Limitations of developing 2.0 extensions in AL Language

In AL, it is possible to declare the file as a variable without receiving any errors. The problem begins when we try to use any of the available methods. You will notice that it does not allow us to open, read, create, etc. In this case, the alternative option is to use In/Out Streams.

There are more things that cannot be done directly from the extension itself, for example:

• We cannot use most of the functions in the FileManagement codeunit, which used to be very useful for performing any file-related operation. For example, listing files, checking whether a file exists, uploading or downloading files from the server. Most of these functions are not available when developing extensions. 

• DotNet. For the moment, it is not possible to use DotNet variables in AL. In addition, we cannot use DotNet functions in the Web Client in 2018. When we try to use DotNet, we get an error like the following:

• Automation. This type of variable, which is widely used to allow Navision to communicate with other applications, is not recognized. If we declare a variable of type Automation, we receive the following error:

• Calling objects in the 50000 range. If we have already created the object in the 50000 range using C/SIDE, it is not possible to access it from AL when developing extensions.

These are some of the limitations we currently encounter when developing extensions. Some of them are quickly resolved by Microsoft and are no longer limitations in the next Cumulative Update, others are more difficult to address, and the rest we simply need to adapt to.