Transcript Dia 1

MICROSOFT .NET INTEROPERABILITY
FOR BEGINNERS
Vjekoslav Babic
(Fortempo)
ABOUT ME
Vjekoslav Babić
consultant, trainer, blogger, author
Blog:
E-mail:
vjeko.com
[email protected]
Author of many How Do I… videos for MSDN and PartnerSource for NAV 2013
and NAV 2013 R2
Co-author of “Implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009” book
HOW USERS SEE PROGRAMMERS
HOW PROGRAMMERS SEE USERS
NAV PROGRAMMER PROGRAMMING IN C/AL
NAV PROGRAMMER PROGRAMMING IN .NET
WHAT DO PROGRAMMERS REALLY DO?
A lot of the time?
SO, WHAT DO PROGRAMMERS DO A LOT OF THE TIME?
UNFORTUNATELY – IT IS OFTEN A WRONG WHEEL
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO TODAY…
Managing strings and text
Managing dates, times, and numbers
Accessing operating system, file system, and the environment
Managing data, arrays, collections, and streams
C/AL.NET
THE DotNet DATA TYPE
Variables of type DotNet give access to .NET Framework
Each DotNet variable specifies:
• Assembly
• Type
DotNet gives access to:
• Methods
• Properties
• Constructors
• Enumerations
System.String
A powerful class to handle text information.
Maps fully and directly to Text data type in C/AL.
System.Text.StringBuilder
A very powerful class to handle large text data efficiently.
CONSTRUCTORS
Create an instance of a class.
There is no equivalent in C/AL to constructors.
CREATE function for instantiating automation objects is the closest
Typically used to:
• Initialize the default state of an object
• Execute default initialization logic
• Limit instantiation
SYNTAX OF A CONSTRUCTOR
The name of the constructor always matches the class name.
This probably looks confusing in C/AL:
StringBuilder := StringBuilder.StringBuilder;
(why in the Earth do we need all those StringBuilders?)
Replace the StringBuilder variable name with s, and it’s more manageable:
s := s.StringBuilder;
The syntax of the constructor in C/AL is the following:
Variable := Variable.[Class Name]({argument1, …});
OVERLOADING
Capability that allows multiple members to use the same name as long as
the signature remains different.
C/AL understands overloading of:
• Methods
• Constructors
System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch
A simple and useful class to handle time measurements.
NAMESPACE
A higher-level scope used to organize code
Namespace has a many-to-many relationship to assemblies:
• One assembly can contain multiple namespaces
• The same namespace can span multiple assemblies
System.Text.RegularExpressions
A namespace containing classes for managing regular expressions.
In case you didn’t know:
• Regular Expressions (RegEx) are a language used for searching text data
through pattern matching
• Regular Expressions are SQL of textual data
System.DateTime
Manages date and time information.
Maps fully and directly to DateTime data type in C/AL.
Many useful properties and methods.
System.Globalization
Namespace that defines a lot of useful type for managing date and time
formats, regional settings, cultures, etc.
Useful classes:
• Calendar
• CultureInfo
• DateTimeFormatInfo
• NumberFormatInfo
System.Globalization.CultureInfo
Provides access to culture information. Cultures are the heart of the .NET
localization/globalization functionality.
System.Globalization.DateTimeFormatInfo
Provides access to date and time formatting information.
System.Globalization.NumberFormatInfo
Provides access to number formatting information.
System.Math
Provides methods for trigonometric, logarithmic, and other common
mathematical functions.
System.Numerics.BigInteger
Represents an arbitrarily large integer value, without any theoretical upper
or lower bounds.
System.Convert
Converts a base type to another base type.
System.IO
Namespace that provides many useful input and output classes.
System.IO.File
Provides static methods for the creation, copying, deletion, moving, and
opening of files.
STATIC OBJECTS AND METHODS
Static classes cannot be instantiated
Static methods can be called on classes
Static classes and members are shared for the whole application domain
Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server runs as a single application domain
System.IO.Directory
Exposes static methods for creating, moving, and enumerating through
directories and subdirectories.
System.IO.Path
Performs operations on String instances that contain file or directory path
information.
System.IO.FileSystemWatcher
Listens to the file system change notifications and raises events when a
directory, or file in a directory, changes.
EVENTS
Enable a class to notify other classes when something of interest happens.
Equivalent to C/AL triggers.
Events are not automatically exposed.
You must first set the WithEvents property.
Events can run be:
• Server-Side: default behavior, if RunOnClient is No
• Client-Side: if RunOnClient is Yes
ENUMERATIONS
Types that consist of set of named constants.
Similar, but not nearly equal to C/AL options.
C/AL
.NET
Always of Integer type
Of any integer numeric type, except
char
Always 0-based
0-based by default, but can be any
value
Each consecutive element is
increased by 1
Every element can have an explicit
numeric value, even negative
SUPPORT FOR ENUMERATIONS IN C/SIDE
NAV 2009 R2
NAV 2013
Does not recognize them
Recognizes them
You must use integers
You can use named values
You cannot use bitwise operators (AND, OR, NOT, XOR).
You can use + in place of OR, but that’s about it.
System.Diagnostics.EventLog
Provides interaction with Windows event logs.
MANAGING TYPE INFORMATION AT RUNTIME
System.Type
GETDOTNETTYPE
CANLOADTYPE
ARRAYS AND COLLECTIONS
Arrays:
• Contain a fixed number of values of the same data type
• Roughly correspond to C/AL arrays (variables with Dimensions property)
Collections:
• Contain an arbitrary, flexible number of values of the same data type
• No equivalent in C/AL
Both arrays and collections are extensively used in .NET
System.Array
Provides methods for creating, manipulating, searching, and sorting arrays.
Serves as the base class for all arrays in the common language runtime.
ENUMERATORS
Enable iterating through arrays and collections.
C# uses the foreach keyword to manage the iteration.
Two interfaces are in charge of the enumerator-based iteration:
• IEnumerable<T>
• IEnumerator<T>
IEnumerable<T>
• Exposes the enumerator
IEnumerator<T>
• Allows iteration through enumerable object
• Current
• MoveNext
System.Object
The ultimate base class of all classes in the .NET Framework.
The root of the type hierarchy.
System.Collections.HashTable
Represents a list of key/value pairs that are stored by using a hash table.
System.Collections.Generic.List<T>
Represents a strongly typed list of objects that can be accessed by index.
Provides methods to search, sort, and manipulate lists.
GENERICS
Allow a single design-time declaration that compiles to multiple run-time types.
List<T> can compile to List<int>, List<string>, or List<MyDesiredClass>
Supported on:
• Classes and interfaces
• Methods
• Properties
• Structures
• Fields
In C/AL, all generics are of type System.Object
MAPPING .NET TYPES TO C/AL
Some types map fully:
• String
• DateTime
• InStream and OutStream
Many data types map uni-directionally:
• Most simple data types (Boolean, Decimal, Integer, etc.)
• Some complex data types (Duration)
You cannot use uni-directionally mapped .NET data types in C/AL directly.
System.IO.Stream
A class that provides a generic view of a sequence of bytes.
Typical descendants:
• System.IO.MemoryStream
• System.IO.FileStream
Fully mutually interchangeable with both InStream and OutStream C/AL
types.
Limitation:
• CREATEOUTSTREAM and CREATEINSTREAM cannot be called on
System.IO.Stream