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Compilation scope overview

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In Dynamics 365 Business Central, there are different layers to manage what can be published to the server and accessed from within a project.

Configure extension target on the server

By setting the Allowed Extension Target Level flag in the server configuration, you control what can be published to the server by setting the Cloud or OnPrem flag. For more information, see Configuring Business Central Server.

Configure extension target for an extension

In the manifest of an extension (the app.json file), you can set the target property to specify the compilation target of an extension. The available values are Internal, Extension, OnPrem, and Cloud.

Important

The Internal and Extension values have been deprecated, starting with runtime 4.0 and replaced by the OnPrem and Cloud respectively.

The target property informs the compiler which APIs can be used within the current project.

  • If you specify "target":"OnPrem", you can use any platform APIs and .NET types. This is the most permissive target. It's only if you specify this target, that you can use methods marked with Scope('OnPrem') or tables with the property Scope (Tables) set to OnPrem.
  • If you specify "target":"Cloud", you can only use APIs that are safe for use in a cloud environment. If the target is set to Cloud, the extension can't use any method marked with Scope('OnPrem') or table with the property Scope set to the OnPrem. For example, if you have two extensions; A and B. Extension A has an app.json target setting "target": "OnPrem" and defines a method with the Scope Attribute set to [Scope('OnPrem')]. Extension B has a dependency on extension A and extension B has an app.json target setting "target": "Cloud" and tries to call the method in extension A marked with scope OnPrem, you'll get a compile error when you're trying to compile extension B. For more information, see JSON Files.

Note

A table with the property Scope set to OnPrem carries this scope forward to every other object that might refer it as SourceTable, even if those elements are declared within the same extension.

Methods and tables scope

Methods can be marked with the [Scope()] attribute to specify the compilation target and tables can be marked with the Scope property. Both instruct the compiler, which targets the method or table can be used in. For more information, see Scope Attribute and Scope (Table) Property.

See Also

AL Development Environment
Developing Extensions in AL
JSON Files
Scope Attribute
Scope (Table) Property
Configuring Business Central Server