Using Azure Functions in Mirosoft Dynamics Business Central

Hi Readers, 

I hope you are doing well!

I know this blog took a while, sorry about that! But here it is!

There's a lot of talking going on w.r.t Azure functions which we can use in Business Central. ut what exactly are they? How will they benefit? How to use them? I'll answer these questions in this blog. 

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service that is used for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications.

It provides software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Azure Functions is a solution that runs on the Microsoft Azure platform and is used to run small pieces of code, or functions, in the cloud. With Azure Functions, you can focus on a specific function without having to focus on the whole application or the infrastructure to run it. Additionally, Azure Functions lets you run your code in a serverless environment without having to first create a virtual machine or publish a web application.

When you write Azure functions, you can use your development languages of choice, such as C#, F#, Node.js, or PHP.

Note: Azure Functions is a great solution for processing data, integrating systems, working with the Internet of Things (IoT), and building simple APIs and microservices. Tasks like order processing, file maintenance, or any task that you want to run on a schedule are suitable for Azure Functions.

Now that you know the gist, we'll go ahead and see the implementation. 

Steps:

1. Sign in to Azure Portal: Azure Portal

2. Create a new Azure function: Create Azure App and Function

Note: Authorization Level should be Anonymous.

3. Open the newly created Azure function and select the Get Function URL link.

3. Test Azure Function with Postman

Note:

- Set the Authentication to No Auth

- Add a header with the key name and value <your name>

- Select the Send button. You should see a response with your name

4. Write code to get the result from the Azure function in AL

Scenario: Get Vendor Name on Open of a Vendor

a. Create a Page Extension, define variables and write code on OnOpenPage() trigger as shown below:

b. Publish your Extension (Ctrl+Shift+P)

c. Press F5 and run Business Central

d. Open Vendor Card and see the result

Interesting, isn't it? Try it yourself!

Hope this blog was helpful. See you until next time. :) 

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