Data types

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Learn pages

• AL development environment reference overview: Overview of the objects in the AL Language development environment.
• Array Data Type and Methods in AL: Use arrays in AL for Business Central, including declaration syntax, dimensions, index ranges, size limits, supported element types, and array methods.
• BigInteger data type: Stores very large whole numbers that range from -9,223,372,036,854,775,807 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807.
• BigText data type: Handles large text documents.
• Blob data type: Is a complex data type.
• Boolean data type: Indicates true or false.
• Byte data type: Stores a single, 8-bit character as a value in the range 0 to 255.
• Char data type: Stores a single, 16-bit character as a value in the range 0 to 65535.
• Code data type: Denotes a special type of string that is converted to uppercase and removes any trailing or leading spaces.
• Data types and methods in AL
• Date data type: Denotes a date ranging from January 1, 1753 to December 31, 9999.
• DateTime data type: Denotes a date and time ranging from January 1, 1753, 00:00:00.000 to December 31, 9999, 23:59:59.999.
• Decimal data type: Denotes decimal numbers ranging from -999,999,999,999,999.99 to +999,999,999,999,999.99.
• Dictionary data type: Represents an unordered collection of keys and values.
• Duration data type: Represents the difference between two DateTimes.
• Extensible Enums: Overview of the enumeration type and the concept of extending them.
• Guid data type: Represents a 16 byte binary data type.
• Integer data type: Stores whole numbers with values that range from -2,147,483,647 to 2,147,483,647.
• Joker Data Type: The Joker data type is an internal type, a wildcard, not exposed to AL developers.
• JsonArray data type: Is a container for any well-formed JSON array.
• JsonObject data type: Is a container for any well-formed JSON object.
• JsonToken data type: Is a container for any well-formed JSON data.
• JsonValue data type: Is a container for any well-formed fundamental JSON value.
• List data type: Represents a strongly typed list of ordered objects that can be accessed by index.
• Media data type: Encapsulates media files, such as image .jpg and .png files, in application database tables.
• MediaSet data type: Encapsulates media, such as images, in application database tables.
• Option data type: Denotes an option value.
• Record data type: Is a complex data type.
• System data type: Is a complex data type.
• Text data type: Denotes a text string.
• TextBuilder data type: Represents a lighweight wrapper for the .Net implementation of StringBuilder.
• TextConst data type: Denotes a multi-language string constant.
• Time data type: Denotes a time ranging from 00:00:00.000 to 23:59:59.999.
• XmlAttribute data type: Represents an XML attribute.
• XmlAttributeCollection data type: Represents a collection of XML attributes.
• XmlCData data type: Represents a CData section.
• XmlComment data type: Represents an XML comment.
• XmlDeclaration data type: Represents an XML declaration.
• XmlDocument data type: Represents an XML document.
• XmlDocumentType data type: Represents an XML document type.
• XmlElement data type: Represents an XML element.
• XmlNamespaceManager data type: Represents a namespace manager that can be used to resolve, add and remove namespaces to a collection.
• XmlNameTable data type: Represents a table of atomized string objects.
• XmlNode data type: Represents a XML node which can either be for instance an XML attribute, an XML element or a XML document.
• XmlNodeList data type: Represents a collection of XML nodes.
• XmlText data type: Represents the text content of an element or attribute.

Videos and posts

Linked by a Haiku matcher with a grounding quote from the item’s summary (link/topics.ts); machine-generated.

• Leveraging RecordRef and FieldRef for Dynamic Coding (community post): “use weakly typed RecordRef and FieldRef objects in Business Central AL”
• Overcoming Integer Limits in Business Central with BigInteger (community post): “BigInteger is a signed 64-bit type supporting 9.2 quintillion values”
• Record.IsDirty in Business Central 29: a worked example (community post): “new API in Business Central 29 that lets AL code check”

Source: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0). Descriptions are Learn’s own.