Search code examples
javaauthenticationmicrosoft-dynamics-nav

Microsoft Dynamics Nav Connector For Java

Currently I am working on implementing a connector for Microsoft Dynamics Nav in Java.

For that I want to create a connection with Dynamics Nav server through NTLM. Most of the blogs and documentations I found regarding this are outdated.

Connecting to NAV Web Services from Java

It will be appreciated if anyone can suggest me a method to handle Dynamics Nav authentication using org.apache.http.client.HttpClient. (Please suggest me if there is any Java client library available for Dynamics Nav)

Furthermore, it will be appreciated if any one can suggest me a place where I can get a free Dynamics Nav testing environment to test my Dynamics Nav connector application.

Solution

  • Windows Challenge/Response (NTLM) is the authentication protocol used on networks that include systems running the Windows operating system and on stand-alone systems. I was able to handle NTLM authentication using org.apache.http.client.HttpClient version 4.4.

    Here is the Maven dependency I have used (Methods and method names can be slightly different in other versions).

    <dependency>
 <groupId>org.apache.httpcomponents</groupId>
 <artifactId>httpclient</artifactId>
 <version>4.4</version>
</dependency>

    Following imports are required for the implementation. This is the basic requirement for a non-SSL connection.

    import org.apache.http.auth.AuthScope;
import org.apache.http.auth.NTCredentials;
import org.apache.http.client.CredentialsProvider;
import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.BasicCredentialsProvider;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClientBuilder;

    Here is the implementation. Need to replace Username, Password, and Domain with real credentials.

    CredentialsProvider credentialsProvider = new BasicCredentialsProvider();
HttpClient httpClient = HttpClientBuilder.create()
                .setDefaultCredentialsProvider(credentialsProvider)
                .build();

credentialsProvider.setCredentials(AuthScope.ANY, new NTCredentials("Username", "Password", null, "Domain"));

    Now this http client can be used to communicate with the Dynamics NAV API.

    But I was unable to find a free testing environment for Microsoft Dynamics NAV within my region (Asia). But few cloud service providers are offering free testing trials for other regions.

    As a Linux user I had to install Windows in a virtual environment and install Dynamics NAV on it to create a testing environment. If you are familiar with Docker you can download the Dynamics NAV Docker image from this link.