Roadmap
This page tracks capabilities planned for Pageworks. It reflects direction, not a committed delivery schedule — priorities can shift. Track day-to-day progress on the project board, and use Issues to file bugs or request features.
Guiding idea
Pageworks is built primarily for consultants and business end users doing self-service layout design — adjusting or building a report layout without writing AL. AL developers remain a first-class audience (the public API, and an eventual export path from self-service configuration to a real extension), but the everyday user is not expected to be a developer.
Recently shipped
| Capability | What it means for you |
|---|---|
Conditional display (data-if) | Show or hide a row, cell, or section based on data — e.g. hide a VAT line when there's no VAT — without a developer. See Template language reference. |
| Reusable, parameterized Blocks | Shared template fragments (e.g. a "line items" section) that can be reused across different reports even when the underlying dataset uses different column names, via parameters passed at the point of use. See Template language reference. |
| Custom page sizes as data | Define non-standard paper or label sizes (e.g. a specific label roll) as data in Business Central, instead of requiring a code change for anything beyond A4/Letter. See Template language reference. |
| Insert picker in Layout Studio | Browse and insert dataset fields, Blocks, images, and fonts without memorizing the template syntax. See Using the Insert picker. |
| Database-backed shared styles | Define named style classes once — as a registered, reusable stylesheet or a template's own <style> block — instead of repeating style="..." on every element. Define corporate colors and typography once, use everywhere, adjust in one place. Follows the same Copy / Customize / Revert lifecycle as Blocks and fonts. See Shared styles guide. |
Planned capabilities
| Capability | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Corporate demo/starter design gallery | A curated set of professionally designed, ready-to-use layouts (invoices and more) to start from instead of a blank page. |
| Self-service custom fields, no developer required | Add a field to a layout that the underlying report doesn't already expose — by pointing at a related record from data already on the report — without a code change. |
| Export to extension | Once a self-service layout uses an added custom field, generate the AL extension that makes that addition "official," for a developer to review and ship. The layout itself doesn't change in the handoff. |
| Embedded designer | A guided, in-tenant surface for consultants and end users to build and adjust layouts using the capabilities above, without hand-writing template markup. |
| Richer style selectors | Shared styles currently target elements by named class (class="brand"). Planned: broaden how a style rule can match — at minimum element id selectors, and potentially element/type selectors (e.g. style every <td>) — to give the fuller targeting flexibility people expect from HTML/CSS. (Also on this track: fully isolated Block-local styles, so a Block can carry its own class namespace without leaking to or from the host layout.) |
| Dataset-driven format expressions | Allow AL developers to expose format expressions (for dates, decimals, numbers) through the dataset, then reference them in template format attributes. Gives AL control over formatting without modifying the template. |
| Copilot integration for layout design | AI-driven layout assistance directly in Business Central. Describe what you want in natural language — Copilot generates markup, adjusts styling, and suggests improvements. Rapid prototyping and iteration without writing code. |
| Open source fonts bundled with the extension | A curated set of high-quality open source fonts shipped with Pageworks, available for use in layouts without managing font files separately or worrying about licensing. Improves the design experience and reduces complexity for consultants and end users. |
Requesting something
Have a capability you need that isn't listed here? Open a feature request. Found a bug? Open a bug report.