Designing profiles

A profile makes a role center page and its associated pages and reports available to users in the client. Use profiles to tailor Business Central pages to the daily tasks of a role in the company. In the client, profiles are referred to as roles. Users can switch their Role on the My Settings page.

Creating profiles in AL involves three different object types: profile object, profile extension object, and page customization object.

Profile objects

A profile object specifies an ID for the profile, a display name that appears in the client, a role center page, and the page customization objects that apply to the profile. Different profiles can use the same role center page.

Profile extension objects

A profile extension object overrides properties of a profile object defined in another AL extension, such as its caption or role center page. It can also define additional page customization objects to apply to the profile.

Page customization object

A page customization object specifies layout and action modifications to a specific page object. For example, you can move actions, fields, columns on a list, or entire parts. The modifications apply to all users of the profiles that use the customization.

To make the modifications, you use placement keywords in the layout and actions sections.

The same page customization objects can be used in different profile objects. A profile object doesn't have to use page customization objects, but a page customization has no effect without being associated with a profile.

Profile and page customization example

The following example creates a profile object that uses the "Business Manager Role Center" page. It uses two page customization objects. One hides the Customers action on the role center. The other moves the Balance (LCY) column after Phone No. on the Customer List page.

using Microsoft.Finance.RoleCenters;
using Microsoft.Sales.Customer;

profile TheBoss
{
    ProfileDescription = 'The Boss';
    RoleCenter = "Business Manager Role Center";
    Customizations = BusinessManagerCust, CustomerListCust;
    Caption = 'Boss';
}

pagecustomization BusinessManagerCust customizes "Business Manager Role Center"
{
    actions
    {
        modify(Customers)
        {
            Visible = false;
        }
    }
}

pagecustomization CustomerListCust customizes "Customer List"
{
    layout
    {
        moveafter("Phone No."; "Balance (LCY)")
    }
}

Using the client to create AL profiles, profile extensions, and page customizations

Administrators and consultants can create profiles or fine-tune page customizations in the client. As a developer, you can export these changes for use in AL extensions. Learn more in Using the client to create profiles and page customizations.

Translating profiles

A profile's Caption and ProfileDescription properties appear in the client user interface. To translate them, generate an XLIFF file and add a translation for each target language. The generated file contains a <source> element for each property. Add a <target> element with the translated text. Learn more in Working with translation files.

The following XLIFF example translates the profile from en-US to da-DK. Keep the translation-unit IDs from the file generated for your extension.

<xliff version="1.2" xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2 xliff-core-1.2-transitional.xsd">
  <file datatype="xml" source-language="en-US" target-language="da-DK" original="profiles">
    <body>
      <group id="body">
        <trans-unit id="Profile 3523819904 - Property 4111922599" size-unit="char" translate="yes" xml:space="preserve">
          <source>The Boss</source>
          <target>Chefen</target>
          <note from="Developer" annotates="general" priority="2"></note>
          <note from="Xliff Generator" annotates="general" priority="3">Profile TheBoss - Property ProfileDescription</note>
        </trans-unit>
        <trans-unit id="Profile 3523819904 - Property 2879900210" size-unit="char" translate="yes" xml:space="preserve">
          <source>Boss</source>
          <target>Chef</target>
          <note from="Developer" annotates="general" priority="2"></note>
          <note from="Xliff Generator" annotates="general" priority="3">Profile TheBoss - Property Caption</note>
        </trans-unit>
      </group>
    </body>
  </file>
</xliff>

Related information

Developing extensions
AL development environment
Page object
Page extension object
Page extension properties