Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible—AlanKay

The library of reports provided as part of the standard NAV product distribution from Microsoft are considered relatively simple in design and limited in their features. Some people feel that the provided reports should satisfy most needs because of their simple and basic structure, which is made much more powerful and flexible through the multiplier of NAV's filtering and SIFT capabilities. Others say that leaving the base product very simple creates more opportunities for creative NAV Partners and Developers to sell their services to customers who want reports that are fancier, either in complexity or appearance.

Whatever the reason, the fact remains that NAV's standard reports are basic and, to obtain more complex or more sophisticated reports, we must creatively utilize the Report Designer. Through creative use of the Report Designer, many different types of complex report logic may be implemented. You can also use the Report Designer to output processed data to other reporting tools such as Excel or to 'third-party' reporting products.

In this chapter, we will review different types of reports and the components that go to make up reports. Just as with forms, we'll look in detail at the triggers, properties, and controls. We'll create some reports with the Report Wizard and some manually through direct use of the Report Designer. We'll also modify a report or two using the Report Designer (the only way C/SIDE to modify a report object). We'll examine the data flow of a standard report and the concept of reports used for processing only (with no report output).

Chapter 5: Reports What is a Report? NAV Report Look and Feel NAV Report Types Report Types Summarized Report Naming Report Components Overview The Components of a Report Description Report Data Flow The Elements of a Report Report Properties Report Triggers Data Items Data Item Properties Data Item Triggers Data Item Sections Run-Time Formatting Report Wizard-Generated Sections Report Section Descriptions More Run-Time Formatting Section Properties Section Triggers Controls for Reports Control Properties Inheritance Request Form Request Form Properties Request Form Triggers Request Form Controls Request Form Control Triggers Processing-Only Reports Revising a Generated Report Revision—First Design Revision—Second Design Creating a Report from Scratch Creative Report Plagiarism Special Output Issues Printing PDF Files Printing HTML Formatted Output Printing to an Impact Printer Summary

Paperback 480 pages Released: October 2007 ISBN: 1904811749 ISBN 13: 978-1-904811-74-9

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