Microsoft encourages more Dynamics 365 Business Central extension development with new GitHub repo

The Microsoft Dynamics NAV/Business Central team has announced the availability of the ALAppExtensions repository on GitHub.

The repository is another resource to encourage partners and customers to develop extensions in the AL language in cooperation with Microsoft or even other partners, the NAV team explained.

Microsoft has already communicated that they want more extension development by encouraging partners and customers to share the extensions that they've already developed. They also have embraced the use of GitHub for building their developer community.

The team stated:

We’re steadily making the core application thinner, more extensible, and easier to localize by extracting areas of application business logic to extensions. This is true for add-ons and localizations. For example, we recently turned the local functionality for Denmark into four separate extensions, making it much easier to update regulatory features when requirements change.

The team will publish the code in the ALAppExtensions repository, making it open for partner and customer contributions. For example, developers can use the team's extensions as starting points for their own vertical solutions or as samples for developing extensions in the AL language in general, the team stated.

Developers that aren't quite ready to contribute, can still use source code to make changes locally, or just explore to get a better understanding of what's going on.

Ultimately, the team will make the source code available for more and more extensions. Currently, though it's publishing the ...