As a Business Central developer, how many times a day do you manually edit launch.json just to change which page or report opens when you press F5? Maybe you don’t do it quite as often as me, but I have to admit sometimes I do feel like a stupid monkey always doing the same.

If you’re testing different pages, you know the drill:

1. Open launch.json
2. Find the right configuration
3. Locate the startupObjectId line
4. Change the ID number
5. Maybe change startupObjectType too
6. Save the file
7. Finally press F5

AL Navigator eliminates all of this with a single click from your status bar.

What Is the Startup Object?

When you debug or publish your AL extension in VS Code, Business Central can automatically open a specific page or report – that’s your startup object. It’s defined in your launch.json like this:

{
  "type": "al",
  "request": "launch",
  "name": "Your Own Server",
  "server": "http://localhost",
  "startupObjectId": 22,
  "startupObjectType": "Page"
}

This configuration would open Page 22 (Customer List) every time you launch.

How Does AL Navigator Solve That?

AL Navigator adds a rocket icon to your VS Code status bar showing your current startup object:

Click it anytime to change the startup object.

When you click the status bar, you get four ways to select your startup object:

📄 Current Object

If you have a page or report file open in your editor, AL Navigator offers to use it directly.

Use case: You just created a new page and want to test it immediately.

🕒 Recently Used Objects

AL Navigator remembers the last objects you used as startup objects. Quick access to your recent testing targets.

Use case: You’re testing three different pages back and forth.

⭐ Popular Objects

Pre-configured list of the most commonly used Business Central pages:

• Sales Order List (9305)
• Customer List (22)
• Item List (31)
• General Journal (39)
• And many more…

Use case: You’re working on sales functionality and need quick access to standard BC pages.

📋 All Objects

Browse all pages and reports from:

• Your workspace AL files
• All .app files in your workspace
• Dependencies and base app objects

Searchable, filterable list with object IDs and names.

Use case: You need to find a specific page in a dependency or the base app.

Multi-Workspace Support

If you have multiple launch.json files in your workspace (multi-root workspaces or complex projects), AL Navigator lets you choose:

• Update just one specific launch.json
• Update all launch.json files at once

Setup

Prerequisites

• AL Navigator extension installed
• A workspace with AL files
• An existing launch.json file in .vscode folder

Enable the Feature

The status bar appears automatically when:

• AL Navigator is installed and active
• Your workspace contains a launch.json file
• At least one configuration exists

No additional configuration needed!

You can also use the Command palette to use the function: