AL Bridge

Overview

AL Bridge is the bridge between Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central cloud and the on-premise/external world: a local agent and a set of cloud services, orchestrated from BC through an encrypted job queue, that do what SaaS alone cannot - direct printing, file-system access, PowerShell/SQL, carriers, document conversions - driverless and licensable per module. It is the foundation the AppLibra connector family builds on.

Business Central SaaS is sandboxed: it cannot print to local printers, read or write folders, run local processes, or convert images/PDF/digital signatures. AL Bridge closes that gap with one shared infrastructure, on which each connector app plugs in as a module.

Key features

• Local agent via the job queue - modules queue an encrypted job (print, print label, file system, PowerShell, SQL, barcode, shipping agent, carriers...); a local service at the customer picks it up, verifies the module licence, decrypts and runs it locally, and writes back the result - driverless, with nothing installed on BC.
• File-system operations - save, create/check folder, move/copy, read file, read folder, delete, extract XML - including reading inbound folders (e.g. for e-invoicing).
• AppLibra cloud services - PNG-to-GRF for Zebra labels, PDF from a JSON template, PDF page count, P7M signature decoding and e-invoice attachment extraction.
• Generic REST client - REST calls with Basic Auth / Bearer Token, headers, body and ETag - used by modules to talk to external APIs (OAuth, carriers, cloud services).
• Across the board - a PDF viewer control add-in, job logs and errors, AES encryption of the job content, cloud-service credentials in Isolated Storage.

Business benefits

• SaaS without limits - print, file access and local integrations from a cloud ERP.
• Driverless - no Windows drivers or installs on Business Central.
• One foundation, many modules - a single shared infrastructure, each capability licensed as a module.
• Document services - PDF rendering, GS1 GRF and e-invoice signature/attachment handling out of the cloud.

Typical scenarios

• Printing from SaaS - send labels and documents to local printers (with the print modules).
• File exchange - read and write local folders (e.g. e-invoice SDI/PEC folders).
• Carriers and external APIs - talk to carrier and cloud services via the REST client.

What makes AL Bridge different

• One shared foundation - a single encrypted job queue and cloud-service layer for the whole connector family.
• Driverless local execution - a local agent runs print/file/process jobs without BC installs.
• Per-module licensing - each capability (print, file, PowerShell, carriers...) is a licensable module.
• Document cloud services - PDF, GS1 GRF and e-invoice P7M/attachments built in.

Technical information

• Supported product - Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (25.0 or higher)
• Availability - Cloud (SaaS) orchestration with a local agent for on-premise operations
• Cloud services - require connectivity to services.applibra.com (credentials in Isolated Storage)
• Licensing - capabilities are licensed as separate modules (print, print label, file system, PowerShell, SQL, barcode, shipping agent, UPS, DHL...)
• Dependencies - AL Message Passing, AL Cryptography, AL License and Trial Management (AppLibra)
• AppSource - live (free)