How to: Implement Location in C/AL NAV 2016

How to: Implement Location in C/AL NAV 2016

This example illustrates how you can retrieve location information. The example implements a GetLocation action on the Customer Card (page 21) that returns the GPS coordinates of the current customers address. It does not save this information to the database. Scenarios in which this functionality could be useful would be displaying a map that shows where your customer is located based on the GPS coordinates. Or, functionality to plan the next round of customer visits based on the addresses of your customers.

Important

The location information is only available on devices that run the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Universal App and have GPS capabilities. This means that location information is not available from the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Windows client or from a browser.

To implement location in C/AL

1. In the development environment, on the Tools menu, choose Object Designer to open the Object Designer window.
2. In Object Designer, choose Pages, select the Customer Card (page 21) and then choose the Design button.
3. From the Page Designer window, on the View menu, choose C/AL Globals.
4. Create the following variable:

Variable name	DataType	SubType
Location	DotNet	Microsoft.Dynamics.Nav.Client.Capabilities.LocationProvider Important Choose the Microsoft.Dynamics.Nav.ClientExtensions dll on the Server tab, and then choose Microsoft.Dynamics.Nav.Client.Capabilities.LocationProvider Make sure to set the properties RunOnClient and WithEvents to Yes.
LocationAvailable	Boolean

5. On the View menu, select C/AL Code and in the C/AL Editor locate the OnOpenPage trigger.
6. Instantiate the Location variable by adding the following code to the OnOpenPage trigger.

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IF Location.IsAvailable THEN BEGIN   Location := Location.Create;   LocationAvailable := TRUE; END;

             

           See the bellow screenshot of OnOpenPage Trigger

7. Next, create the page action. Choose the View menu, and then select Page Actions. 

8. Locate the ActionGroup named Customer and create a new action; GetLocation with the following properties.

Property	Value
Name	GetLocation
Visible	LocationAvailable
Promoted	Yes
PromotedCategory	Process
PromotedIsBig	Yes

           See the bellow screenshot of GetLocation action Trigger

9. Now, in the C/AL Editor, on the GetLocation - OnAction trigger, insert the following line of code.

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Location.RequestLocationAsync;

        See the bellow screenshot of GetLocation - OnAction Trigger

10. While still in the C/AL Editor, on the LocationChanged trigger add the following code to handle the GPS coordinates. LocationChanged is called when the device has obtained a status.

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Location::LocationChanged(Location : DotNet "Microsoft.Dynamics.Nav.Client.Capabilities.Location") IF(Location.Status = 0) THEN   MESSAGE('Your position: %1 %2',   Location.Coordinate.Latitude,Location.Coordinate.Longitude)                                ELSE   MESSAGE('Position not available');

Important

Location.Status can be 0 = Available, 1 = NoData (no data could be obtained), 2 = TimedOut (location information not obtained in due time), or 3 = NotAvailable (for example user denied app access to location).

           See the bellow screenshot of Location::LocationChanged Trigger

11. Close the C/AL Editor, and then save and compile the page.
12. You can now test the modified Customer Card page in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Universal App from either a tablet or a phone with GPS capabilities.

LocationOptions Overview

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016

When implementing location from C/AL, there are some options that you can optionally pass toLocationProvider.RequestLocationAsync(options). 

The options can be accessed by usingMicrosoft.Dynamics.Nav.Client.Capabilities.LocationOptions found in the Microsoft.Dynamics.Nav.ClientExtensionsdll.

For most scenarios it is not necessary to specify options.

Location Options List

bool EnableHighAccuracy A value to provide a hint to the device that this request must have the best possible location accuracy.

int Timeout The maximum length of time (milliseconds) that is allowed to pass to a location request.

int MaximumAge The maximum length of time (milliseconds) of a cached location.

References:   MSDN