Client Management in Business Central using AL Code

Introduction:

Have you ever got into a requirement, where you are needed to actually execute the logic separately for different client types?

Well, this blog is just going to discuss the ClientType DataType and different ways of getting ClientTypes and how to use it in your code.

Pre-requisites:

• Microsoft Dynamics Business Central Online
• AL Language Extension
• VS Code

References:

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/methods-auto/session/session-currentclienttype-method
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/methods-auto/session/session-defaultclienttype-method
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/methods-auto/clienttype/clienttype-option

Demonstration:

ClientType:

In order to understand how to use ClientTypes, we need to understand what ClientTypes represents.

ClientType is an Option based DataType introduced in Business Central. That is in order to get the value or use the value we need to simply use just like ClientType::<Option Value>

ClientType has the following OptionMembers:

Member	Description
Background	A background client.
ChildSession	A child session client.
Desktop	A desktop client.
Management	A management client.
NAS	A NAS client.
OData	A NAS client.
Phone	Microsoft Dynamics Business Central Phone client.
SOAP	A SOAP client.
Tablet	Microsoft Dynamics Business Central Tablet client.
Web	Microsoft Dynamics Business Central Web client.
Windows	Microsoft Dynamics Business Central Windows client.
Current	Microsoft Dynamics Business Central Windows client.
Default	The default client.
ODataV4	A ODataV4 client.
Api	An API client.

Applying ClientType:

In this code, I will explain how to select a specific Client Type in AL Code.

There are two ways of selecting the Client Type.
1. Using Client Type Management Codeunit: The syntax will be
    CU_ClientManagement.GetCurrentClientType

2. Using CurrentClientType function: Just like using 'CurrentCompany' standard function, you can use the CurrentClientType function

 trigger OnOpenPage();

    var

    CU_ClientManagement: Codeunit "Client Type Management";

    ClientType_1 : ClientType;

    begin

        Clear(CU_ClientManagement);

        If CU_ClientManagement.GetCurrentClientType() = ClientType_1::Api then begin 

            Message('API Client Type');

        end;

        If CurrentClientType = ClientType_1::Background then begin 

            Message('Background Client Type');

        end;

    end;

}

Conclusion:

In this blog, we covered what is ClientType DataType and how to use it to find what is the ClientType of the logged-in session.

I have personally discovered this datatype and found out the different ClientTypes that were added recently.

I hope this helps you get a clear understanding, implications, and how to apply it. :)