The NAV Design Patterns are software design solutions to common NAV business needs. Those solutions are generic enough to be applied in various places of the NAV application, with slight variations on implementation but mainly respecting the same base concepts.

Benefits of adopting the NAV Design Patterns

• Have a common language
• Understand and explain the concepts behind the inner workings of NAV
• Enhance productivity (as developers don't have to re-invent the wheel )
• Promote best practices
• Become aware of areas of NAV implementations which can be improved, and why.

NAV versus generic design patterns

While the generic design patterns as initiated by the Gang of Four (GoF) are focused on object-oriented and technology-independent solutions, the NAV patterns approach is different, by being specific to NAV Technologies and C/AL language. Wherever reusable in NAV, the GoF pattern terminology will be leveraged. However, NAV comes with ERP specific paradigms and designs, which will be personalized to the NAV product only.

"Anti-patterns"

While NAV design patterns describe reusable solutions both old and new, they are also explaining the reasoning behind a certain design and why it is a best practice or not. While documenting the patterns, the team came across design examples which no longer make sense in the current context. Wherever such an "anti-pattern" exists, it brings value to mention it and furthermore to expose the reason why such a design might no longer be appropriate.