Installing AL Language or any other Extension in Visual Studio Code

Hi D365 Business Central Lovers,

In this article, I will explain how to find, install, and manage VS Code extensions.

The features that Visual Studio Code includes out-of-the-box are just the start. VS Code extensions let you add languages, debuggers, and tools to your installation to support your development workflow. VS Code’s rich extensibility model lets extension authors plug directly into the VS Code UI and contribute functionality through the same APIs used by VS Code.

You can browse the Extension Marketplace from Visual Studio Code or from Marketplace website: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/.

Shortcut Command to Open Extensions: Ctrl+Shift+X

Figure 1: Extensions Icon in Visual Studio Code

Click on Extensions tab, This will show you a list of the most popular VS Code extensions on the VS Code Marketplace.

Figure 2: Visual Studio Code Extensions

Each extension in the list includes a brief description, the publisher, the download count, and a five-star rating. You can click on the extension item to display the extension’s details page where you can learn more.

Install AL Language Extension or any other extension:

While you develop applications for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with Visual Studio Code, you must install the application language extension. The easiest way is to open the Visual Studio Code, go to the extension tab, and type AL in the search box. This will perform a search in a Visual Studio Code marketplace, or you can directly go to this link Install AL Language from VS Marketplace.

To install an extension, click the Install button. Once the installation is complete, the Install button will change to the Manage gear button. So let’s search and Install the AL Language Extension:

Figure 3: Type AL Language and Install the Extension

Let’s understand a little bit more about, Reference: Link

Extension details

As you can see in the above image, on the extension details page, you can read the extension’s README as well as review the extension’s:

1. Contributions – The extension’s additions to VS Code such as settings, commands, and keyboard shortcuts, language grammars, debuggers, etc.

2. Changelog – The extension repository CHANGELOG if available.

3. Dependencies – Lists if the extension depends on any other extensions.

Extensions view commands

You can run various Extensions view commands by clicking on the Extensions view’s ... More Actions button.

There are commands to show:

1. The list of currently installed extensions

2. The list of outdated extensions that can be updated

3. The list of currently enabled/disabled extensions

4. The list of recommended extensions based on your workspace

5. The list of globally popular extensions

Figure 4: Extension View Commands

Manage extensions

VS Code makes it easy to manage your extensions. You can install, disable, update, and uninstall extensions through the Extensions view, the Command Palette (commands have the Extensions: prefix) or command-line switches.

There is a number of ways to manage the Extensions in Visual Studio Code:

1. You can see list of installed extensions

2. You can install a new extension by searching the required extension

3. You can uninstall an extension 

4. You can disable an extension

5. You can enable an extension

6. You can set extensions for auto-update or you can update manually

I hope this article helps you when you are going to install an extension in Visual Studio Code, In the next articles, I am going to tell you what is the Logical Database Structure and Dynamics 365 Business Central Objects.

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