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We need a way to shorten the process from recognizing a customer need until being able to deploy it.
Scenario:
- A customer informs you of a need.
- You realize this is relevant for many customers and decide to register an object range for AppSource
- You develop the solution and complete your internal testing of it.
At this point I would like to be able to deploy this app to the customer that I know actually has the need.
I might want to help the customer as fast as possible, and perhaps not invest in marketing materials etc. for AppSource until I know I have verified the solution, ideally at multiple customers.
Currently, the Extension Management's upload functionality performs a PerTenantCop-validation which means I cannot continue with my AppSource object range.
If I decide to renumber the objects to the PTE-range, there are several downsides:
- Obviously I wasted time to renumber objects
- I broke translations since they are dependent on the object id's.
- The customer is unable to upgrade once the app is finally on AppSource.
Perhaps a workaround could be to take inspiration from the “internalsVisibleTo” property of app.json (that lets me choose which dependent apps can use internals of my app), such that as an app developer I could:
1) Request AppSource object range
2) Develop solution
3) Specify in app.json which tenant id’s that are allowed for “private beta”
a. “allowedBetaTenants”: [ “…guid…”, “…guid…”, … ]
4) Perform customer validation of the app on their tenant’s environments
5) Finally, perform the AppSource validation process to allow all BC customers to use my solution
Scenario:
- A customer informs you of a need.
- You realize this is relevant for many customers and decide to register an object range for AppSource
- You develop the solution and complete your internal testing of it.
At this point I would like to be able to deploy this app to the customer that I know actually has the need.
I might want to help the customer as fast as possible, and perhaps not invest in marketing materials etc. for AppSource until I know I have verified the solution, ideally at multiple customers.
Currently, the Extension Management's upload functionality performs a PerTenantCop-validation which means I cannot continue with my AppSource object range.
If I decide to renumber the objects to the PTE-range, there are several downsides:
- Obviously I wasted time to renumber objects
- I broke translations since they are dependent on the object id's.
- The customer is unable to upgrade once the app is finally on AppSource.
Perhaps a workaround could be to take inspiration from the “internalsVisibleTo” property of app.json (that lets me choose which dependent apps can use internals of my app), such that as an app developer I could:
1) Request AppSource object range
2) Develop solution
3) Specify in app.json which tenant id’s that are allowed for “private beta”
a. “allowedBetaTenants”: [ “…guid…”, “…guid…”, … ]
4) Perform customer validation of the app on their tenant’s environments
5) Finally, perform the AppSource validation process to allow all BC customers to use my solution
STATUS DETAILS
Completed
Business Central Team (administrator)
Specifically, when uploading an app to AppSource and passing validation, publishers will now be able to keep the app in preview mode. Publishers can then create and share a link to the preview app that includes a custom "flight code," which can be sent to selected customers. Customers who opt in to the preview can install and test that app in their environments (sandbox only for now) and provide feedback to the publisher.
For more information, see documentation, the newly added video on this, and the release note