Convert NAV to C#/.Net solution

locky

Hi all!
Is there any tool to convert existing NAV solution/database to something like VS C# project?
I mean - including UI, forms, reports, codeunits, table's triggers, C/AL code etc.
so i'll be able to simply (or maybe not so simply - with some manual assistance/review) compile that project and get rid of NAV?

thx in advance,
Alex

matttrax

Seriously?

You want a tool that will convert a legal, or I guess technically even demo, version of NAV to a pirated .NET copy?

What is your actual purpose for wanting to do this? To not pay licensing fees?

locky

i'm not so strong in licensing area, so i really dont know if i (or someone else) have right to make this conversion
now i just guessing that if there is a commercial tool for such conversion then someone's jurist already take care about licensing and possibility of such type of conversion

yup, NAV is too expensive for small installation (1-3 users) and there is not so much NAV developers (and such developers are expensive too), so i think - if i could move from NAV to, say, VS Express and hire/outsource .Net developers

Alex_Chow

locky wrote:

i'm not so strong in licensing area, so i really dont know if i (or someone else) have right to make this conversion
now i just guessing that if there is a commercial tool for such conversion then someone's jurist already take care about licensing and possibility of such type of conversion

yup, NAV is too expensive for small installation (1-3 users) and there is not so much NAV developers (and such developers are expensive too), so i think - if i could move from NAV to, say, VS Express and hire/outsource .Net developers

Send an e-mail Microsoft detailing what your plans are. They'll give you a proper response.

locky

Alex Chow wrote:

Send an e-mail Microsoft detailing what your plans are. They'll give you a proper response.

maybe it would be a good idea
i quickly searched MS site and found SSMA conversion tool for databases and Power Builder.
Maybe MS have a tool for NAV or have partner service for this conversion.

bbrown

locky wrote:

...NAV is too expensive for small installation (1-3 users) ...

Not every product is intended to address every market. This is also why General Motors builds Chevys as well as Cadillacs.

generic

Here is NAV in visual Studio.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=47106

davmac1

This is funny.
QuickBooks is not available in C# code but it is priced right for the small business with a low budget.
I am totally surprised Microsoft does not have amagic button to turn NAV into an open source pirateable software. Maybe you should ask Google - they like doing things for free and love tormenting Microsoft,

locky

as far as i can understand such conversion can be treated like "reverse engineering" and (possibly) prohibited by EULA?

well, i guess that the simplest way is to write custom sales application in .Net to handle stores's needs

bbrown

Well actually it has more to do with intellectual property rights and copyright infringement. But that's one for the lawyers.

locky

thx to all!
gone to hire some developers to write "yet another" simple sales application
or maybe to buy domestic "quickbooks" - need to recheck budget and make, at last, decision

kriki

locky wrote:

NAV developers (and such developers are expensive too)

Know the prices of SAP'pers? In comparison NAV'vers are cheap.

Alex_Chow

Or AX'pers.

DenSter

I think what they meant is that it is much easier to find a .NET rookie willing to work their butts off for peanuts

jlandeen

I really wish they would have found a way to finish/sell the "Entrepreneur" version of NAV that they had a few years ago to address the lower end of the market and provide a nice introductory path to full fledged NAV.

There are already quite a few products out there on the market that can serve the really low end for price concious customers to use - such as xTuple (On Premise open source ERP) and www.xero.com (cloud based light weight accounting application). Also with QuickBooks producing an online offering and companies moving to the cloud there are lots of lower end offerings.

Hiring developers, building a new brand and a new product from scratch....really doesn't seem like it's the most effective solution, but better then the non-legal way of porting NAV to .Net!