Microsoft Dynamics NAV is great for developers. Microsoft did a good job in creating a system that’s relatively easy to extend and customize. Developers can create complete add-ons and toolkits, and we love it!
But the tools you get to do your development work are a bit less sophisticated. With every release, the development environment gets a few minor improvements. We’ve had CTRL-Z since 2016, but that’s about it. Let’s be honest: as a developer, there’s a serious lack of tools to do your work. At least, that’s what we thought when we started developing Object Manager Advanced (OMA). By now, since more than 1,000 companies work with these tools, we think you’ll agree that the development tools are improving too.
A question we’ve heard more than once is whether OMA is still relevant now that we have Business Central and Visual Studio Code. And the answer is ‘yes’, for many reasons. For example, many customers still run on C/AL and these code bases still require maintenance and further development. OMA also contains a set of tools to convert from C/AL to AL, making it an effective resource for upgrades/migrations. OMA 365 for AL is released in December 2021.
It’s safe to say that with Object Manager Advanced (OMA), idyn re-invented the Microsoft Dynamics NAV/BC development environment. A broad set of features reduces costs, save time and improves the quality of your development work.
Using OMA for add-on creation ensures compliance with the required conventions and patterns to become Certified for Microsoft Dynamics (CfMD).
OMA has been recognized by the community and Microsoft itself, as a proud recipient of the Microsoft Innovation Award and Mibuso Best Download Award.
Object Manager Advanced is the tool of choice for developers and consultants who need to deliver development work that meets the highest possible standards. Top-quality code and solutions can be achieved with powerful functionalities such as:
The transition from NAV to Business Central sparks a lot of questions for developers, especially: how will OMA maintain the ease of development you are familiar with in Business Central? OMA is the answer to those questions and will give you the best of both worlds:
The Check Guidelines tool checks whether guideline requirements are met and corrects guideline errors in C/AL and AL code. This automates the process and provides corrections when you convert code from C/AL to AL.
Object Manager Advanced puts an end to endless checking, testing, and comparing before deployment. Simply combine all modifications in transport and use the wizard to import them into your customer database, all from within Microsoft Dynamics NAV/BC. Take the hassle out of switching between systems.
The list of OMA’s features is already quite extensive, but we’re always open to adding new features for a future version. If you have an idea for possible additions to an upcoming release, get in touch. We’re always keen on input from our customers.
Because we’re proud of what we do and even more proud that so many developers enjoy working with our products, we thought we’d share some numbers. Today, more than 1,000 companies use OMA. That’s about 500 partners and 500 in-house developing customers. In total, OMA allows more than 10,000 users to improve their everyday workloads!
If you’d like to receive more information about Object Manager Advanced, or if you are interested in a live demo, please contact us.
The developing tools are fully adapted to the BC environment. All functionalities work for C/AL and AL.
With OMA 15, you now have the ability to convert C/AL to AL code. Inside OMA, it is not necessary to create .TXT files first, because you can work from within your objects. There is no export time needed, you can convert directly from C/AL to AL in OMA and AL files can be opened now in Visual Studio code.
There is no need to convert from 2013 to 2018 first. The conversion tool works across all versions! In general, since OMA is 100% written in C/AL, it’s far more flexible and adjustable. The OMA conversion tool is the only conversion tool that is written in C/AL. Everyone is used to it and it’s easily adaptable. And all object types can be converted to AL!
OMA also has the ability to add prefixes to objects while converting from C/AL to AL. There are no manual actions needed, it saves you a lot of time and prevents overlooking these!
How to convert from C/AL to AL:
The analyzing tools are fully adapted to the BC environment. All functionalities work for C/AL and AL. For example:
The Where Used extension related information appears throughout OMA, what’s new is that you’ll be able to see the number of subscribers and the number of times used. Find out where objects, keys, triggers, fields, functions etc.are used. Easily track down unused variables, keys, and fields.
The Guideline checking functionality enables you to navigate from your list of comments to Visual Studio in one click. Modify your code and check again. OMA will monitor your work outside NAV and update your file history inside NAV/BC.
The converter is available from OMAv13 which suits all NAV versions 2013 and up.
Product support is available free of charge via support@idyn.nl or idyn.freshdesk.com.
OMA 365 for Business Central on-prem is available. Request access and a license key via sales@idyn.nl.
Application Builder (AB) and Solution Developer (SD) granules are development granules which can be purchased through Microsoft. These enable the access to certain code units which would not be available otherwise. As a consequence, these granules also determine the range in which OMA can operate, hence the pricing difference.
Yes, as long as these databases are grouped under a single NAV/BC installation within a single voice ID.
Upon purchasing a perpetual OMA license, we charge an annual enhancement/maintenance fee of 20% of the total license value. Keeping your maintenance plan up-to-date ensures access to new version/updates/bug fixes/etc. This fee is included in the subscription pricing.
The OMA community is a group of dedicated partners and end-users who use OMA on a regular basis. This group helps us to test and evaluate all major new versions prior to release.
Yes, product training is available remotely or on-site, for both partners and end-users. Please contact support@idyn.nl for rates and additional information.
Yes, an environment is available through a remote desktop connection, with OMA pre-installed. Access to this desktop is limited to 1 week.
Of course, if you are a Microsoft Dynamics partner you are eligible to re-sell all of our solutions. Please contact support@idyn.nl for conditions and additional information.