Exporting and Importing Objects

You can export and import application objects from and to the database from a file. The file must be one of the following formats:

  • Object format (.fob)
  • Text format (.txt)

You can export and import objects either by using the Dynamics NAV Development Environment or by running finsql.exe with the ImportObjects command.

Note

To export or import objects from .txt format, you must have a developer license. To import objects from .fob format, you can have either an end-user license or a developer license.

To export objects by using the development environment UI

  1. In the Dynamics NAV Development Environment, on the Tools menu, choose Object Designer.

  2. In Object Designer, select the object type that you want to export, or select All if you want to export different types of objects to the same file.

  3. Select one or more objects that you want to export. To select multiple objects, hold down the Ctrl key when you select objects.

  4. On the File menu, choose Export.

  5. In the Export Objects window, locate the folder where you want to create the exported objects file, enter a file name, select the file type, and then choose the Save button.

To export objects by running finsql.exe with the ExportObjects command

  1. At a command prompt, move to the location of finsql.exe. The finsql.exe is located where the Dynamics NAV Development Environment is installed.

  2. Run finsql.exe with the parameter command=exportobjects. You must specify the following parameters:

    • file

    • servername

    • database

    All other parameters are optional.

    For more information about the ExportObjects command, see ExportObjects.

To import objects by using the Dynamics NAV Development Environment

  1. In the development environment, on the Tools menu, choose Object Designer.

  2. On the File menu, choose Import.

  3. In the Import Objects window, locate the folder where the import file is located, select the file, and then choose Open.

    If you import objects from a .txt file, then the objects in the file overwrite any objects that are already in the database. If you import objects from a .fob file and one or more objects in the file has the same ID as an object that are already in the database, then you receive a warning. You can choose to either cancel the import or open the Import Worksheet to resolve the conflicts.

  4. Use the Import Worksheet to specify how to resolve conflicts between objects in the import file and objects in the database. For more information, see Import Worksheet.

To import objects by running finsql.exe with the ImportObjects command

  1. At a command prompt, move to the location of finsql.exe. The finsql.exe is located where the Dynamics NAV Development Environment is installed.

  2. Run finsql.exe with the parameter command=importobjects. You must specify the following parameters:

    • file

    • servername

    • database

    For example:

    finsql.exe command=importobjects, file=C:\NewObjects.fob, servername=TestComputer01, database="Demo Database BC"
    

    All other parameters are optional.

    Tip

    By default, when importing objects from a .fob file, the command will also build the object search index. To save time, if you do not to build the search index, use the suppressbuildsearchindex=yes parameter with the command, for example:

    finsql.exe command=importobjects, file=C:\NewObjects.fob, servername=TestComputer01, database="Demo Database BC", suppressbuildsearchindex=yes

    For more information about the ImportObjects command, see ImportObjects.

Note

The generatesymbolreference finsql command does not work when importing objects from a .fob file. If it is used, wrong symbol references that are based on the symbol caption and not on the symbol name will be generated. The suggested workaround is to use two different commands one for importing objects from the .fob file and the other one for the generatesymbolreference command.