What's New: Opening Visual Studio Code from the Web Client (2025 release wave 1)
Opening Visual Studio Code from the Business Central web client gets three additions in 2025 release wave 1: generating launch configurations, formatting and downloading extension dependencies, and symbol search in VS Code, including use with Copilot. All are demoed.
- Introduction and session overview
- Feature recap - opening Visual Studio Code from the web client
- Extension source code and prior releases
- Three new capabilities introduced
- Detailed explanation of new features
- Generating launch configurations demo
- Extension dependencies and downloading symbols demo
- Symbol search functionality demonstration
- Symbol search with Copilot integration
- Session conclusion
Overview
The session recaps the existing ability to open Visual Studio Code from the web client, and the attach option added to Help and Support in 2023 release wave 2 for debugging sandboxes. It then presents three new capabilities that came from feedback.
Demos cover generating launch configurations from Help and Support and Extension Management, selecting extensions and copying or downloading them as dependencies, and searching symbols with Control+T. The last demo shows how symbol search gives Copilot context, for example about the customer table.
Key points
- Launch configurations matching the environment can be generated from Help and Support and from Extension Management. The VS Code project’s configuration is created or updated without manual parameter editing.
- Publish and attach debugger are only available for sandbox environments. Download symbols and snapshot debug work for both sandbox and production.
- In Extension Management you can select extensions and format them as dependencies. Show and Copy lets you share them across projects.
- Selected dependencies can be downloaded to a VS Code project with one click, so symbols are available right away.
- Control+T (Go to Symbol) in VS Code lists tables, pages and other objects from apps and Microsoft dependencies. It works only where source code is available.
- A special keyword in Copilot chat searches symbols and adds them to context. Copilot can then answer questions about table structures and fields, such as the customer table.
Features
Every feature below: status not stated, demoed.
| Feature | At |
|---|---|
| Generate launch configurations | 3:00 |
| Extension dependencies formatting | 4:20 |
| Download dependencies to VS Code | 3:20 |
| Symbol search in VS Code | 8:02 |
| Copilot integration with symbol search | 9:13 |
AL objects mentioned
As heard in the captions. A name that matches one object page by exact type and name links to it; the others stay as named.
Not found in BC28-30: table “customer table”, page “number series”.
Quotes
- 0:46 “some releases ago we introduced the powerful ability uh to invoke opening Vis Studio code from within the web client this removed manual work”
- 1:18 “we added an attach option in the help and support page back in 23 release Wave 2 this supports debugging in sandboxes as well”
- 2:39 “we actually have three new capabilities to the open MBS code functionality and this come as a result from the feedback that we have”
- 3:40 “when you click on that then what it does is that on your vs code project it either creates or updates your launch configurations”
- 8:53 “this works for symbols which are coming from your apps and Microsoft as well as long as the source code is available to debug”
- 9:38 “copilot doesn’t really know what is the customer table because it doesn’t have it in context so symbols allows us to give this required”
Presenters (as heard): Peter Boring, Blanca Roblo, Jonas.