WMS App Designer for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Every warehouse operation has workflows that do not fit neatly into a standard WMS. A quality hold process. A proof of delivery capture. A custom production output screen. A receiving workflow with additional fields your vendors require. Most WMS solutions handle these gaps with expensive custom development, long change request queues, or workarounds that never fully fit.
Warehouse Insight’s App Designer handles them differently: anyone with access to Business Central can build a custom warehouse application using a drag-and-drop interface, without writing a line of code. The application runs on the device the next time the worker opens Warehouse Insight.
At a Glance
- Build fully custom warehouse applications inside Business Central using a drag-and-drop block interface; no coding required for most workflows.
- Modify existing Warehouse Insight applications using the override system, without touching core product code.
- Applications run on Android handheld devices automatically; no separate deployment step required.
- Offline-capable custom applications can be built for specific scenarios where connectivity is unavailable.
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Key Capabilities
Drag-and-drop App Wizard. The App Designer provides a visual, block-based interface in Business Central. Each block represents a specific action or interaction: displaying a message, asking for input, scanning a barcode, retrieving data from Business Central, generating a notification, capturing a signature, or navigating to another application. Designers connect blocks in sequence to define the application’s workflow logic. The resulting application runs on the device without any additional deployment steps.
Rich block library. The block library covers events, interactions, actions, context, variables, and UI controls. Event blocks trigger workflows in response to user actions, such as opening a form or scanning a barcode. Interaction blocks handle user input: text entry, dropdown selection, button choices, signature capture, and more. Action blocks communicate with Business Central, manipulate data, control navigation, generate sounds or vibrations, and manage license plate operations. Technical users can extend further using AL code in Business Central to handle custom event processing.
Application overrides. The override system lets implementers modify the behavior of any existing Warehouse Insight application without changing core product code. An override intercepts a specific event in an existing application and replaces or supplements its behavior with custom logic. For example: adding a label print step at the end of a put-away, capturing a signature before a shipment is posted, or prompting for a comment when a pick line quantity is changed. Overrides survive product updates because they sit outside core code.
Offline-capable custom applications. Custom applications built in the App Designer can be designed to operate without a live Business Central connection. Data is captured on the device and processed in Business Central when connectivity is restored. This is particularly useful for specific scenarios requiring data capture in connectivity-challenged environments.
Device menu integration. Custom applications are added to the Warehouse Insight device menu directly from Business Central’s Device Menus page. Workers see the new application as a menu icon on their device the next time they reload their configuration: no MDM push, no APK update, no IT involvement required.
GEO location capture. The Get GEO Location block retrieves the device’s physical location within an application workflow. This supports use cases such as proof-of-delivery capture with location data or location-stamped inventory events in multi-site operations.
Voice Guidance function block. The Voice Guidance block adds audio output to any point in any workflow. Implementers drop the block into an application or override, configure the text to be spoken, and the device speaks it at runtime. This is how the Voice Guidance add-on is built, and the same block is available to any custom application.
How the App Designer Works in Warehouse Insight
The App Designer is accessed from the Warehouse Insight Applications page in Business Central. Opening an application and selecting Design opens the visual block canvas. The left sidebar contains the full block library organized by category: events, interactions, actions, context, variables, and UI controls. Designers drag blocks onto the canvas and connect them in sequence to define the workflow logic.
A simple application might consist of three blocks: an open form event, a text input dialog prompting the worker for a value, and a run event block that sends the entered value to a Business Central codeunit for processing. A more complex application might retrieve a document list from Business Central, display it in a grid, respond to a barcode scan to select a line, prompt for quantity and lot information, call Business Central to post the transaction, and display a confirmation message. Both are built with the same drag-and-drop interface.
For modifications to existing applications, the override system provides a structured way to intercept specific events within a base Warehouse Insight application. The implementer creates a new application containing the override logic, registers it as an override for the target application and event, and sets whether the base event should still execute. The override runs before or after the base event, depending on configuration. Core product code is never modified, so product updates do not affect the override.
Applications and overrides are automatically deployed to devices. When a worker reloads their Warehouse Insight configuration from the device menu, the application reads the updated setup from Business Central, including any new or modified applications. No separate APK update, no IT involvement, and no per-device manual steps are required.
Why the App Designer Stands Out
No other WMS for Business Central gives customers or implementers the ability to build and modify warehouse applications directly within BC. This is not a configuration option or a settings panel — it is a full application development environment that produces applications running on Android warehouse devices, accessible to anyone with Business Central access and basic familiarity with workflow logic.
The practical consequence of this is significant. A warehouse operation with an unusual workflow requirement does not need to submit a change request to a software vendor, wait for a development cycle, test a custom build, and pay for professional services. A knowledgeable implementer or a technically capable operations manager can open the App Designer, build the application, test it on a device, and deploy it the same day. When the operation changes, they modify the application the same way.
For Microsoft Partners implementing Warehouse Insight, the App Designer is also a competitive tool. The ability to address bespoke workflow requirements during an implementation without escalating to custom development reduces project costs and timelines. It increases the scope of what can be delivered in a standard engagement.
Who Uses the App Designer
Microsoft Partners and Warehouse Insight implementers use the App Designer during implementation to build custom applications for workflows that fall outside the standard feature set, and to apply overrides that tailor existing applications to a customer’s specific requirements. Technically capable operations managers and IT staff at larger operations use it to make incremental adjustments to workflows without engaging an external implementer. Development teams building on top of Warehouse Insight use the extension coding framework alongside the App Designer to handle complex data processing requirements that go beyond what the visual blocks address.
Frequently Asked Questions
The App Designer is a visual, drag-and-drop application development environment built into Business Central as part of Warehouse Insight. It allows implementers and operations teams to build fully custom warehouse applications and modify existing Warehouse Insight workflows, using a block-based interface that requires no coding for most use cases. Applications built in the App Designer run on Android handheld devices as part of the standard Warehouse Insight application.
No coding is required for most application workflows. The drag-and-drop block interface covers the full range of common warehouse application requirements: user input, barcode scanning, data retrieval from Business Central, navigation, notifications, signature capture, and more. Technical users and developers can extend further by writing AL code in Business Central to handle custom event processing, but the core App Designer workflow is accessible without programming knowledge.
Custom applications are deployed automatically. When a new application is added to the device menu in Business Central, and a worker reloads their Warehouse Insight configuration from the device, the application appears immediately as a menu item on the device. No APK update, MDM push, or IT involvement is required. The same applies to modified applications and overrides: changes take effect on the device at the next configuration reload.
An application override modifies the behavior of an existing Warehouse Insight application without changing core product code. The implementer creates a new application containing the override logic, registers it in the Application Overrides list in Business Central, and maps it to a specific event in the target application. The override runs before or after the base event. Because overrides sit outside core code, they are not affected by Warehouse Insight product updates and do not need to be reapplied after upgrades.
The App Designer supports a wide range of custom warehouse applications. Common examples include quality inspection screens that capture findings and attach them to production orders, proof-of-delivery workflows that capture customer signatures and timestamps, custom receiving flows with additional fields required by specific vendors, specialized production output screens for non-standard manufacturing processes, and offline data capture applications for environments with limited connectivity. Any workflow that involves a worker on the warehouse floor capturing data, scanning barcodes, or executing a Business Central transaction is a candidate for the App Designer.