Dataport Fundamentals

Dataports enable you to import data from external text files to the Microsoft Dynamics NAV database and export data from the Microsoft Dynamics NAV database to text files in cases where XML is not supported.

Defining Dataports

A dataport object defines the data that must be exported from or imported into the Microsoft Dynamics NAV database. When you are importing data, you can control what happens if a record in the file being imported has the same value in the key as an existing record in the database table. In addition, at field level, you can control if the OnValidate trigger for each field should be run.
Dataports can be dynamic, meaning that when you execute the dataport, you specify if it must import or export data, and you specify the name of the file to read from or write to. This can be achieved either by defining options that the user sets in the request form or by programming.