Simple Object Designer Documentation
Index

Release Notes

This page provides information about Simple Object Designer releases and version history.

Where Release Notes Live

The authoritative home for Simple Object Designer release notes is the support portal. That content is still being built out, so it may be sparse for now.

The "release notes" link in the SOD main window is currently broken — it points at an external GitHub location that returns a 404. Use the support portal instead. Do not rely on GitHub or other external locations; they do not carry the release notes.

Checking Your Version

This page deliberately does not state a "current version" number, because such a number is out of date the moment it is written.

To see the version you are running: open the Business Central Admin Center, select the environment, click Apps, and read the version shown for Simple Object Designer. Versions follow the Major.Minor.Build.Revision pattern, for example 12.0.0.535.

Platform: Business Central 25.0.0.0+

Version History

Version 14.0

Report Layout Designer (+Reports)

  • New visual, canvas-based report layout designer — design print-perfect PDF layouts directly inside Business Central, without Word, RDLC, or external tools
  • Built-in PDF rendering engine with embedded TrueType fonts, JPEG/PNG images, SVG, QR codes, charts, hyperlinks, and PDF encryption
  • Full Page Canvas for watermarks, borders, and stationery backgrounds
  • Layout-scoped fonts and images, test print with live data, and JSON export/import of layouts between environments
  • Report Builder Agent — an AI chat assistant embedded in the layout editor that designs, edits, and test prints layouts on request (supports Azure Open AI, ChatGPT Open AI, Anthropic Claude, and local LM Studio, using your own API key), with a customizable skill library
  • Report Sets — group related reports (customer-facing, service, or vendor-facing documents), share fonts and images across them, and let the AI learn one visual style and apply it to every report in the set
  • Free to use in cloud sandboxes; 90 days of free production use for existing Simple Object Designer customers
  • See Report Layout Designer Overview

Improved Query Support

  • Query elements form a multi-level hierarchy with Move Up/Down, Indent, and Outdent actions
  • New per-column methods: Day, Month, and Year date breakdowns in addition to Sum, Average, Min, and Max
  • Add Count Column option on data items for row counts
  • Filter fields: expose query fields as dedicated filter parameters for API consumers
  • See Create Queries

Current constraint: only one element per level is supported today — multiple siblings under the same parent are not, and queries with more than two data items are still unreliable. Improved multi-level support is in active development. See Create Queries.

Planned / Next Release

  • Purchase order prepayment posting as an exposable business logic API, complementing the already-available sales prepayment posting. See Business Logic APIs Overview.

Other items noted as planned across this documentation include: exposing system fields such as SystemModifiedAt in feature-generated APIs, read-only FlowFields rendering as genuinely non-clickable, Duration support in calculated field expressions, InitValue and custom trigger functions on features, calculated fields on features, the Assembly Line → Posted Assembly Line transfer path, and auto-population of the anchor mirror field on DataRelated tables. None of these carry a committed date.

Known Issues and Resolved Defects

Changing a field number resets its filters

Symptom: after changing the field number of one or more fields and publishing, filters previously configured on those fields are reset, and the fields do not behave as expected.

Status: confirmed bug, not intended behaviour. A fix is planned for an upcoming version.

Workaround: avoid changing field numbers on fields that carry filters. If you must, verify and re-apply the filters after the change and before relying on the published result. The same caution applies to FlowField settings, which do not follow a renumbered field — see Field Settings, and note that a changed Field No. also loses the field's page placement (see Place Fields on Pages).

Role Center "Processing" items generated as "Sections"

Affected version: SOD 12.0.0.658 with AL Compiler and Interpreter 3.0.0.325.

Symptom: after the "Sections" option was added to the Action Group OptionSet, the enum ordinals shifted, so existing Processing action group entries were generated as area(Sections). Custom Role Centers that previously compiled then failed to publish with The action area 'Sections' can only directly contain groups.

Resolution: fixed in an update published to AppSource — update SOD to the latest version.

Temporary workaround before updating: manually edit the generated AL, changing area(Sections) back to area(Processing), which allows publishing.

Other defects fixed in specific versions

These come up often enough in support that they are worth listing in one place:

Fixed in Defect
12.0.0.495 Lookup drop-down columns not populated from the related table's list fields
12.0.0.552 Decimal Places ignored on FlowFields
12.0.0.555 "No published package matches the provided arguments" during symbol refresh (workaround for a Microsoft bug)
12.0.0.560 Internal_RecordNotFound returned after a successful business-logic call that deletes its own record
12.0.0.564 "The given key was not present in the dictionary" during query export
12.0.0.568 Role Center Part captions ignored; parts added after publish not detected; FactBox toggle not removing the FactBox
12.0.0.604 AL0185: Codeunit 'NoSeriesManagement' is missing on BC v27 upgrade (be on the latest version, not just this one)
12.0.0.621 NoSeriesManagement errors after the BC v27 number series change
12.0.0.651 Alternative API Dependencies setting, for the Microsoft "Application package could not be found" bug
12.0.0.667 "The Anchor Table does not exist" after Import App into a new sandbox (present in 12.0.0.664)
after 14.0.0.666 FlowField referencing an Option field reporting "must not be blank"

Remember that updating SOD alone changes nothing — publish again afterwards.

Update Notifications

Updates announced via:

  • Extension Management update indicators
  • Admin center notifications
  • Email (if subscribed)

Note that Microsoft's automated "extension not compatible" emails have produced false positives — see Business Central Updates and Compatibility before acting on one.

Release Cadence

SOD receives regular updates:

  • Bug fixes as needed
  • New features periodically
  • BC version compatibility updates

Version History Format

Releases follow semantic versioning:

Major.Minor.Build.Revision
14.0.0.666
Component Meaning
Major Significant changes
Minor Feature additions
Build Bug fixes
Revision Incremental releases

Upgrade Guidance

Before Upgrading

  1. Review release notes
  2. Check for breaking changes
  3. Test in sandbox if possible
  4. Plan upgrade window

During Upgrade

  1. Apply update via Extension Management
  2. Wait for deployment completion
  3. Verify SOD opens correctly

After Upgrading

  1. Re-download symbols if recommended
  2. Test existing customizations
  3. Verify publish works
  4. Review new features

Breaking Changes

What Are Breaking Changes

Changes that may require action:

  • Configuration changes needed
  • Republishing required
  • Workflow modifications

How They're Communicated

Breaking changes are:

  • Highlighted in release notes
  • Documented with migration steps
  • Announced in advance when possible

Feature Deprecation

Deprecation Process

Features may be deprecated:

  1. Announcement of deprecation
  2. Grace period for transition
  3. Feature removed in future version

Handling Deprecations

When features deprecated:

  1. Review the announcement
  2. Plan transition
  3. Migrate before removal

Compatibility

BC Version Compatibility

SOD supports specific BC versions:

  • Minimum platform version
  • Maximum tested version
  • See app.json for details

When to Upgrade SOD

Upgrade SOD when:

  • New features needed
  • Bug fixes required
  • BC version compatibility needed
  • Security updates available

Staying Informed

Subscribe to Updates

Stay informed:

  • Check the support portal, the authoritative home for release notes
  • Subscribe to the Hougaard newsletter
  • Check the website periodically

Community

Engage with community:

  • Support forum discussions
  • User feedback
  • Feature requests

Providing Feedback

Feature Requests

Submit feature requests:

  • Via support forum
  • Describe the use case
  • Explain the benefit

Bug Reports

Report bugs with:

  • Steps to reproduce
  • Expected vs actual behavior
  • Environment details