UncommonSense.Bc.Utils

Object ID Availability

The advent of the so called modern development experience for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has not necessarily made it easier to find available IDs for new objects. This module assumes that available IDs can be found by taking an app's allotted ID range, and subtracting any IDs that are either reserved or already in use. The cmdlets below form building blocks to find available IDs, but can also be used separately to retrieve relevant information.

Installation

UncommonSense.Bc.Utils currently requires PowerShell 7 to run Get-BcObjectIdRange (which relies on the System.Text.Json package) and cmdlets that depend on it.

To install UncommonSense.Bc.Utils from the Microsoft PowerShell Gallery, open a PowerShell prompt and run:

Install-Module -Name UncommonSense.Bc.Utils -Scope CurrentUser

To install the module for all users of your machine, run the following from an elevated PowerShell prompt:

Install-Module -Name UncommonSense.Bc.Utils

Summary

Cmdlet Name	Cmdlet Description
Get-BcObjectInfo	Retrieves object information (Type, ID, Name and, where applicable, BaseName) from AL objects that reside in disk files.
New-BcObjectIdInfo	Creates output objects that each contain a combination of an object type and object ID.
Get-BcObjectIdRange	Retrieves the object ID ranges from an app's app.json file, given the app's folder path.
New-BcObjectIdRange	Manually defines available ID ranges.
Get-BcObjectIdAvailability	Calculates the availability state (Available, Reserved or InUse) of the objects in a folder or folder structure.
Find-AvailableBcObjectId	Finds available object IDs for the given object type(s).

Object IDs in Use: Get-BcObjectInfo

Retrieves object information (Type, ID, Name and, where applicable, BaseName) from AL objects that reside in disk files.

Parameters

Name	Description	Mandatory	Default Value
Path	The path to the folder to examine	No	Current folder (.)
ObjectType	The object types to return	No	All object types
Recurse	Also consider subfolders of Path	No	No

Note that, for the sake of speed and simplicity, Get-BcObjectInfo assumes a single object per .al file, starting on the first line of the file.

Object IDs in Use/Reserved Object IDs: New-BcObjectIdInfo

Creates output objects that each contain a combination of an object type and object ID. In the ID availability cmdlets below, these output objects can be used e.g. to represent objects that are reserved or simulate IDs that are in use.

Parameters

Name	Description	Mandatory	Default Value
ObjectType	The type of the object	Yes	(none)
ObjectID	The ID of the object	Yes	(none)

Valid ID Ranges: Get-BcObjectIdRange

Retrieves the object ID ranges from an app's app.json file, given the app's folder path.

Note that the ranges in app.json (by definition) apply to all object types. You can reduce the output to just the object type(s) you're interested in using the -ObjectType parameter, as described below.

Parameters

Name	Description	Mandatory	Default Value
Path	The path that contains app.json	No	Current folder (.)
ObjectType	The types to include in the output	No	All object types

Valid ID Ranges: New-BcObjectIdRange

In cases where the ID ranges in app.json don't suffice (or no such file is available), New-BcObjectIdRange can be used to define available ID ranges.

Parameters

Name	Description	Mandatory	Default Value
ObjectType	The object type to create a range for	Yes	(none)
FromObjectID	The lower boundary of the ID range	Yes	(none)
ToObjectID	The upper boundary of the ID range	Yes	(none)

Calculating ID Availability: Get-BcObjectIdAvailability

Building on the previous cmdlets, calculates the availability state (Available, Reserved or InUse) of the objects in a folder or folder structure.

Parameters

Name	Description	Mandatory	Default Value
Path	The path to the folder to examine	Yes	Current folder (.)
Recurse	Also consider subfolders of Path	No	No
ObjectType	The object type(s) to limit the analysis to	No	All object types
IdRange	A scriptblock that returns objects in use	No	Calls Get-BcObjectIdRange for Path
Reserved	A scriptblock that returns reserved object IDs	No	An empty array
InUse	A scriptblock that returns object IDs in use	No	Calls Get-BcObjectInfo for Path
Summary	Output per ID, instead of per Type + ID	No	No

Finding available object IDs: Find-AvailableBcObjectId

Building on the previous cmdlets, finds available object IDs for the given object type(s).

Parameters

Name	Description	Mandatory	Default Value
Path	The path to the folder to examine	Yes	Current folder (.)
Recurse	Also consider subfolders of Path	No	No
ObjectIdAvailabililty	A scriptblock that returns object ID availability info	No	Calls Get-BcObjectIdAvailability for Path`
{ObjectType}, e.g. Table	The number of object IDs of the given type to return	No	0
Contiguous	Require the object IDs to form a contiguous range	No	No

Demo