a complete list of all NAV tables and their fields, you will find here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh174014(v=nav.70).aspx

in NAV the main data tables are used per company (=department/local office). so the slq name of each table sounds like that: <Company1>$Sales Line
Verified answer

TharangaC 23,116 on at

Like (1)

Report

RE: Accessing Microsoft Dynamic NAV database.

What are the data you want? If you can tell us that then we can help you with the table names.

In NAV table name is based on "COMPANYNAME$TABLENAME"

so If you are looking for a customer table then depending on the company table name will change. As a example if the company name is XXX then the customer table name will be XXX$Customer

In the folder path given open the "CustomSettings.config" file. Under that you will see the database name, Default company name and all related details.
Verified answer

TharangaC 23,116 on at

Like (0)

Report

RE: Accessing Microsoft Dynamic NAV database.

You can use the NAV database to retrieve the data, but make sure not to write or do any modification to the tables.

As Jonathan said normal way of getting the data from NAV is by using a webservice. But to modify the webservices you need to have a developer license and since you don't have it your solution is the best method.
Verified answer

Community Member Microsoft Employee on at

Like (0)

Report

RE: Accessing Microsoft Dynamic NAV database.

hi Jonathan,

since i want to come up with an application that only generates reports using the data from the database, i prefer not to modify data in the database hence your second option which is to access the database via jdbc.

i tried to follow your :
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\60\Service..... but when i got into the service folder, i was stuck. which file should i open, probably the name? this DatabaseServer and DatabaseName are the ones that i will put in netbeans?

again, how will i be able to know the columns of the database, e.g name, surname,etc?

after all, thanks bro, you are taking me to where exactly i want.
Verified answer

keoma 32,675 on at

Like (1)

Report

RE: Accessing Microsoft Dynamic NAV database.

hi,

usual way to access NAV is using the nav webservices.

for that follow community.dynamics.com/.../142385.aspx

a discussion about the license topic:

dynamicsuser.net/.../308483.aspx

if you do not want to use the nav webservice, you can connect via jdbc to the sql server database, which is used by dynamics nav. but you should do only read access transactions. you should not do any write transactions, because you ignore, doing so, the nav business logic.

to get the information about the used database:

* in the windows explorer goto e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\60\Service on the windows server, where the nav service resides. open that file, search for DatabaseServer and DatabaseName.