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James Pearson

@j-pearson.bsky.social
75 followers 100 following 40 posts

Senior D365 Consultant @ xpedition.co.uk I post marginally interesting things about BC, Power Platform, Azure, DevOps, Git and related tech jpearson.blog

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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Integration with Azure Static Web Apps from Business Central: using postMessage to communicate with the iframe hosting an embedded web app #msdyn365bc
jpearson.blog
Integration with Azure Static Web Apps from Business Central
Preamble I've been working lately on an integration with a 3rd party service where the UI needs to be displayed in a web page. Two main options I think: build the web controls into a control add-in and host everything inside the BC app host the web app somewhere else (Azure Static Web Apps) and use the WebPageViewer control add-in to display it…
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Why do all my tests show up twice in the test explorer? Long story, short Because you are using the pre-release of AL Language and you also have AL Test Runner installed. If you are using AL Test Runner then you probably want to switch to the release version of the AL Language extension for now.…
jpearson.blog
Why do all my tests show up twice in the test explorer?
Long story, short Because you are using the pre-release of AL Language and you also have AL Test Runner installed. If you are using AL Test Runner then you probably want to switch to the release version of the AL Language extension for now. Short story, made unnecessarily long Microsoft are adding testing capability to the AL Language extension. It now discovers the tests in your project and puts them into the test explorer.
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Got a problem with tests hanging indefinitely with AL Test Runner? It may be a problem publishing to your container (an issue in the AL Language extension? github.com/microsoft/AL...). Publish your test app first and set "Publish Before Test" to None or enable publishing from PowerShell. #msdyn365bc
github.com
vscode.commands.executeCommand('al.publishNoDebug') not returning result? · Issue #8181 · microsoft/AL
Please include the following with each issue: 1. Describe the bug My extension (AL Test Runner) relies on calling the al.publishNoDebug command to optionally publish the test app before running tes...
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Embed Visual Studio Code in Business Central. Could be a great user experience when you've got a large block of text that you need to display and/or edit. #msdyn365bc
jpearson.blog
Embed Visual Studio Code in Business Central
From time to time you might want to display large block of text in Business Central. Maybe the request / response from some integration. Maybe the contents of a text file that has been imported. I've written before about using the WebPageViewer add-in to format text nicely for a user to read. That's cool, but we can do better than that. We can embed Visual Studio Code's Monaco editor in a control add-in for a lovely text viewing and editing experience.
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Hi @evernote.bsky.social, love Evernote, but I don't want Ctrl+Shift+K to launch the search. Can I change that?
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Using Azure DevOps Wiki as a WYSIWYG Editor for Your Static Site Using Azure DevOps Wiki as a WYSIWYG Editor for Your Static Site #msdyn365bc #azure #docfx
jpearson.blog
Using Azure DevOps Wiki as a WYSIWYG Editor for Your Static Site
Using Azure DevOps Wiki as a WYSIWYG Editor for Your Static Site #msdyn365bc #azure #docfx
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Reposted by James Pearson
Stefano Demiliani @demiliani.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Dynamics 365 Business Central: finally we'll have TRUNCATE table in SaaS. 🤩 demiliani.com/2025/08/04/d... #msdyn365bc
demiliani.com
Dynamics 365 Business Central: finally we’ll have TRUNCATE table in SaaS.
In the last 3 years I wrote many times about the need to have the possibility to execute a massive data deletion on SaaS and expecially the need to have the SQL TRUNCATE operation exposed to develo…
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Reposted by James Pearson
Scott Hanselman 🌮 @scott.hanselman.com · 30/07/2025
Truly extraordinary Google AI results. Amazing.
The patches are usually made of organic amino acid crystals…
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Calling Business Central Directly from a Managed Identity #msdyn365bc Authenticate directly from your Azure resources into Business Central without an app registration or client secret.
jpearson.blog
Calling Business Central Directly from a Managed Identity
TL;DR You can assign Business Central (and other) API permissions to managed identities. Use the Microsoft Graph PowerShell module and then create an Entra Application record in Business Central for the client id of the managed identity (without the need for a separate app registration). Intro I've said it before and I'll say it again. The best thing about blogging now and then is that when people find a better way to do the things you're blogging about they sometimes tell you.
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
I can't tell if it is foreach or Copilot (or maybe the combination), but everytime I use foreach VS Code goes mad. All sorts of false compilation errors highlighted in the editor but actually compiles when I build. Foreach does feels a little like a forgotten child of the AL language. #bcalhelp
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Calling Business Central APIs without a client secret How to setup an Azure function to call a Business Central API without the hassle of having to manage and maintain client secrets. #msdyn365bc
jpearson.blog
Calling Business Central APIs Without a Client Secret
Intro We're doing more with Azure resources. I expect that you are too. Especially Static Web Apps and Azure Functions that we need to be able to call back into the Business Central and Dataverse APIs. To authenticate with Business Central we would typically: create an app registration in Azure add Business Central APIs permissions to the app registration create an Entra Application in Business Central and assign permission sets to it…
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Can we auth web service calls with a managed identity? Telemetry says "successfully authenticated in Microsoft Entra ID but the user does not have any entitlements in Business Central". Also found @demiliani.bsky.social blog which suggests this is not possible. Is that right? #bcalhelp #msdyn365bc
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Another Look at App Integration in Business Central - Part 2 #msdyn365bc
jpearson.blog
Another Look at App Integration in Business Central – Part 2
Recap See here for part 1 of this series. The challenge that we are trying to solve is to allow Business Central apps to call each other's functionality without creating a dependency. ⚠️ Reminder: only do this when you cannot create a dependency between the two apps. If a dependency is acceptable then that is the way that you should solve this problem.
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Anyone willing to share data transformation rules that they use to reduce BC telemetry costs? Trimming out authorization calls (RT0004 and RT0003) seems like an obvious place to start? #bcalhelp #msdyn365bc
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Writing to the clipboard from Business Central #msdyn365bc Another use for the WebPageViewer control add-in to add a small layer of UX joy to your apps.
jpearson.blog
Tip – Access the Clipboard with Business Central
Intro I've written before about using the WebPageViewer control add-in to add a little zest et je ne sais quoi to your BC pages. You can set html content like this or use JavaScript to neatly format JSON like this. Obviously, you have more control over how your page looks and behaves if you write your own control add-in, but for smaller jobs where you just need a little sprinkling of HTML and (your favourite programming language and mine) JavaScript then the WebPageViewer might be just fine.
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Outlook is genuinely baffling. Downloaded an appointment ics file. Outlook (new) opens and...does nothing with it. I select "Outlook" from the open with menu (called "Outlook (classic)" in start menu). Prompts me to set up my account. Evidently the two outlooks don't even share account setup.
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Another Look at App Integration in Business Central #msdyn365bc
jpearson.blog
Another Look at App Integration in Business Central
Intro A while ago I posted a series of thoughts about integration between Business Central apps. You can find the original posts here. Those posts are 7 years old, presumably there must be a better way to do it now? It's time for a fresh look... Objective First, let's clarify what we are trying to achieve here. I'm interested in the ability for one app to call the functionality in another app…
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Problems logging into @evernote.bsky.social web app? The Continue button on the login page remains disabled after I enter my username... 🤔
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Genuine question. Does anyone actually use AI tools to "change the tone" of their writing? Just noticed that it has popped up in Evernote now as well. Who needs that?
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
@tobiasfenster.io, @arthurvdv.bsky.social - great webinar recently on artifacts (www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i1h...) 👍 I'm trying it out in our pipelines, but the version returned by the proxy doesn't exist in the MSApps nuget feed. Am I doing something wrong? Perhaps a question for Microsoft?
youtube.com
20250127 - Grabbing BC artifacts in your pipelines via an Azure Function and how all of this works
YouTube video by Areopa webinars
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Didn't see this coming, but one of the more satisfying uses of Copilot in VS Code is to suggest completions to my apologetic comments to others devs/future self.
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Exporting your test steps from VS Code to import into Azure DevOps #msdyn365bc #bcalhelp
jpearson.blog
Export Test Steps as CSV to Import to Azure DevOps
I don't know if anyone needs this. I'm not sure if even I need this yet, but I am starting to find it useful. We use test plans in Azure DevOps to record the steps and results of manual testing. I figured that if I'm writing decent comments in my automated (integration*) tests then I should be able to just copy them to the test plan in DevOps, or at least use them as the basis.
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Reposted by James Pearson
I Am Devloper @iamdevloper.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
There's a special circle in hell for those who comment their code with 'magic happens here.' Magic is for Hogwarts, not for code review.
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Reposted by James Pearson
Tine Starič @tinestaric.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
Here’s another “Let me bookmark this” post What’s executed earlier, OnBeforeValidate event or OnBeforeValidate trigger? I’m never 100% certain so I’ve visualized a few sequences for myself. Maybe it will help you too! tine.staric.net/blog/2025/tr...
tine.staric.net
Trigger Sequence in AL
Here’s a small “let me bookmark this” post.
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Does anyone seriously need or want AI features built into Notepad? Surely this is a solution looking for a problem. Maybe next time I ask someone to copy an error message and callstack I'll get them to change it to an inspirational tone first.
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Is it possible to have people login to BC with user credentials from a different Azure tenant? e.g. User is user@tenant1.com but BC lives in tenant2 #bcalhelp #msdyn365bc thanks
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Reposted by James Pearson
S-Balslev @sbalslev.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
New pre-release is out 15.0.1251540 try it out for the next #msdyn365bc major. Resources++, continue, JSon helper methods for easy data access, Yaml support, hovering shows locked, peek references and much more...
media.tenor.com
an elf on the shelf is sitting on a couch next to a sign that says " you opened your gifts before christmas "
ALT: an elf on the shelf is sitting on a couch next to a sign that says " you opened your gifts before christmas "
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Use Alpaca containers? Want to use AL Test Runner with them? Take a look here 👀 github.com/jimmymcp/al-.... Would be great to have some more people testing. You need the pre-release of AL Test Runner and the latest version of bccontainerhelper installed. #msdyn365bc
github.com
Issue when running AL Test Runner against a COMSO Alpaca container · Issue #152 · jimmymcp/al-test-runner
When executing tests using f.e. Run All Tests against a COSMO Alpaca container I am getting the error Error: No such object: fps-alpaca.westeurope.cloudapp.azure.com Get-CompanyInBCContainer Teleme...
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James Pearson @j-pearson.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Matrix controls are one of the (very few) thing that I miss from C/AL forms. Designing a matrix page is... not fun. #msdyn365bc
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