The 2024 Wave 1 release for Business Central includes the "Page Scripting" feature in the preview version. Some of you may have missed this feature due to the many new features in the new release, so here is a brief introduction to what "Page Scripting" is. In the first post in this blog series, we will take a general look at the feature and then go into more detail in the following posts.
The "Page Scripting" feature makes it possible to track and repeat navigation paths and actions in Business Central from Business Central Release 2024 Wave 1. This is a type of recording function that logs all clicks and actions in a script and can be repeated after an export in another environment/client with the same data (if required, also step by step).
Two permission sets are required to record with the feature and play the created script. These permission sets must be assigned to users (unless they have SUPER authorization):
PAGESCRIPTING - PLAY: This permission set enables the playback of a recorded page script.
PAGESCRIPTING - REC: This permission set enables the recording of a page script.
What is page scripting for?
You can use page scripting for user acceptance testing. Page scripting has great potential and the more you think about it, the more use cases come to mind (we will go into this in the other posts in this blog series).
How do I activate page scripting?
To activate page scripting, click on the gear icon at the top right of the screen. Then select the Page Scripting (preview version) option from the menu. Please note that this is only possible in BC24 environments.
If you do not have the permissions mentioned above, this will be displayed in the side window. If the window looks like this, you can simply try out the tool:
Click on the Start New button. The recording starts and records your steps. In addition to recording the steps, you also have numerous options for processing values in fields and lists. For example, if you right-click in a field, the available options for this field are displayed in the Page Scripting context menu.
Copy: You can copy the selected value to the clipboard of the recording and reuse it at a later time.
Paste: You can insert session information such as the user ID.
Validate: You can check a current value or check the number of lines in lists.
Add conditional steps when… : You can add additional steps if, for example, a certain value is stored in a field or a certain number of lines has been reached.
As an example, we have made a recording of the setup wizard in our "Beyond Reports" app (a template-based report designer).
You can use the buttons in the recording menu to save the page script and run it again in another client or an environment with similar data if required.
Further information on page scripting will be covered in future blog posts.