Edit

Directory.app.props.json file

APPLIES TO: Business Central 2025 release wave 2 and later

The directory.app.props.json file defines reusable variables and properties for one or more AL apps in a folder. With a focus on maintainability, using variables for composing properties offers several advantages:

  • Single point of edit, you only change, for example, baseUrl once.
  • Safe version bumping, you only edit minor or build, not the whole string.
  • Generally reduces copy/paste errors in URLs.

The directory.app.props.json file is typically located in the root folder of the AL project, and must be created manually. Whether you have one or multiple projects, the directory.app.props.json file can help you set variables like revision or build from the environment, and make versioned builds without creating a commit with the variables. When the file is found by the compiler, it's used to set the defined properties for the app. If a property is defined both in the directory.app.props.json file and in the app.json file, the value from the app.json file takes precedence. For example, if publisher, help, or url is also present in app.json, the app.json value overrides the value defined here.

Supported app.json properties

The directory.app.props.json file supports the following app.json properties:

Property
name
version
publisher
description
brief
privacyStatement
EULA
help
url
logo
target
platform
application
runtime
helpBaseUrl

Learn more about these properties in JSON files.

Create the directory.app.props.json file

Create the directory.app.props.json file by following these steps:

  1. In the root folder of one or more app projects, choose New File.

  2. Name the file directory.app.props.json.

  3. Edit the file by adding one or more properties inside the JSON structure, such as:

    {
    "variables": {
        "major": "1",
        "minor": "2",
        "build": "0",
        "revision": "0",
        "version": "$(major).$(minor).$(build).$(revision)",
        "configuration": "",
        "baseUrl": "https://www.mycompany.com"
    },
    "properties": {
        "publisher": "My Company",
        "url": "$(baseUrl)",
        "privacyStatement": "$(baseUrl)/privacy",
        "EULA": "$(baseUrl)/EULA",
        "help": "$(baseUrl)/documentation"
    }
}

  4. Save the file.

The example defines variables for version parts, a baseUrl, and properties that use these variables. The configuration variable is defined but empty, which is useful if you want to append a configuration suffix to the version in certain build scenarios (for example, -beta or -preview). The properties section uses the baseUrl variable to construct full URLs for url, privacyStatement, EULA, and help.

Properties after substitution:

  • publisher: "My Company"
  • url: "https://www.mycompany.com"
  • privacyStatement: "https://www.mycompany.com/privacy"
  • EULA: "https://www.mycompany.com/EULA"
  • help: "https://www.mycompany.com/documentation"

Potential pitfalls

  • Leaving configuration empty while using $(configuration) elsewhere would expand to an empty string—ensure that defaults are meaningful.
  • Typos in variable names inside $(...) lead to unresolved tokens—double-check spelling.
  • Non-numeric fragments in version parts cause validation errors—keep them numeric.

JSON files

  • Last updated on