Live Preview for Page & Report Extensions in Business Central

Disclaimer: The ideas and concepts discussed in this newsletter are purely speculative and do not reflect any in-flight projects or official plans from Microsoft. These are the thoughts of someone passionate about exploring the "what ifs" of technology and its future potential.

Imagine having a live preview for page and report extensions in Business Central as an AL Developer.

One of the most time-consuming aspects of Business Central development is the back-and-forth process of modifying, publishing, and verifying changes in page and report extensions. But what if developers could preview changes instantly? That’s the vision for an integrated Live Preview mode, a potential game-changer in Business Central development.

Where We Are Now

Currently, Business Central provides a Page Designer tool that allows users to personalize layouts. However, when it comes to extension development, designers must rely on manually writing AL code, publishing changes, and refreshing the UI, thus creating an inefficient workflow.

The existing Design Mode within Business Central gets part of the way there. When developers add or modify fields, the system generates an extension package, which can be downloaded and manually adjusted in Visual Studio Code. While helpful, this still requires several steps that slow down development.

The Vision for Live Preview

Imagine a true WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor directly within Business Central:

• Developers could modify pages and reports visually without needing to republish.
• Changes would be instantly reflected in the UI, reducing the need for multiple iterations.
• A side-by-side integration with Visual Studio Code, where edits in either environment update in real time. (How COOL would this be?)
• Seamless GitHub integration for version control, making collaboration smoother.

Such an approach would provide significant productivity boosts, particularly for new developers learning Business Central’s AL language and UI structure.

Potential Features & Benefits

1. Drag-and-Drop UI Editing – Modify layouts dynamically and generate AL code automatically.
2. Embedded Visual Studio Code Panel – Write and adjust AL code within Business Central.
3. Instant Code Reflection – Changes made in Business Central would update in Visual Studio Code (and vice versa).
4. Smart Anchoring & Field Placement – Reduce confusion in structuring complex reports and pages.
5. GitHub Integration – Automatically commit and push changes for version control.

UX/UI Considerations

A seamless user experience is key to ensuring the success of Live Preview in Business Central. Here are some critical UX/UI factors to consider:

• Intuitive Design – The interface should be clean, with clear icons and tooltips to guide users through modifications.
• Minimal Disruptions – Live Preview should not slow down Business Central’s performance or cause unnecessary distractions. perhaps there could be an integrated Developer Mode like many tools in the Microsoft ecosystem possess?
• Accessibility – Features should be designed with accessibility in mind, ensuring usability for developers of all skill levels.
• Customization Options – Users should be able to toggle between Live Preview and classic development modes as needed.

By focusing on these UX/UI principles, Microsoft can create a tool that is both powerful and user-friendly, enabling developers to work more efficiently without a steep learning curve.

How It Would Change Development

For experienced developers, this would cut down iteration time significantly, eliminating unnecessary publishing cycles. For newcomers, it provides a clearer understanding of how UI changes impact underlying AL code. In essence, it would make Business Central extension development more intuitive, efficient, and accessible.

What’s Next?

While this functionality doesn’t exist yet, it’s an exciting possibility for future updates. The Business Central community has long requested better UI design tools, and integrating a Live Preview Mode could be the next big step.

For now, we’ll keep an eye on Microsoft’s roadmap and continue advocating for this innovation. If implemented, it could transform Business Central development as we know it.

Next Edition of the Power Frame coming 4/16

Stay tuned for the next edition of the Power Frame, where we’ll cover the Smart Schema Extractor for Power BI, a new way to streamline data modeling and report creation.

A special thanks to Marcel Chabot for his insight and collaboration on this edition of the Power Frame. Be sure to check out his blog at Aardvark Labs for more great content on Business Central and Power Platform development.