Open from BC window

The Open from BC window opens a solution straight from a running Business Central service: an on-premises server, an Online sandbox environment or a Cosmo Alpaca container. Prism connects to the service, downloads the symbol files of every app published there into a folder, and opens that folder as a workspace, as AL: Download symbols in Visual Studio Code would download them.

Opening it

Select Open from BC… on the Home page.
Select File › Open › Service… in the Control Panel.
Open a recent workspace that Prism downloaded from Business Central, and let Prism download its symbol files again: when Prism has no stored sign-in for it, the window opens as Re-download symbol files. See Re-download symbol files.

The window has two steps: a connection string, then the details of the service and the download folder. Press Enter for Continue or Connect, and Esc to cancel.

The second step, for an on-premises service.

#	Name	Description
1	Target	“Business Central Instance”: On-premises, Online or Cosmo Alpaca. The fields below follow it.
2	Service address	The address of the service, built from the fields as you type. Read-only.
3	Hostname	See On-premises.
4	Use HTTPS	See On-premises.
5	Instance	See On-premises.
6	Authorization type	See On-premises.
7	Username	See On-premises.
8	Download to	“Top folder for BC service downloads”. See Download folder.
9	…	Picks the download folder.
10	Folder name	“Subfolder for symbol files for this service”. See Download folder.
11	Tenant & ports	The tenant and the ports of an on-premises service. Collapsed by default. See Tenant & ports.
12	Connect	Checks the download folder, connects and downloads. It stays disabled until the required fields and the folder are filled in.
13	Cancel	“Closes this window without any action.”

Open a solution from Business Central

Select Open from BC… on the Home page.
Paste the address of the service, such as the Business Central address in your browser, and select Continue. Prism fills in what it can read from it.
Check Target and the fields for it; for an on-premises service with other than the default ports, expand Tenant & ports.
Check Download to and Folder name.
Select Connect. Confirm any question about the folder, and sign in if asked. Prism shows Connecting..., then Downloading symbol files.
The workspace opens in the Loading window and then in its own Workspace window. It is added to the recent workspaces on the Home page.

Online, Prism downloads only from sandbox environments. When you cannot connect to the environment, for example a customer's sandbox that needs their admin's approval, use Full Solution Download instead. When something fails, see Open from BC.

Connection string

The first step asks you to “Specify URL of a running BC service or press continue to input service information.” Leave the box empty and select Continue to fill in every field yourself; Prism then starts with an on-premises service and User/Password.

The first step: the connection string.

#	Name	Description
1	Enter connection string	The address of the service. Its tooltip shows the form it takes.
2	Continue	Reads the connection string and goes to the second step.
3	Cancel	Closes the window.

A connection string takes this form; only the host name is required:

[http[s]://][user@]hostname[:port][[/instance][/?tenant=tenant]|[/tenant]/environment]

Connection string	Opens
`bcserver/BC`	On-premises, host `bcserver`, instance `BC`, over HTTP with Windows sign-in. Without `http://` or `https://`, Prism uses HTTP.
`https://jane@bcserver:8443/BC?tenant=default`	On-premises over HTTPS on port 8443, tenant `default`, User/Password as `jane`.
`https://businesscentral.dynamics.com/Sandbox`	Online, environment `Sandbox`.
`https://businesscentral.dynamics.com/<tenant id>/Sandbox`	Online, the tenant whose ID (a GUID) is given, environment `Sandbox`.

When the host name contains alpaca and is not Business Central Online, Prism asks the host whether it is a Cosmo Alpaca service, showing Connecting... meanwhile; if it is, the target is Cosmo Alpaca.

On-premises

With Target set to On-premises, the window shows these fields (rows 3 to 7 of the window above):

Field	Required	Description
Hostname	Yes	“The on-prem server host to connect to”. Empty, it says “Enter a hostname”; a name that is not a valid host name is not accepted.
Use HTTPS	No	“Use https when connecting to the service”. Off by default. It also sets the default of the two Use SSL boxes under Tenant & ports.
Instance	Yes	“Instance on the server to connect to e.g. BC”. Empty, it says “Enter an instance name”.
Authorization type	No	“Type of credentials to use when connecting”: User/Password or Windows, which signs in as you.
Username	No	“User name for authorization”. Shown for User/Password. Prism asks for the password when it connects, in a Windows credentials prompt that can save it in the Windows Credential Manager.

Tenant & ports

Expand Tenant & ports for a multitenant server or a server that does not use the default ports. An empty port uses the default shown in the box.

Tenant & ports, expanded.

#	Name	Description
1	Tenant	“The on-prem tenant name if connecting to a multitenant installation”. Empty for a single-tenant server.
2	Application port	“The port used for business central”. Default `443` with Use HTTPS, `80` without.
3	OData port	“The port used for OData services”. Default `7048`.
4	Use SSL	“OData services has SSL enabled”. Follows Use HTTPS until you change it.
5	Dev port	“The port used for developer services”. Default `7049`.
6	Use SSL	“Developer services has SSL enabled”. Follows Use HTTPS until you change it.

A port takes up to five digits. A port equal to its default is cleared when you leave the box, since it is the default anyway.

Online

With Target set to Online, Prism signs in with your Microsoft Entra ID account.

The second step, for Business Central Online.

#	Name	Description
1	Environment	“Environment to access e.g. sandbox”. Required; empty, it says “Enter environment name”.
2	Tenant	“The business central online tenant”. Leave it empty to use the tenant of the account you sign in with.
3	Account	“Use a stored Entra ID account or ask for credentials when needed.”: Sign in, or an account Prism has stored. With one stored account, it is selected.
4	Store credentials	“Whether to store your Entra ID account and access tokens for the next time you use Prism”. On by default. With a stored account selected it is checked and cannot be changed: “Your Entra ID account and access token are currently stored in Prism, they can be cleared from Settings”.

Clear the stored accounts with Entra ID credentials cache on the Settings page. How the sign-in itself goes is under Connecting and signing in.

Cosmo Alpaca

With Target set to Cosmo Alpaca, the window asks for the container to download from.

The second step, for a Cosmo Alpaca container.

#	Name	Description
1	Hostname	“The service hostname”. Required; empty, it says “Enter a hostname”.
2	Container	“Container ID”. Required; empty, it says “Enter a container name”.
3	Tenant	The tenant in the container. The empty box shows the hint `default`.
4	Username	“User name for authorization”. With a user name in the connection string, Prism asks for the password when it connects.

Download folder

Prism downloads into Folder name inside Download to (rows 8 to 10 of the window above), for every target.

Download to starts as the Default download path setting, or the folder you last downloaded to. It must be a full path: otherwise it says “Enter a download path” or “Download path must be an absolute path”. Select … to pick it in “Where should Prism store the folder with downloaded symbol files”.
Folder name is made from the service as you fill it in: the host name, instance and tenant joined by _ on-premises, such as bcserver_BC; the environment Online; the host name, container and tenant for Cosmo Alpaca. Type your own name and Prism keeps it. Empty, it says “Enter a folder name”.
After a successful download the folder holds the symbol files in .alpackages, an app.json that depends on them, and a .vscode\settings.json that points Visual Studio Code at .alpackages.

Confirmations

Prism asks before it creates or reuses a folder, and before it downloads again. Each question has Yes and No.

Path not found

When Download to does not exist: “Download folder '…' does not exist, would you like to create it?” Yes creates it and connects; No returns to the window.

Path not found.

#	Name	Description
1	Question	The folder that does not exist.
2	Yes	Creates the folder and connects.
3	No	Returns to the window.

Folder not empty

When the folder for this service already exists: “The folder '…' already exists and is not empty, continue anyway?” Yes downloads into it, replacing files of the same name; No returns to the window, where you can change Folder name. Prism asks once per folder while the window is open.

Folder not empty.

#	Name	Description
1	Question	The folder that already exists.
2	Yes	Connects and downloads into the folder.
3	No	Returns to the window.

Open from BC

When you open a recent workspace that Prism downloaded, and Re-open from BC behavior is Ask: “Would you like to re-download symbol files from the server before opening the workspace?” Yes downloads them again first; No opens the files you have.

The question before re-opening a downloaded workspace.

#	Name	Description
1	Question	Whether to download the symbol files again.
2	Yes	Downloads the symbol files again, then opens the workspace.
3	No	Opens the workspace as it is.

Connecting and signing in

While Prism connects and signs in, a small window titled Open from BC says Connecting.... Close it, or press Esc, to cancel.

Connecting.

#	Name	Description
1	Connecting...	Prism is connecting to the service.
2	Progress bar	Moves while Prism waits for the service.
3	Close	Cancels the connection.

User/Password: Prism uses the password saved for the service and user name in the Windows Credential Manager. Without one, or when the service rejects it, Windows asks for the user name and password; check the box there to save them. Manage saved passwords with Windows Credential Manager.
Windows: Prism signs in as you, without asking.
Online: Prism uses the stored account when it can. Otherwise a Device code window shows the code to sign in with; select Copy and open to copy the code and open the Microsoft sign-in page in your browser, then paste the code there and sign in. The connection goes on when you have signed in.

Signing in to Business Central Online with a device code.

#	Name	Description
1	Message	Microsoft's instructions, with the sign-in page and the code.
2	Copy and open	Copies the code and opens the sign-in page.

Once connected, Prism remembers how you signed in for this folder, so a later re-download can connect without the window.

Downloading symbol files

Prism then downloads the symbol file of every app published on the service. A window titled Open from BC shows the progress. Close it to cancel; the workspace does not open.

Downloading symbol files.

#	Name	Description
1	Downloading symbol files	With the count once Prism knows it, such as (12 of 85).
2	Progress bar	The share of files downloaded; it moves back and forth until the count is known.
3	File	The file being downloaded.
4	Close	Cancels the download.

When every file is downloaded, the window closes and the workspace opens.

Re-download symbol files

A workspace you opened from Business Central stays in the recent workspaces on the Home page. To bring its symbol files up to date, open it with Re-download and open Workspace in its context menu, or open it and answer Yes to the Open from BC question. See Recent workspace context menu.

With a stored sign-in for the folder, Prism connects and downloads straight away.
Otherwise this window opens, titled Re-download symbol files, at its second step with the service and folder filled in. Select Connect.

Messages

Problems show as notifications. Those that come from the service have a Troubleshoot link to Open from BC and an Open Session Log link.

Notification	Message	What to do
Connection error	“Error connecting to … on … - …”: the service (such as OData services or Developer services), the host and port, and the error.	The window stays open; correct the details and select Connect. See Open from BC.
Sign-in cancelled	“Click the troubleshoot link below to help diagnose.”	The Online sign-in did not finish. See Entra ID sign-in.
Unable to create folder	Why Windows could not create the folder.	Choose another Download to.
Invalid path	“The target folder is a file” or “The download folder is a file”	Change Folder name or Download to.
Download failed	“Some symbol files failed to download, see log file for more information.”	The workspace does not open. See Download failed.
Re-download symbols	As Connection error, when re-downloading.	See Open from BC.