Lab: Setup your environment and software

Student lab manual

Setup your environment and software

To start writing extensions for Dynamics 365 Business Central, you’ll need a Business Central tenant, Visual Studio Code, and the AL Language extension for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Lab prerequisites

  • A Business Central Saas Sandbox

  • Visual Studio Code with AL Language extension

More information about getting started with AL is available here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/devenv-get-started

If you want to create a container-based sandbox, see Get started with the Container Sandbox Development Environment. For information about which sandboxes you can choose, see Sandbox Environments for Dynamics 365 Business Central Development.

You can either choose to run a sandbox environment deployed as a Dynamics 365 Business Central service, or you can run a container-based image either hosted as an Azure VM or locally. You can also choose to run a sandbox environment with production data using the Business Central Admin Center.

To create a Business Central Sandbox, follow these steps:

  1. Sign up for a Dynamics 365 Business Central sandbox, using this link: https://signup.microsoft.com/signup?sku=6a4a1628-9b9a-424d-bed5-4118f0ede3fd&ru=https%3A%2F%2Fbusinesscentral.dynamics.com%2FSandbox%2F%3FredirectedFromSignup%3D1

  2. Create a Sandbox environment:

    1. In the navigation pane on the left side of the Business Central administration center, select Environments, then select the New action on the action ribbon.

    2. In the Create Environment pane, specify a name for the new environment.

    3. In the Environment Type list, choose Sandbox.

    4. Enter a name for the new environment, for example: SandboxDev

    5. Choose Create.

    6. The new environment won’t be accessible until the State shows Active.

    7. More information about managing environments is available here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/administration/tenant-admin-center-environments#create-a-new-environment

To install Visual Studio Code, follow these steps:

  1. Download Visual Studio Code, using this link: https://code.visualstudio.com/Download

  2. Download the AL Language extension for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, using this link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-dynamics-smb.al