Set up documents

Use documents to define which data you want to exchange and in which format and structure.

Document structure

Each document is set up with the same basic structure. A document has a:

Header
In the document header, you define the general format settings in:
- Properties
- Custom handler
- Read settings
- Write settings
- Record layout settings
Line
In the document lines, you define the data model in:
- Records
- Fields
- Relations
- Sorting
- Ranges

When a document is used in a message run or when you test it, based on the document setup, a query is created that reads the data.

Document types

The available document types are explained, grouped by common format and purpose characteristics:

External documents - File based: Used to read data from or write data to files.
External documents - ODBC: Used to read or write data using a Database connection.
Internal documents: Used to read data from or write data to D365 FO.

Using documents in message

Use a message to link and map a source document and a target document. A message to:

Read data from D365 FO has an internal type document as source and an external type document as target.
Write data to D365 FO has an external type document as source and an internal type document as target.

Activities

Name

Responsible

Description

Set up external documents - File based

Application Consultant

Use an external file-based document to define the data model of the external source or target with which you want to exchange data.

The available file-based external document types are:

Document type	Description
XML	Use an XML document to exchange data in XML format without the need to code. With a document of type XML, you can read data from or write data to an XML file.
JSON	Use a JSON document to exchange data with an application that uses data-object notation. With a document of type JSON, you can read data from or write data to a JSON file.
Text	Use a Text document to read data from or write data to a file with field and line separators. For example, a CSV file.
Fixed text	Use a Fixed text document to read data from or write data to a file with defined start positions and lengths for fields.
EDI	Use an EDI document to read data from or write data to a file if you use EDIFACT or ANSI X12 for your EDI.
Microsoft Excel	Use a Microsoft Excel document to read data from or write data to a Microsoft Excel file (XLSX).
Microsoft Word	Use a Microsoft Word document to write data to Microsoft Word document (DOCX) using a template.

Set up external documents - ODBC

Application Consultant

Use an ODBC document to define the data model of the external source or target with which you want to exchange data. You can exchange data with an external database via ODBC or with an external Azure SQL database.

Set up internal documents

Application Consultant

Use an internal document to define the data model of the internal D365 FO source to read data from or D365 FO target to write data to.

The available internal document types are:

Document type	Description
D365 FO	Use a D365 FO document to read data from or write data to D365 FO.
Journals	Use the journal documents to write journal data to D365 FO.
Staging	Use a Staging document to read data from or write data to the staging table.