Upgrading to a new ForNAV version

Knowledge Base

This will show you how to upgrade your existing ForNAV reports to run on a newer ForNAV version.

If you receive a new version for ForNAV, you often want your existing ForNAV reports to run on the new version. This can be done in two different ways depending on how many of your reports you want to upgrade. Maybe you only want to upgrade a few reports to run on the new version.

Installing the new version

First you need to install the new version of ForNAV. This is easily done by using the installation wizard in setup program. This will place the runtime DLL in the service tier add-in folder and upgrade your designer and converter programs. If you design on a different machine than your service tier, then you need to run the installer on both machines or manually copy the updated runtime DLL to your service tier. Since version 2, you can have multiple ForNAV versions installed at the same time. Each report will know which version to use based on the dotnet variable defined in the report object.

Upgrade using the Designer

When you open a report in the designer, it will check if the report is running on the latest version you have installed. If you are running on an old version, it will suggest that it automatically upgrades your report to use the new version. This means that you can upgrade a single report by opening it in the designer and saving it back into NAV.

Upgrade using the Converter

If you want to upgrade all your ForNAV reports, then it is a lot faster to use the converter to upgrade the reports. Here is how you do it:

  1. Open C/SIDE and set a filter in the version list that selects all your ForNAV reports.
  2. Export all the selected reports to a text file.
  3. Run the text file through the Converter.
  4. Import the converted text file.
  5. Compile the imported reports.
  6. Done.

Please note, export/import of text files requires a Microsoft Dynamics NAV/BC developer license.

How does it work

During the upgrade through the Designer or the Converter a couple of things happen.

  • C/AL variables pointing to the ForNAV add-in are updated to point to the new version.
  • C/AL triggers for the add-in are updated.
  • The layout of the report is upgraded to the newest version.

NOTE: Your custom AL code and your layout is preserved in the upgrade process. However, minor changes can occur. Therefore, it is recommended that you test your reports after they are upgraded.