OBJECT ANALYZER
Snapshot creation tutorial
In this guide you will be introduced to creating a snapshot as an essential feature in Object Analyzer.
The advantages of uploading your objects is to centrally store your client’s NAV or Business Central objects in Object Analyzer. All users within your organization can use the objects for support, installation compares, cumulative update upgrades, automerges, and furthermore to activate Source Control and the Change Log Cloud.
Table of Contents
Learn how to create snapshots in Object Analyzer
This walkthrough will show you how Object Analyzer’s “create snapshot” function works. A snapshot means a copy of your objects stored in Object Analyzer centrally with or without C/AL code, and shared with your users.
Imagine having to prepare a report regarding the time estimation of a C/AL upgrade project. Snapshots become useful as you can easily make a compare of the installation, and gather analysis data of the installation before a meeting with your client or manager. A snapshot also becomes handy, if you want to compare a LIVE installation with a development installation.
Maybe you want to upgrade a vertical solution, where the client has customizations. You can then store the two different versions as snapshots and add the client’s installation with customizations as a third, and afterwards perform a 3-way-merge.
Where to create a snapshot
Assuming that you already logged on with your confirmed account and have your NAV objects ready, let’s start.
1) On the dashboard go to the “SNAPSHOTS” tab on the main menu
2) Press the green “Create snapshot” button
Filling in the snapshot information
You will have to specify the following about the standard BC/NAV version for your custom objects:
- The product version your objects are from
- The country version of the objects
Optional "Client" field
If a client has been created before, you can also select one of these and automatically have the information filled in.
Learn more about creating clients here
Snapshot Details
In this section at the fields marked with * you will have to add the following information:
- Name: A custom name of the snapshot, so you can recognize it for later
- Availability type: This determines, who has access to the snapshot in your organization. The default will be set to "all"
- Object date: The default value will be set to today, but you can choose to change the date. When importing the objects, the “Object date” will automatically be set to the date for the last changed object.
Optional fields:
Version: You can specify the version of your snapshot for better customization (examples: “Demo”, “dev”, “live”, v2)
Description: Add additional information that may be important or relevant for the snapshot (example: The source file type, or the processing of data)
Important options
Snapshot Source Control Management
If you want to have the objects updated automatically, mark the “Auto Update Snapshot” field, which also means you can activate the Source Control feature.
Change Log Cloud
You can also upload a snapshot with no objects. Mark the “Create without objects” option, if you only want to use the snapshot for the Change Log Cloud.
Adding the snapshot data
Object information
Upload your objects
You will now have two options for uploading your objects
Option 1)
By copying objects directly from the Microsoft Dynamics Development Environment
Option 2)
By uploading the object code in a .txt file
Alternative: Create snapshots without objects
The Change Log Cloud feature can be used without uploading any objects. Simply mark the “Create without objects” to proceed and create the snapshot without uploading any objects.
Option 1)
The fastest way
- Open your Microsoft Dynamics Development Environment
- Be sure to have set the language to English
- Select the “all” tab
- Mark all objects with CTRL + A and copy the objects
- Paste the objects into Object Analyzer at the grey line
You should now be able to see the objects being processed with a green bar on screen
When to use: Pasting objects directly to Object Analyzer is the fastest way to get a quick overview of:
- The difference between the standard and custom objects
- Installed and available hotfixes
- The current cumulative update level
This, however, does not support any features related to C/AL code handling or cumulative update upgrade or code compare.
Option 2)
For better handling of C/AL code
- Open your Microsoft Dynamics Development Environment
- Select all objects you want to export
- Export the objects in a file in .txt format and save it
- Upload the saved .txt file into Object Analyzer by dropping it to the grey box
When to use: The real benefit of using this method is, when you want to specifically handle the C/AL code for:
- Comparisons between custom objects and standard objects
- Code compares between standard or hotfix objects
- Perform a cumulative update to a higher level
Example of objects in the Microsoft Dynamics Development environment
Be sure to choose "All" before marking your objects
Example of a .txt file with C/AL objects from an installation
Managing the object settings
The most important option in the “object settings” is to mark the “include C/AL code” to get the most out of Object Analyzer’s features. The rest will be set by default. However, be sure to check the object settings, so they match the Development Environment you export from.
Important info about the Object Settings
Date and Time formats:
Did you get an unrealistic amount of incomplete objects? Often, the date format will be the issue. The default is set to the “dd-mm-yy” and is used to find expected date formats in your custom objects. If this format is not aligning with the format your actual objects use, it cannot parse the date format into our system and is seen as invalid. The time format option is either 12h or 24h.
We recommend you check these formats before pasting or uploading your custom objects. The object time and date settings CANNOT be edited after the snapshot has been created.
Please ensure that the date and time format is correct, when choosing the object settings. It also means any symbol such as . – : and / have to be correct. They cannot be exchanged with each other and have to be the exact ones as shown in your Development Environment.
Additional object settings
Include system objects:
This option will include Microsoft system objects if selected. Default is to not include them.
Include C/AL code:
Mark this checkbox to get access to features related to C/AL code. Object Analyzer offers a range of features such as comparing your custom object against standard objects on code level, but also for compared your custom objects against hotfixes. Furthermore, this also enables you to perform the effective cumulative update merges, where you can go from your current cumulative update level to the newest available and supported cumulative update.
The final step
Processing your objects
Lastly, press “create” to start processing your snapshot. The upload may take several minutes. In the meantime you will see a red process bar at the top of the interface.
After a while you will be sent to the “Snapshot Details” page, which indicates that the objects are almost fully processed. When the file upload progress is at 100%, you will be notified about a successful upload.
For more info about managing snapshots, please visit this tutorial.
Explore more about Object Analyzer during webinars
If you’re curious about certain functions and features, we personally welcome to join one of our informative webinars. Ask questions during the webinar, and our expert will be happy to give you an answer. The webinar is a unique chance to see, what Object Analyzer is capable off.
Alternatively, watch a pre-recorded webinar, if no webinars are currently scheduled.
