Understand the difference between connect and add-on applications
If you are an ISV with an existing service offering, then there are several reasons why you should choose to integrate your service with Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Business Central exposes many "ready-to-use" APIs for Connect apps to make a seamless integration between your service offering and Business Central.
Bundle your services with a Business Central offering, and give your customers an integrated experience that increases the value for their investment.
Use Microsoft AppSource to promote your service offering and reach more customers together with Business Central.
Leverage and join the active community around Business Central.
With your existing service offering, your path forward with Business Central can be:
You develop a Connect app in your preferred coding language, using the exposed APIs from Business Central.
You develop an Add-on app, which enriches the Business Central experience. This type of app, which integrates into the user experience of Business Central, allows you to build an interface based on how you want your data to flow between Business Central and your service offering.
What is a Connect app?
A Connect app can be used in the scenario where there must be an established point-to-point connection between Business Central and a 3rd party solution or service.
Online service offerings like payroll, expense management, web-shops, project planning and so on, typically have many connection points. Connect apps allow you to make connections between these online service offerings and your business solution. This connection can be achieved on a data level, without needing to do development. Therefore, by reusing these connection points, Connect apps provides you with the opportunity to reuse your investments from REST integrations with other Cloud Services.
Optionally, you can add a custom interface in Business Central, which determines how your data needs to flow between Business Central and your online service offering.
How do I develop a Connect app?
Connect apps are typically created using standard REST API to interchange data. Any coding language capable of calling REST APIs can be used to develop your Connect app. Therefore, you can use your favorite REST API client to start exploring the APIs.
Currently, Business Central offers 44 standard APIs that you can call from within your preferred coding language, and can start using immediately. More are planned to be added over time.
By using the standard APIs, you can easily exchange data with other services, providing an efficient way to integrate multiple services. It's strongly encouraged that you use the standard APIs whenever possible. Note, in order to explore and develop against these APIs, you must sign up for a trial tenant. For more information on how to sign up and get started with developing Connect apps and interacting with APIs, see the guide on Getting started Developing Connect Apps.
To ease the development phase of Connect apps, there is a video series that can help you each step of the way. You can learn more by consuming the content in the below video series, if interested.
To ease your journey, from the initial listing to the final publication of your Connect app on AppSource, there are two white papers that outline a step-by-step guideline that you need to follow to bring your Business Central offers to AppSource smoothly. We recommend that you check off each of the four consecutive steps in the two white papers as you progress. We highly recommend that you lean on the guidelines in these white papers to support you throughout the process of publishing your app to AppSource. You can download them using the links below.
Getting started with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Connect Apps
Develop and publish your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Connect App to AppSource
To learn more about how to develop Connect apps, select the following links:
If your Connect app requires a specific setup in Business Central, then you have the opportunity to add objects. In this case, you'll have to follow the guide on Add-on apps in combination with using the Connect API
What is an Add-on app?
An Add-on app extends the experience and the existing functionality of Business Central. Add-on apps can be used in multiple scenarios, whether it's to integrate to online services, making custom web services, adding business functionality, or extending the user interface.
Add-on apps are developed using Extensions version 2.0, and the modern development tools based on Visual Studio Code. Add-on apps can be published through Microsoft AppSource as configurable pre-built apps that can be applied to individual customer environments in Business Central.
How do I develop an Add-on app?
Add-on apps are created using the AL language in Visual Studio Code, which needs to be installed locally, or on a Virtual Machine. The source code for your Add-on app is file-based, and we recommend that you set up a repository in a source code management system like GitHub.
To ease the development phase of Add-on aps, we have created a video series to help you, each step of the way. You can learn more by consuming the content in the below video series, if you're interested.
To ease your journey, from the initial idea submission to the final publication, we've created a page that you can lean on throughout the process of bringing your app to AppSource. Please have a look at Getting You Started with Building Apps.