Struggling to understand BuildMode and PreprocessorSymbols

[ismailhafid1]

Hello ,
i do understand that buildmode has different modes(default clean nextmajor etc.. ) and each has a purpose ,
but how does affect the build ?
how does each mode affect the build ?
and when we use clean and PreprocessorSymbols , how does the preprocessorSymbol tags affect the build ?

[freddydk]

If you add:

"buildModes": [ "default", "nextmajor" ]

To settings, you will find that your apps are build two times - but they are identical.
Just because the build mode is nextmajor doesn't apply any magic - it is just a name.

You can use ConditionalSettings to only apply build modes to a specific workflow:

"conditionalSettings": [
  {
    "workflows": [
      "CICD"
    ],
    "settings": {
      "buildModes": [ "default", "nextmajor" ]
    ]
  }
]

and then you can apply another conditionalsettings to control the behavior of the two build modes, potentially have a different artifacts, versioning, preprocessor symbols and other setttings when running nextmajor.

"conditionalSettings": [
  {
    "buildModes": [
      "nextmajor"
    ],
      "settings": {
        "preprocessorSymbols": [
          "NEXTMAJOR"
        ],
        "artifact": "////nextmajor",
        "cacheImageName": "",
        "versioningStrategy": 15
      }
  }
]

Now, in your code you can use preprocessor directives to control the code included in the build, see: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/directives/devenv-directives-in-al

You can make a fork of this repo: https://github.com/BusinessCentralApps/AL-Go-OfficeHours-2025-1 and try things out.

[ismailhafid1]

Understood , Thanks