Control Add-in – Part 01

Have you ever wondered how to extend Dynamics NAV RTC to a different level and how to add extra functionality to Dynamics NAV within its own framework ?? Take a look at below images. (Taken from MSDN)

Dd983814.Local_-303088430_nav_controladdin_gauge_example(en-us,NAV.60).png


You can do this with the use of Control Add-in. Control Add-in allow you to extend RoleTailored client with custom functionality. Control Add-in is a custom control or a visual element which helps to modify or display data in RTC (RoleTailored client)It allows to extend Dynamics NAV to a different level. 
Microsoft introduced this functionality together with Dynamics NAV 2009 SP 01 and they called is as client extensibility application programming interface (API). The client extensibility API is provided in the Microsoft.Dynamics.Framework.UI.Extensibility.dll assembly. This gets installed with the RoleTailored client. By default, the path to the assembly is C:Program FilesMicrosoft Dynamics NAV60RoleTailored Client.

Windows Client Control Add-in Model

Following is the illustration of Microsoft Dynamics NAV windows client architecture. 

RoleTailored client control add-in model


You need to install the add-in assemblies on the computer that is running the Microsoft Dynamics NAV windows client and not in the computer that is running the Microsoft Dynamics NAS server. Control add-ins are instantiated by using metadata that is in the database, and not like the pages that are instantiated by the C/AL code.

Interfaces Overview

The following table describes the interfaces that you can implement in a control add-in.
Interface
Description
Data Binding interface
Displays data from the Microsoft Dynamics NAV database.
Event Interface
Selected public events in a control add-in that convert into C/AL triggers on a page that sends data back to the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server.
Methods and Properties
Selected public methods and properties in a control add-in that can be called from C/AL triggers on a page.
Site Interface
Provides information about a control add-in and allows the control add-in to call functionality inside the Microsoft Dynamics NAV framework, such as retrieving metadata (visible, caption, and so on). This interface is implemented by the default definition interfaces and base classes of the client extensibility API.






















From next blog post I will take you through a demo of how to create a control add-in.

Click here for original article.

Thank you and Regards,

Tharanga Chandrasekara 

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