ISV instructions Application.app

Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (IEM) and Food Manufacturing & Distribution are also available as an EmbedApp replacing the Microsoft Base app. To accommodate these types of apps, Microsoft includes the Application app in their delivery set. The Application app functions as a proxy to avoid redefining the dependencies for each installation.

As of Business Central 2020 Wave 1 update 4 (16.4), all bugs in this Application app were resolved. When the app.json of the Application app is correctly defined and compiled in version 16.4, runtime packages also install without any problem.

Contents of the app.json:

{
"id": "82cc5a2f-409e-4ab8-b603-15dcfd9c11d7",
"name": "…", //Your app name
"publisher": "…", //Your ISV name
"privacyStatement": "…", //Link to your privacy statement
"EULA": "…", //Link to your software terms
"help": "…", //Link to your help files
"contextSensitiveHelpUrl": "…", //same
"supportedLocales": ["en-US"], //For US localizations
"url": "…", //Link to your website
"logo": "…", //Link to your logo file
"brief": "…", //Brief description of your app
"description": "…", //Description of your app
"dependencies": [], //Leave dependencies empty
"application": "16.4.0.0", //Must be 16.4 or higher
"platform": "16.0.0.0", //Must be 16 or higher
"version": "16.5.47913.0", //Version number of your app
"runtime": "5.0", //
"target": "OnPrem", //Only for on-prem deployments
"showMyCode": true, //True or False
"idRanges": [{…}] //Your object ID ranges
}

Also refer to the Microsoft documentation: The Microsoft_Application.app File.

Because EmbedApps like IEM customize standard objects, your app may interfere with IEM functionality. Previously, this was resolved during merging. That option is no longer available, so thorough testing of these types of installations is critical.

If conflicts occur, STAEDEAN will work with the ISV to investigate the possibilities of avoiding them.

Creating IEM as an extension is a work in progress with a release date scheduled for FY21. In the meantime, STAEDEAN follows the Microsoft monthly updates with one restriction: as soon as IEM releases on the next major version, updates on the previous version stop. For example, as soon as IEM for BC 17.0 releases, updates on IEM BC 16.x stop.