I’m going to explain you a concept that is so simple that you’re probably going to react like: “dude .. come on .. you just totally wasted my time .. this is so obvious.. can’t believe you just don’t take this for granted”. But I’m still gonna. Just because of the fact that the concept … Continue reading »...(read more)![]()
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Remove customizations with (Reverse) Deltas
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Export NAV Application Objects
When working with NAV, you’re familiar of working with objects. And nowadays, we have quite a lot of options, like: Fob file Text file Split text files Delta’s Reverse Delta’s … (more?) Depending on the situation, you might be interested in one of these kinds of exports – if not all. Now, I have been … Continue reading »...(read more)![]()
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PowerShell workshop ahead
It’s not of my habits to do advertisement on my blog. Even more: I hate advertisement on any blog – so especially mine. But I don’t get any money doing this – so no benefit here – but there is value… There is namely one reason why I did want to mention this upcoming PowerShell … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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NAVTechDays 2015: Final thougths
Time for the traditional wrap-up of NAVTechDays. This has become a tradition, so let’s not break this tradition and let’s share some thoughts about the conference of what I have been calling “the best NAV conference there is” ;-). Well .. is it still? 😉 As every year, NAVTechDays was held in one of the … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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How to install Waldo’s PowerShell Modules
A while ago, I announced the “release” of my PowerShell scripts and functions here. It’s a big thing for me, as lots and lots of efforts and time have been put into it (and still), but more important .. I’m convinced it can save you lots of time. Now, I only announced it, and for … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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Print any document (any extension)
When reading Mark’s blog about printing PDF, it reminded me about a request I got not so long ago, which was quite similar: “I want to be able to easily print any document that is linked in my system, from NAV, … “. But you know the challenge: if you want to print a PDF, … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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A Merry Christmas and a “Cloudy” New Year!
I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and all the best for next year! May the force be with you in your way to the cloud. And waldo wouldn’t be waldo if he didn’t celebrate it with PowerShell .. here is a script I found on PowerShell.com .. Just paste in a PowerShell ISE … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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NAV Extensions – Generic Code To Migrate Data When Upgrading Extensions
This is not a post on how Extensions work – I guess there is a lot of material out there that already handles Extensions. And if you don’t find any .. just check YouTube for a few video’s, like: How Do I: Create an Extension Package in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016 How Do I Deploy … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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Cloud SureStep for Product Development: The PowerShots
That’s right, there are new PowerShots in town! You might have read about the previous PowerShot series on my blog, where we focused on “The Transition of your Product to the Cloud”. “We”, being the “Cloud Ready Software” dudes: Gary, Vjeko and me. You might wonder – why would I go this year if I … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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NAV Extensions – Updated Generic Data Migration Options
OK, it’s official. I feel like an idiot :-). I was so proud with my previous blogpost as I was able to solve a somewhat complicated problem generically. And now there appears to be a platform solution for what I was trying to solve (or at least for a big part of it). I remember … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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How Do I Video’s on PowerShell and Microsoft Dynamics NAV
There are a bunch of video’s out there already, thanks to the “HDI” (How Do I) initiative from Microsoft. In a LOT of these video’s, you see PowerShell popping up. I was interested in which ones, because, it gives you an idea in which areas PowerShell is useful. And it seems PowerShell is useful in … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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NAV 2016 Extension Development Shell on the Azure Demo VM
Now, that’s a long title, isn’t it? I was in a conversation with Freddy Kristiansen .. the so called “father” of the “Azure Demo VM Image for NAV 2016” (or how do you kids call it these days). If you haven’t heard about that, I strongly advise you to check out for example MVP Steven … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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NAV 2016: Hooks or Events?
You don’t get the chance to blog on the 29th of February too much. In fact, you only get one chance in 1461 days .. . So let’s take this opportunity, to bother you with something that I have been thinking about from the moment Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016 was release: What do we do … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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Discovery Event Pattern
I have been working on describing this very interesting NAV Design Pattern that uses events. We have been implementing it a few times, and I just didn’t want to hold it from you. You can find the pattern on “The Microsoft Dynamics NAV Design Patterns Wiki“. The actual design pattern can be found here, but … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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Remove customizations with (Reverse) Deltas
I’m going to explain you a concept that is so simple that you’re probably going to react like: “dude .. come on .. you just totally wasted my time .. this is so obvious.. can’t believe you just don’t take this for granted”. But I’m still gonna. Just because of the fact that the concept … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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Export NAV Application Objects
When working with NAV, you’re familiar of working with objects. And nowadays, we have quite a lot of options, like: Fob file Text file Split text files Delta’s Reverse Delta’s … (more?) Depending on the situation, you might be interested in one of these kinds of exports – if not all. Now, I have been … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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Apply-NAVDelta to add and remove customizations
Yep, PowerShell again. So the people that deny PowerShell can stop reading now :-). Although I do think this is quite an interesting blogpost on how to work somewhat more easily with deltas, by the use of a function that is part of my PowerShell Module, called: Apply-NAVDelta. I was actually just thinking after my … Continue reading »(read more)![]()
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NAVUG European Congress 2016
There is a new congress in town. Or at least – in Stuttgart :-). NAVUG is coming to Europe for the very first time this year!
As NAVUG is very strongly focused on the User, this is really another type of congress that we’re actually used to (in Europe). Now, NAVUG is all about education, networking and best practices. If you look at the schedule, you see that that is exactly what they are focusing on for their target group: IT/Developers, Finance people, Data Analysts and Project Managers.
This is how NAVUG describes the congress themselves:
NAVUG European Congress is dedicated to helping Dynamics NAV technical and finance users maximize the return on their Dynamics investment through instructional sessions led by experienced users and partners focusing on past and current versions of Dynamics NAV. Dynamics NAV users will receive practical advice that drives innovation and positive business outcomes.
And here is a glimpse on the schedule:
- Dynamics NAV today, tomorrow, and beyond
- Best Practices for Dynamics NAV administration and security
- Data Visualisation Best Practices
- Strategies for continuous upgrades
- Maintaining target system performance when upgrading and migrating from on-premise to a virtual environment
- What is C/AL and why should I care?
- Converting your classic client objects to the latest Dynamics NAV version
- The time is now to get started with Microsoft Power BI
- Upgrading? Don’t forget about your team
- Global vs. Local: Localizations and cultural aspects
- Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM “out of the box”
- Upgrading your reports from Dynamics NAV 2009 ClassicMicrosoft Dynamics NAV Support Desk
- Sponsor Reception & Networking (Expo open)
- Automated testing in Dynamics NAV
- Reporting solutions examined: Jet Express
- World-class product handling and customer service at Nature’s Pride
- Data integration today and tomorrow
- How we went from Dynamics NAV 3.7 to NAV 2015 in four weeks
- Power BI in action
- A whole new world: Role Centers in Dynamics NAV 2016
- Migrating from on premise to the cloud
- The Big Deal about Big Data
- Achieving perfection with Dynamics NAV
- Connecting Dynamics NAV with add-on solutions
- The pros and cons of working with upgrade centres
- Approaches to managing your historical data
- How we use Dynamics NAV Project Management at Frederiksberg Forsyning
- Recruit graduates with Microsoft Dynamics experience
Date and Location
9-10 May, 2016
International Congress Centre
Stuttgart, German
Some more resources
Here are some more blogs about the congress:
Too bad I’m not able to join – already traveling too much – but certainly recommended!
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Project “Madeira” Public Preview
As of today, Project “Madeira” is in public preview. Question is .. What is Project “Madeira”? In short: It’s a new offering in the cloud, in fact “NAV-in-the-cloud”, strongly integrated with Office 365. But the focus of Project “Madeira” isn’t really “NAV” – it would never say “NAV-in-the-cloud” – but it’s a “Business Solution” in the cloud :-). But now you know: it’s based on NAV :p.
But then again – what do I know. :-). This is all just very new (announced today), and I think – at this point – it’s better for me to give you some info to get you more informed, instead of giving my personal view, opinion and feel on it.
And I think the best link of an overview of what Project “Madeira” really is, is this blogpost from Marko Perisic, the General Manager for Dynamics SMB. Marko talks about four pillars:
- A new level of productivity
- Cloud first
- Mobile first
- Built for growth
As I have a development-oriented background (and blog) – let me try to put it in my own words – as far as a developer is able to understand the Marketing Fluff ;-):
- It is strongly integrated with cloud, like a strong integration with Office 365 Outlook. The software recognizes customer, showing customer data, or quotes and such, and without switching between applications.. . Or like Marko says: “If you know how to use Office, then you know how to use Project “Madeira””. I wasn’t able to see this just yet .. but will make new attemps in the near future ;-).
- It’s NAV on azure, with O365, hosted by Microsoft, sold by Partners – at least, when it gets released (and how I understand). All benefits that comes with cloud – comes with project “Madeira”: pricing, scalability, quickly up-and-running, .. .
- With any client, you can work with project “Madeira”, on a web browser, or an app on Windows, iOS or Android.
- Microsoft focuses on companies with 10-100 employees, where project “Madeira” offers a fully powered business management solution in the cloud.
- These are the functionalities it covers:
- Financials
- Dimensions
- sales and purchase management
- Inventory
- CRM (opportunity management)
- multi-currency
- business insight
- And last but not least – interesting for us – developers – we can customize it. We – as “independent software vendors” (aka ISVs) can build rich extensions to make available on a Marketplace (how I understand it: an app-store for project “Madeira” customers).
Interested? Well – if you’re a US company, you can sign up for preview here:
(yep, only US 
)
And get more info here http://aka.ms/MadeiraFAQ– though, when I tried this link, lots of sub-links didn’t seem to work – I guess this will be fixed soon.
One last thing I should mention: attend Directions to get first-hand info. One might expect that around the time of these conventions, the final release of project “Madeira” takes place (though, that’s only my expectation, no release date known just yet …). You can find more information on Directions here:
Some screenshots
Signing up was not easy for me as this thing is only available in the US – and I’m from beautiful Belgium (yes, Trump, Belgium is still beautiful, and you’re still an idiot :p). At about all my mail addresses I got the message: not available for your country. But hey .. Apparently, I have enough of them, so here are the first screenshots of Project “Madeira” public preview.
Getting excited during setup :-):
(this screen took a long time … MUCH more than “less than a minute” – but that’s ok. Probably I just started this thing before the preview was actually available in the first place 
).
Anyway, let’s look a some things that I noticed during my first walk around:
Project “Madeira” seems to be available like an app in Office365:
First time you open the client, you get a very familiar screen – but clearly tailored to (let’s quote Erik Hougaard) a “Cloud first, Mobile first” world :-).
Let’s have a look at the “Extension Management”. Here you see which Extensions are available, and if they are installed. I can only imagine that in a later release, you can “buy” new extensions from ISV’s in a yet-to-be-released market place.
Also cool on this list are display buttons: it’s seems to become possible to display a list in different ways, like “normal list, pictures (like above) and bricks”.
In the Role Center, you’ll find an “Assisted Setup & Tasks” action, which I really like.
Basically, it guides you through the setup of your new system, with wizards and statuses and all, like this list (in Bricks this time – just to show you):
And a wizard-setup, like in this case, for setting up Email:
When I opened the Item list, this is what it looked like :-):
I wasn’t able (yet) to set up the Office 365 integration, as my Office365 is a Belgian one – and I couldn’t start project “Madeira” for it – but I’ll find a way in the near future :-).
To conclude, I spent some time in looking up some resources (some other blogs / articles) for you to read up:
- http://www.hougaard.com/project-madeira-first-look/
- http://mspoweruser.com/project-madeira-app-now-available-windows-10/?utm_source=twitter
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/project-madeira-ready-you-andrew-good
- https://nav-skills.com/2016/04/12/project-madeira-is-on/
- http://dynamicsuser.net/nav/b/admin/posts/dynamics-nav-project-madeira-try-it-today
- http://www.erpsoftwareblog.com/2016/04/first-21-things-know-microsoft-project-madeira/
Seems that I was late with my blog .. but hey, it was Champions League night .. and glad I watched because Kevin scored!
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Setting up Project “Madeira” Preview (also when you’re not from the US)
The last few days (between the soup and potatoes (Flemish expression ;-)), I have been trying to set up a full blown environment on Project “Madeira”. Not easy, as I am not from the US, and this preview only got released in the US. And apparently, Microsoft is serious about that – like when I try to download the Windows App, I get the error message that the app is not available in my country …
Now, important to mention: this blogpost is based on the comments I got on my previous post (from Jacques Bolduc) – which put me in a direction that is available for any Microsoft Dynamics NAV Partner – to the best of my knowledge at least.
What do you mean with “full blown”
Well, probably I exaggerate a bit .. but I mainly wanted to be able to test:
- The Exchange-integration in Office 365 Outlook (I only tested it online)
- The Universal App (or should I say: the Windows/Android/iOS app “Project Madeira”)
- The single-sing-on with O365
- The Web Client and Project Madeira functionality
May be, I’m forgetting something – or a lot – but I just wanted to get that working.
And here is how I did it (not saying it’s the only way to make it happen) :-).
First: set up Office365
As a Microsoft Partner, you should have access to its demo-portal, where you can set up demo-tenants for Office365. I didn’t know it existed (thanks, Jacques :-)), but it does, and it worked for me just like it has existed for years. Just sign in with your Microsoft account to: https://demos.microsoft.com.
Create a new tenant (which in my understanding is a temporary (hence: demo) Office365 account) and you’re good to go. I created the “Sales Productivity and Intelligent Customer Service” tenant (seemed interesting to me to have CRM in there as well ;-))
Done! You have an Office365 account within one minute. You can test it out by browsing to https://portal.office.com/ and logging in with the credentials you just got back from the demo-system.
Second: Sing up for Project “Madeira”
From now on (and for the rest of the steps), I strongly recommend to work in a “InPrivate” browser session. I have got some problems by not doing that – because I’m having multiple Microsoft Accounts .. which apparently “confuses” the process. Just use an “InPrivate” window can save you this mess.
So .. open an InPrivate window, and browse to https://madeira.microsoft.com/. There, you can click the “Try the preview“:
Time to fill in the account that you created in the previous step. Like:
Just click “Sign Up” – log in if necessary (you should be logged in still) – and click “Start” to initiate the provisioning of Madeira:
Wait for this to finish to continue for the next step. (takes more than a minute, by the way :p – but it sounds great, doesn’t it ;))
When finished, Madeira is already there for you, and you are able to log into your tenant with the newly created O365 account. In fact – it will log in automagically, and show you this:
You are free to enjoy the wonderful click through experience (I wonder how this has been created – interesting :-)), but I clicked “Not Now”, and continued with the next step.
Third: Configure Email Integration
Let’s go straight into the configuration of the mail-addin in Office 365. Just go to Actions, and click the “Assisted Setup” button:
You’ll get this:
In the list, click “Set Up Office Add-Ins” (I won’t go into the other settings – it’s quite obvious, isn’t it?).
During the wizard, make sure you Set it up for “My Organization”:
And use your Office365 account – which is an admin, so should be fine!
Also, send the sample email messages .. which make a lot of sense to try out the Outlook Integration :-).
When it shows “Completed” test it out by navigating to your mail (you can do this from your Madeira):
You’ll see a mail from (for example) “Andy Teal”, and when you browse to it, you’ll see the Madeira plugin:
Start enjoying it! It’s amazing!
Fourth: Download App from client
Now, downloading the “Universal” client – the app – the thing that works on all devices (how do you kids call it these days .. ). You can initiate the download from Madeira (notice that your menu contains a Madeira “app”):
In Madeira, just start the “Replay Getting Started”
In the wizard, we’re interested in the “One Last Thing” part – so press “next” until you reach this:
And click “Show me how”
You’ll see you get this link: http://aka.ms/GetMadeira (you can use this link on any device!) and a QR Code to get you to the app.
Also here, there is country-check. I’m not able to test on all devices .. but to get it to work on windows if you’re not from the US, is simply change your country-settings to “United States”
Just install the app now, and switch it back to the original value. Once installed, you own the app, and you’re good to go and use it :-).
Open the app, provide your activation code, sign in .. and enjoy!
I have an iPhone as well – but must admit, I didn’t get it to work (yet) because of the country-checks. I guess I need to change the settings of my AppleID (as it always tries to download the client from the Belgian Store – and isn’t available there) – though, when I tried that, I was not able to change the country (apparently, according to Apple, I can’t move to another country ;-)). I’ll try some more in the next few days..
That’s it .. If there is anything more to add – please leave a comment!
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