Book Image

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009: Professional Reporting

Book Image

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009: Professional Reporting

Overview of this book

Microsoft Dynamics NAV is widely used in enterprises with its enhanced reporting features, but there still isn’t a book that covers reporting in depth, until now. This book will show you what’s possible and exactly how to develop reports for Dynamics NAV 2009. Learn why reports are designed in a specific way and then apply this knowledge to your advantage. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009: Professional Reporting is an essential guide to understanding the effort involved in creating reports in Dynamics NAV 2009, and all of the available reporting possibilities. Reading this book will result in a better understanding and it will help you save time during development.The book starts with an overview of what kind of reports you can create without a developer using charts, dimensions, and analysis views. The next chapter will introduce the new architecture of Role Tailored Client (RTC) reports and the basics on how to create them or have them generated. Moving on we will discuss data visualization, where you will learn how and when to implement all the available Visual Studio controls. Document reports and other types of specific reports are covered next, and you will get to know all the best workarounds for getting them to work correctly.Knowing other related features is vitally important to obtain a helicopter view of all the reporting possibilities of Dynamics NAV, and the next chapter will introduce Business Intelligence concepts and available technologies that could be used in combination with the Dynamics NAV database. Technology is evolving rapidly and new versions of Dynamics NAV are in the pipeline, so the book will also provide you with a view to the future and how to prepare for it.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009: Professional Reporting
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgement
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Chart data regions


A chart is a data region, similar to a table and matrix, but the data is presented graphically. This makes it easier to spot trends and variances just by looking at the chart. It is the ideal control to visualize data in a report. You could for example use or embed a chart in another report item to format data to help the user visualize amounts in a report.

When you click on the chart, Report Designer displays three drop zones, one for each of these areas. You can drag fields from the fields list onto each of these drop zones.

Chart areas are similar to groups in a matrix:

  • A chart category group is equivalent to a matrix column group

  • A chart series group is equivalent to a matrix row group

  • A chart value is equivalent to a static matrix row group

  • A chart data value or data point is equivalent to a matrix cell

When you add a chart to the report, it must contain at least one value. The data is shown as data points in the chart and colors, markers, formats, labels, and symbols...