Develop CompuTec AppEngine Plugins

This section describes how to build plugins of the CompuTec AppEngine Plugin type. A plugin of this type runs inside CompuTec AppEngine and extends it with your own endpoints, background processes, user actions, web pages, and AI tools. Each article covers one part of a plugin, so you can read only the parts that you need.

The CompuTec AppEngine Plugin type uses the CompuTec.Core2.AE reference and the AEPlugin base class. For a comparison with the other plugin types, see Plugin Types.

Find the guide you need

• To generate models, serializers, and CRUD and OData controllers from my business logic, read the Model Generator article.
• To add my own endpoints to a generated controller, read the Extending Generated OData or CRUD Controllers article.
• To create my own HTTP endpoints, read the Creating Controllers article.
• To run a process in the background, on an SAP Business One event, once, or on a schedule, read the CompuTec AppEngine Jobs article.
• To add a button or menu option that users select to run an operation on a record, read the CompuTec AppEngine Actions article.
• To build a web user interface for the CompuTec AppEngine Launchpad, read the CompuTec AppEngine Plugin User Interface article.
• To add a menu or context menu entry in SAP Business One that opens a web page or a plugin, read the JSON Configurations for SAP Business One Menu article.
• To let AI clients, such as Claude, call my own logic in SAP Business One, read the Creating Custom MCP Tools/Resources article.

Data and endpoints

Use these guides to expose SAP Business One data and your own logic through HTTP endpoints.

• Model Generator – Use the ct tool to generate models, serializers, and CRUD and OData controllers from the business logic project. You mark your user-defined objects (UDOs) with attributes, and the tool creates the code.
• Extending Generated OData or CRUD Controllers – Add custom endpoints, such as a method that adds a row to a UDO, to a generated controller. The new endpoints appear in Swagger.
• Creating Controllers – Create endpoints as classic controllers or as minimal API endpoints, with or without SAP Business One authorization.

Processes and user operations

Use these guides to automate work or to give users an operation to run.

• CompuTec AppEngine Jobs – Create jobs that react to SAP Business One events, run once on request, or run repeatedly on a Cron schedule.
• CompuTec AppEngine Actions – Create operations that users start from a button or menu option. You define on which records the action is available and what the user sees after it runs.

User interfaces and AI

Use these guides to connect your plugin to users and AI clients.

• CompuTec AppEngine Plugin User Interface – Build an SAP UI5 application that the CompuTec AppEngine Launchpad hosts, with translations, OData endpoints, and custom views.
• JSON Configurations for SAP Business One Menu – Define menu and context menu entries in SAP Business One that open a web page or a plugin and can pass values from the current record.
• Creating Custom MCP Tools/Resources – Create tools that AI clients can call through CompuTec MCP Server. To set up CompuTec MCP Server first, see Introduction to CompuTec MCP Server.

Before you start

Before you begin, make sure that:

• You know how to write C# code and build .NET 8 projects.
• You have a CompuTec AppEngine 3.0 environment for testing, with a demo or test company.
• You know which plugin type you need. Read more
• For a user interface, Node.js 20.11 or later is installed. Read more

Next steps

If you build your first plugin, start with Model Generator if your plugin works with user-defined objects, or with Creating Controllers if it only needs your own endpoints.