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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Small and medium business | Business Central, N... / What is the database b...
Small and medium business | Business Central, N...
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What is the database behind Business Central?

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Posted on by Richard Wheeler 75,852 Moderator

We have a client looking to possibly migrate to BC. We have a ton of customizations wrapped around their GP databases. What is the database behind BC? What programming tools are required for BC. We have class libraries written using VS C# which are tied to stored procedures.

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  • Suggested answer
    mahmoud_algindy Profile Picture
    mahmoud_algindy 285 on at

    Hi Richard,

    BC DB = SQL

    Coding with VS Code, the Language is AL Language

    Please refer to this link: docs.microsoft.com/.../devenv-get-started

    and Regarding Migrating to BC form GP please check this docs.microsoft.com/.../migrate-dynamics-gp

    Finally the ton of customizations wrapped around their GP databases.

    It's hard work, you need to make sure if BC will fit their needs and what are these customizations, as per my knowledge there are no way to migrate GP customizations to BC.

    Thank you

  • Richard Wheeler Profile Picture
    Richard Wheeler 75,852 Moderator on at

    Thank you, this is most helpful.

    Is there anything equivalent to SSMS in BC? How do you run ad-hoc queries?

  • Steven Renders Profile Picture
    Steven Renders 5,686 Moderator on at

    In BC Saas you don't get access to the SQL database, on-prem you can use SSMS.

  • Richard Wheeler Profile Picture
    Richard Wheeler 75,852 Moderator on at

    We need to write a custom integration. How do we find out the data structures if we can't see the database?

  • Suggested answer
    Steven Renders Profile Picture
    Steven Renders 5,686 Moderator on at

    BC uses the database to store the data, you won't find any meaningful table relations in the SQL database, they are in the AL layer.

    I suggest you start by having a look here:

    docs.microsoft.com/.../

    and focus on the API:

    docs.microsoft.com/.../

    And here for the data-structures and patterns:

    docs.microsoft.com/.../

    This might also be interesting:

    businesscentralbooster.com/.../

  • Richard Wheeler Profile Picture
    Richard Wheeler 75,852 Moderator on at

    Thank you so much for this. I have much to learn.

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