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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Archived) / Report Builder
Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Archived)

Report Builder

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ReportReport
Posted on by Community Member Microsoft Employee

I have a collegue who wants to have report builder on his local pc, so he can edit the NAV reports by him self. We have a server 2012R2 with SQL 2014 express where we have our NAV 2017r1 installed.

I have downloaded and installed the report builder on his pc. During installation I was asked for a report server URL, which I didn't have, so I skipped that. I dont have any report server installed on our server and Im not sure how to install it.

So I ask you guys if you can lead me in the right direction so I don't mess up anything.

My collegue only have the NAV client installed for the moment, will he need anything else to get it working? 

*This post is locked for comments

  • Suggested answer
    Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Report Builder

    The NAV 2017r1 client woun't start the 2014 ReportBuilder, it comes up with an error saying it cant find the executable.

    I removed the 2014 report builder and installed Report Builder 2012 instead and that works fine.

    It looks like that NAV2017r1 is not built for ReportBuilder 2014.

  • Suggested answer
    AJAnsari Profile Picture
    AJAnsari 5,754 on at
    RE: Report Builder

    For a user without access to the NAV Development Environment who will be modifying Report layouts, you just need to install the NAV Client and SQL Report Builder 2014.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Report Builder

    Thanks for the explanation I will pass it on the the guy who will be working with it.

    He is a NAV user who wants to make minor changes to the existing reports and his plan is to use the report builder tool.

    But you didn't quit answer my question about what I need to install to get things working.

  • Suggested answer
    AJAnsari Profile Picture
    AJAnsari 5,754 on at
    RE: Report Builder

    Hi Jorgen,

    You did the right thing by skipping the report server URL. Keep in mind that the SQL Report Builder (or even Visual Studio) does not interact with NAV the same way that a SSRS report does.

    The big difference with NAV is that when you wish to design or change a report's layout, you must first start from NAV.

    - If you are a developer, then you will launch the NAV Development Environment, Design the report in question from the Object Designer, and then go to the menus to select View > Layout. The default tool for designing reports (SQL Report Builder or Visual Studio) will launch, and you will be able to work with the RDL file. Once in this tool, you can only work with datasets/expressions that have been declared in the NAV Report object. If you need to add more, you have to go NAV (with the Report Object in Design Mode) and here you can do that. The SQL Report Builder and/or Visual Studio are only for the purpose of working with the report layout, toggling visibility and some basic calculations using expressions. When done, you save, close the SQL Report Builder tool, and you are returned to NAV. You save that Report object and compile / close it, and you're done.

    - If you are not a developer, just a NAV user interested in making some modifications to the layout, you can either use Microsoft Word (simpler tool, but also has lesser capabilities), or SQL Report Builder (or Visual Studio) for RDLC. In this case, you first go to Report Layout Selection to determine which report you want to create a custom layout for. Select it, click Custom Layouts, create a New Custom Layout (or select the one you wish to modify; I recommend making backups so you don't mess up the pre-built layouts), and then click the Export button in the ribbon to get the .rdl file. You open this file in SQL Report Builder or Visual Studio, and make the desired changes to your layout. When done, save and close the file. In NAV, click Import and select the updated file to get it into NAV. Back on the Report Layout Selection page, be sure to select the Custom Layout you've created as the Custom layout to run. Sometimes, NAV may have more than version of a certain report (for different localizations, or one detailed and one summarized). You can determine which Report is printed, by going to the Report Selections Sales, Report Selection Purchase or another similar Report Selections page to define which Report ID will be run when you tell the system to print a report.

    I hope this helps. If my response has answered your question, please verify by clicking Yes next to "Did this answer your question?"

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