How to export data using excel buffer in Business Central Sandbox for all the available companies

Hello guys, 

Happy new year to everyone, so in this blog I'm going to discuss about exporting data using excel buffer for all the available companies.

questions that would arise is answered below-

Why we need excel buffer to export when we have built-in excel which exports record?

We use excel buffer in Business central only when we need to handle a special situations like, 

to export all the data from all the available companies, 

export data for different languages ex. french, german or arabic or any other.

So, long story short I'll let you know what I did to export G/L Account in sandbox.

Create  a codeunit and a page. Page for a button click and codeunit to do your export processing.

Step 1: Create a new codeunit with a procedure to do your excel export for all the companies.

We need a temp excel buffer to store the data,

Use NewRow to create new rows in excel.

use addcolumn function to add new columns, do the data assignments and create a new excel write into sheet and close the book. 

The below code can be used to perform your actions.

Step 3: Create a new page with an action button which points to the procedure of your newly created codeunit.

Step 4: Publish the extension and verify the exported records.

Managing Sandbox and Production Environments

In this blog we will discuss about more detailed overview of Business Central Admin Center.
Topics Covered-

• How to view details of an environment
• Types of Environments
• How to Create Production and Sandbox Environments
• Precautions for sandbox environments with production data
• Selecting a version for a new sandbox environment

So let's see the considerations we have in our mind when choosing between creating a Sandbox or Production environment.

The Environments tab of the Business Central administration center provides you with an overview of the Business Central production and sandbox environments for the tenant, and you can manage updates for each environment as shown in below image.

Viewing details for an environment

In the list of environments, you can open a page with more details for an environment by choosing the link in the Name column of the list for the environment.

Types of environments
You can create environments of different types. Which type of environment to choose depends on what you need it for.

Production environments

• Production environments are meant to be precisely that: Environments that a business can run their daily business in Business Central in, deployed on performance tiers in Azure with a guaranteed high level of availability and support.

• Production environments are backed up automatically and frequently to help protect business data. For more information, see How often are production databases backed up?.

• You can create additional production environments for training or performance testing, for example. However, for training purposes, in many cases organizations will prefer to create a sandbox environment with production data. You can also create additional production environments to support offices in different countries.

• You can have a maximum of three production environments for each Business Central tenant.

Sandbox environments

• Sandbox environments are meant to be precisely that: Environments that you can play around with, use as a testbed for development, and delete at will. You can deploy apps straight from Visual Studio Code to a sandbox environment, and you can attach a debugging session to a sandbox.

• You can also safely use sandboxes because it's a safe environment to experiment with. If anything goes wrong, you just delete the sandbox and start over.

• The automatic backup that applies to production environments does not apply to sandbox environments. If you want to export data from a sandbox environment, you can use Excel or RapidStart, but you cannot request a database export.

• You can create a sandbox environment that includes data from your production environment for debugging purposes, for example. But if you want to run performance tests, or similar benchmarking, the sandbox is not reliable enough for that purpose. This is because sandboxes run in a different performance tier on Azure than production environments. Instead, create a dedicated environment based on the Production environment type - this gives you the exact experience and performance that users will experience in the actual production environment.

• Sandbox environments are handy for certain types of development scenarios because the debugging endpoint is open by default. This means that you can attach Visual Studio Code to a running system and debug through running code. It also allows you to publish directly to the environment from Code.

• You can have a maximum of three sandbox environments for each Business Central tenant.

How to Create a new Production Environment

To create a production environment:

1. On the Environments tab of the Business Central administration center, choose the New action on the action ribbon.
2. In the Create Environment pane, in the Environment Type list, choose Production.
3. In the Country list, select the country for the environment. The specified country determines the localization for the environment, as well as the Azure region in which the environment is created and stored.
4. Select Create.

When the new production environment is created, it will be based on the latest production version of Business Central.

How to Create a new Sandbox Environment

A sandbox environment is a non-production instance of Business Central. Isolated from production, a sandbox environment is the place to safely explore, learn, demo, develop, and test the service without the risk of affecting the data and settings of your production environment.

Make sure that you understand the limitations of a sandbox before you create a new sandbox environment

Each Business Central tenant is limited to three sandbox environments.

How to create a new sandbox environment:

1. On the Environments tab of the Business Central administration center, choose the New action on the action ribbon.
2. In the Create Environment pane, specify a name for the new environment.
3. In the Create Environment pane, in the Environment Type list, choose Sandbox.
4. Specify if you want the sandbox environment to contain a copy of another environment. If you choose this option, you must specify which environment to copy.
5. When you create a sandbox environment as a copy of another environment, the new environment is created on the same application version as the environment that you are copying. The new environment will also contain all per-tenant extensions and AppSource extensions that are installed and published in the original environment that is being copied.
6. In the Country list, select the country for the environment. The specified country determines the localization for the environment, as well as the Azure region in which the environment is created and stored.
7. Choose the relevant application version for the new sandbox environment from the Version list if more than one version is available.
8. Select Create
9. The sandbox environment will not be accessible until the State shows Active.

A single, default sandbox environment can also be created in the Business Central application. For more information.

To delete a sandbox environment, choose the environment on the Environments tab of the Business Central administration center, and then choose Delete on the action ribbon.

Precautions to be taken for sandbox environments with production data-

If a sandbox is created with a copy of a production environment, a number of precautions are taken for that sandbox:

• The job queue is automatically stopped
• Any base application integration settings are cleared
• Outbound HTTP calls from extensions are blocked by default and must be approved for each extension
• Any General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) action must be handled separately and repeated for the sandbox. There is no synchronization with the production environment after the sandbox has been created

To enable outbound HTTP calls, go to the Extension Management page in Business Central, and choose Configure. Then, on the Extension Settings page, make sure that Allow HttpClient Requests is selected. This setting must be enabled for each extension.

Selecting a version for a new sandbox environment

• If you choose to create a sandbox that is not a copy of an existing environment, you must specify an application version for the new environment. 

• The version list will show the latest production version, which is the version used for new production environments.

• The version list may also have one or more preview versions. Preview versions are early release candidates of upcoming releases of Business Central that are made available specifically for sandbox environments. 

• This gives you access to review new functionality, validate extension compatibility, and other general testing of the upcoming release.

• When you create a sandbox environment on a preview version, the environment will automatically be updated to new preview versions when they become available. However, the environment will not be updated to the production version. 

• Once a sandbox environment is on a preview version, it must stay on a preview version until it is deleted. 

• The environment can also be deleted if an update between preview versions fails. We recommend that preview versions are used only for temporary testing of an upcoming release.

Role Explorer in Business Central Wave 2

You have heard about Role center how it works but let's dig a new feature in Business Central called Role Explorer and will see how it works.

Shift+F12 is a keyboard shortcut in MSDyn365BC that brings the different areas of Business Central closer to you. This overview feature, called Role Explorer, can also be accessed from the menu icon in the navigation bar as shown in the below image.

You can get an overview of all the business features that are available for your role, and for other roles if you go a step further.

In the following documentation, this feature overview is referred to as the role explorer.

Each element on the role explorer is an action that opens a page. Accordingly, you can also use the role explorer as a means to navigate in Business Central.

You can open the role explorer from the Role Center and all list pages and from the Tell Me  window.

1. On your Role Center or any list page, choose the Menu button button to the right of the navigation bar, or press Shift+F12.
2. In the Tell Me window, choose the exploring action at the bottom.
3. To get an overview of business feature that are available for all other roles, in addition to your own, choose the Explore all action on the page that presents the role explorer.
4. Only Role Center actions for profiles where the Show in Role Explorer check box is selected will appear on the extended version of the role explorer (shown with the Explore all action)

How to expand/collapse nodes on the role explorer?

The actions that open pages are organized under nodes named after the features or application areas. Each node can be collapsed or expanded individually and you can collapse/expand all nodes together.

• To expand/collapse a node, choose the node. This applies to top-level nodes and sub nodes.
• To expand/collapse all top-level nodes on the page, choose the Expand or Collapse action in the top-right corner.
• To expand/collapse a top-level node and all sub nodes under it, press the Ctrl+Shift keys while you choose the Expand or Collapse action in the top-right corner.

Identify the company by a badge (Business Central Wave 2)

Do you have multiple tabs or pop-out windows open that make it hard to identify one company you work with from another?
Set up the colorful company badge in MSDyn365BC to add more clarity to your workday.

Users can now use the Company Badge functionality to identify one company they work with from another. This is helpful when users have multiple tabs or pop-out windows open or when they are working with multiple companies on a daily basis.

To set it up, go to the Company Information page (for example, by typing "badge" in the Tell Me window) and choose your badge color and label.

An overview of CSP, Business Central Admin Center, Multiple production environments and its use

An overview of CSP, Business Central Admin Center, ability to create multiple production environments for each Azure Active Directory tenant in Business Central Wave 2.

Cloud Service Provider(is a company that offers some component of cloud computing, typically infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (SaaS) or platform as a service (PaaS) to other businesses or individuals.

CSP enables partners to access a portfolio of Microsoft cloud services to be sold.
Within this program, there are tools for managing and supporting these cloud
services.

One of these online services is Dynamics 365 Business Central.

In the SaaS proposition, it is only through the CSP partners or their resellers that a
potential customer could purchase licenses for Dynamics 365 Business Central and
convert the trial license into a pay-per-use license or start by directly paying the
monthly fee for the users.

In every CSP, a partner or reseller is technically represented by a unique tenant
record in the Azure Active Directory (AAD). AAD is a multi-tenant authentication
service that offers identity and access capabilities for applications running in
Microsoft Azure and Microsoft on-premises environments.

Within this specific AAD tenant record, a partner can define a different type or class
of users (often called supporting agents) that are mainly categorized into two
different groups (so-called agent groups): Admin and Helpdesk groups.

Like partners, customers also have their own AAD tenant unique record. When
subscribing to an Essential or Premium plan within a Dynamics 365 Business Central
tenant, every customer gives consent for a special trusted relationship between the
CSP partner and the customer AAD tenants.

In the customer, AAD tenants, user, role, and subscription entities are defined
and managed. Roles are assigned to users by the customers and these roles reflect
their capabilities in the products that they subscribe to. Subscribing to an online
product such as Dynamics 365 Business Central in the customer AAD tenant requires
the further important step of the CSP partner assigning the specific online product
license to the users.

These tasks are performed through the Business Central Admin portal.
This portal can be accessed directly by the customer or the CSP partner. The CSP partner may
also have access via the Partner Center portal:

1. With the Partner Center portal, there are several ways to browse to the Dynamics 365 Business Central Admin Center portal. One of these is from the Service Management tab. The Service Management tab contains links to various admin portals related to a specific customer AAD tenant, such as Exchange or Office 365. It also displays the service health status for products that the portals or administrator consoles refer to, such as Exchange Online, Identity Service, and Dynamics 365 Business Central.

2. By clicking on the Dynamics 365 Business Central link, the partner will be redirected straight to the Dynamics 365 Business Central Admin Center portal. Back in the Partner Center portal, the CSP partner is also able to check the customer's order history and see which subscriptions they belong
to. It is also possible to select the Dynamics 365 Business Central billing frequency – such as monthly or once per year – and subscribes to different online services on behalf of that customer.

3. The subscriptions are divided per offering type (level). As an example, within Dynamics 365 Business Central, it is possible to choose the Essential or the Premium plan.

4. In the Users and licenses section, the CSP partner can add users manually or upload many of them from a file. For every user, a different service license can be assigned.

5. Once a license has been assigned, the user can start working with Dynamics 365 Business Central and will have the app listed on their home page at home.dynamics.com. Clicking on the Dynamics 365 Business Central icon redirects the user to their first login, and they can start working immediately in the production tenant. You may notice that the URL definition benefits from an easy to identify fixed client endpoint and customer tenant, and its Dynamics 365 Business Central Admin portal should look like this:

Customer tenant: https://businesscentral.dynamics. com/<GUID>

Customer tenant admin portal: https://businesscentral.dynamics.com/<GUID>/admin

GUID identifies the same customer environment that you came from in the Partner Center portal.

As most of them know until the release of Business Central Wave 2 we had no option of selecting multiple production environments in Azure. Only we'd option of selection multiple sandbox(stage environments).
Since the Fall 2019 update(Business Central Wave2 a new feature allowed us to select even multiple production environments, so if you have multiple production environments, when you click on the Dynamics 365 Business Central icon on the home page (home.dynamics.com), you will be
prompted to select which environment name to choose. The environment endpoint should look like https:/ /businesscentral.dynamics.com/<EnvironmentName>.

So, who can access the Dynamics 365 Business Central Admin Center portal? The answer is as follows:
CSP Partner Admin and Helpdesk agents who have an active entitled
relationship with the customer tenant The customer's AAD Global Administrator

Dynamics 365 Business Central licensed users won't be able to access the administration portal. There is no relationship between the product license and Dynamics 365 Business Central Admin Center portal access.

The customer's AAD tenant Global Administrator can sign in, and partner AAD tenant Administrators and Helpdesk users can access as a Delegated Admin. Delegated Admins can perform elevated tasks as Partner, but they do not have the same rights that the customer's Global Administrator has. In short, Delegated Admins are not Global Administrators of the tenant.

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This blog lists out most useful contents from this blog.

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