How to learn .NET?

thomast

Hi Guys,

Does any of you know of a good resource to learn how to use .NET in a Dynamics NAV context?

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Thomas.

EvR

I would suggest www.learnvisualstudio.net or www.lynda.com. They are both subscription based but not expensive.
A free alternative is channel9. https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/C-Sharp-Fundamentals-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners

Begin with your .NET basics and then apply it to NAV.
I know most people would like to just skip the basics and only use it in an NAV context. But if you approach it that way, do you really know what you're doing in the end?

thomast

Any other ideas? I am looking for the "quick and dirty" introduction to using .NET in Dynamics NAV. For how the most basic C/AL code can be re-done in .NET. How do you make a loop? How do you set filters? Would you even do that with .NET...

EvR - In your recommendation you say C# which already makes me quite confused....

vaprog

What do you really mean by

thomast wrote: »

... in a Dynamics NAV context?

.NET, in the context looked at here, is a runtime environment (which happens to be the runtime environment, NAV runs in), and a vast library of programming functionality.

Anything you would do in a programming language other that C/AL such as a control AddIn or some components that interface with NAV: Just learn programming in that language in the .NET context.

For anything you do from within C/AL, DotNet is not much different seen from the way it is integrated into C/AL as Automation is. It is just a porthole to access the functions from that other environment. To use it this way, you "just" need to know what library functions you want to use, find a way to interface with that function (i.e. figure out how you can convert the data from NAV into the types the function requires). So, in this regard, it is just access to an extensible programming library. And no, you would not do a loop with DotNet in that context, because a loop is a control instruction in a programming language and DotNet (or .NET) is not a programming language.

I have never been searching for resources to learn .NET. So, I can't recommend any. Learning (the basics of) a programming language usually is not that difficult (given you are familiar with the programming paradigm, which in .NET is mostly object oriented). You'll need a good introductory book and lots of hands on experience.

With learning to know and use a programming library I did not find ever any good learning material that would have helped me. So I still believe, the only way is lots of hands on experience and a good reference documentation documenting the particulars of each function, method, data structure ... With regard to .NET it's all on msdn.

And there's one more thing: try to find code done by others that does something similar to what you need. Analyze that code and try to adapt it. Not only will this make things easier, but it tends to extend your horizon.

jackflint

I am using Zet Excel. With them you can Create, Edit, Convert or Print Excel spreadsheet file formats without requiring Microsoft Excel.