---
id: post/aardvarklabs-blog/2875
type: post
title: Managing Optional Extensions in Business Central AL Code
summary: This post explains how to create a single Business Central extension that optionally interacts with a third-party extension without creating a hard dependency. The technique uses NavApp.GetModuleInfo to detect if an optional extension is installed, then uses RecordRef and FieldRef to conditionally set extension-specific fields.
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tags:
  - optional extensions
  - dependencies
  - al code
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  - modular development
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    url: https://aardvarklabs.blog/2025/12/19/managing-optional-extensions-in-business-central-al-code/
    title: Managing Optional Extensions in Business Central AL Code
    date: "2025-12-19"
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post_id: "2875"
source_id: aardvarklabs-blog
source_name: Aardvark Labs
url: https://aardvarklabs.blog/2025/12/19/managing-optional-extensions-in-business-central-al-code/
published_at: "2025-12-19T13:00:00.000Z"
author: Marcel Chabot
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words: 478
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  - table TMG_EntityCashTransfer
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# Managing Optional Extensions in Business Central AL Code

[Read the post](https://aardvarklabs.blog/2025/12/19/managing-optional-extensions-in-business-central-al-code/) · Aardvark Labs (Marcel Chabot) · 2025-12-19 · 478 words · tier community · reviewed (checked by Opus)

> This post explains how to create a single Business Central extension that optionally interacts with a third-party extension without creating a hard dependency. The technique uses NavApp.GetModuleInfo to detect if an optional extension is installed, then uses RecordRef and FieldRef to conditionally set extension-specific fields.

## Key points

- Call NavApp.GetModuleInfo with the optional extension's app ID to find out at runtime whether it is installed
- Split the journal creation into a core insert and a separate step for the fields from the optional extension
- Use RecordRef and FieldRef with field numbers taken from page inspection to set those fields without a dependency
- Check that each FieldRef is active before giving it a value, then modify the record through the RecordRef
- With no dependency declared in app.json, one app runs on systems with or without the third-party extension

## AL objects mentioned

As named in the post. A name that matches one object page by exact type and name links to it; the others stay as named.

- [table 81 "Gen. Journal Line"](../../objects/table/81.md)
- table "TMG_EntityCashTransfer"

Not found in BC28-30: table "TMG_EntityCashTransfer".

## Context

- Features: optional extension detection, runtime field mapping, conditional field updates, extension GUID checking, module info retrieval

Source: Aardvark Labs, community blog. Summary, key points and quotes are derived (CONTENT-NOTICE.md); read the original for the full text.