Any chance to "try out" C/AL development with a dev/sandbox environment?

Larrate · 2017-09-13

Hello everyone,

I am currently working as IT-Support at a company that is basically an NAV (2015) user. All development ist sourced from an external Microsoft partner (the solution we use is a branch-specialized product of said partner). I know my way around in NAV quite well, have a good grasp of its functionality and data structures, however, I have no development experience with C/AL / C/SIDE whatsoever.

In my freetime I do develop small server Apps preferably with Python or Java, and I would be quite interested to dip into C/AL development as well. The short-time goal would be to have an even better grasp on the inner workings, in the long run I would like being able to maybe implement smaller/periferal changes myself.

With the forum search I already found a lot of great recommendations where to look for literature or learning support.

However, I am somewhat stuck on how I could actually try a few things, given that I do not have access to development environment at my workplace (and would not want to experiment there either...).
Is there any chance to set up an NAV2015 development/sandbox environment on my private computer to fiddle around with C/AL (preferrably with NAV 2015)? I don't want to do anything illegal, however, right now I wouldn't want to invest a lot of money either.

Thanks a lot for your support,
Lars

AK · 2017-09-13

You can download NAV 2015 here. However, you need a developer licence to really get into it. The "Cronus" licence doesn't allow to modify code in objects exept reports, IIRC.

AK · 2017-09-13

You can learn a bit, but not nearly enough. However, this is not a demo, just the licence shipped with it is one, as well as the data in the database. If your company's licence allows you to code, you can use it with the download I linked (if you are allowed to by your company, of course). Otherwise you might ask your MBS partner if you can use his licence (not likely).
You can also take a backup of your company and import it to your local installation, but you need permission for that as well.

Slawek_Guzek · 2017-09-13

There are (or maybe used to be?) NAV developer courses run my Microsoft and 3rd party training centres where basic NAV objects and C/AL coding was thaught.. but if you have some programming experience you would be probably bored to death.

Frankly speaking, for learning purposes, a report is as good as any other object to serve as a placeholder of the code.

Besides you can start with making a copy of your production database, and running various functions with the debugger. At least you will see how the code works. C/AL is a very simple language, what makes you a NAV developer is imho the knowledge of the environment, data structures, functions available in standard objects. C/AL is just a small piece of knowledge, relatively easy to grasp.

Slawek

AK · 2017-09-13

You can download NAV 2015 here. However, you need a developer licence to really get into it. The "Cronus" licence doesn't allow to modify code in objects exept reports, IIRC.

Larrate · 2017-09-13

Thank you for your answer. This sounds like the demo is not actually useable to learn C/AL programming, is it?

AK · 2017-09-13

You can learn a bit, but not nearly enough. However, this is not a demo, just the licence shipped with it is one, as well as the data in the database. If your company's licence allows you to code, you can use it with the download I linked (if you are allowed to by your company, of course). Otherwise you might ask your MBS partner if you can use his licence (not likely).
You can also take a backup of your company and import it to your local installation, but you need permission for that as well.

Larrate · 2017-09-13

Thanks again. My company's licence does not (yet) include the application builder licence, since all coding is done by our partner. However, my employer will not buy such a licence just for me to train, even if I would do this off-hours.

Are you (or someone else here) aware of any (affordable) educational online program that would come with access to a development environment?
I find it hard to accept that you can only learn NAV development by being employed at a MBS partner.

Slawek_Guzek · 2017-09-13

There are (or maybe used to be?) NAV developer courses run my Microsoft and 3rd party training centres where basic NAV objects and C/AL coding was thaught.. but if you have some programming experience you would be probably bored to death.

Frankly speaking, for learning purposes, a report is as good as any other object to serve as a placeholder of the code.

Besides you can start with making a copy of your production database, and running various functions with the debugger. At least you will see how the code works. C/AL is a very simple language, what makes you a NAV developer is imho the knowledge of the environment, data structures, functions available in standard objects. C/AL is just a small piece of knowledge, relatively easy to grasp.

Slawek

Any chance to "try out" C/AL development with a dev/sandbox environment?

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