Reports ForNAV 1.3 available

News

We are happy to announce general availability of Reports ForNAV 1.3.

The main features are related to the Reports ForNAV Designer:

 

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Basic and advanced options for editing ForNAV reports

With Reports ForNAV 1.3, you are able to modify ForNAV reports. It is an easy-to-use interface based on “drag and drop” functionality. If you know the C/SIDE reporting tool, you will find the structure very familiar. At the same time, we have added a lot of functionality, including layout, “quick properties”, bar code and table standard controls, undo/redo, and much more.

For more advanced editing, you can do expressions using JavaScript.

A “ForNAV” tag including the version number is added to the version list after conversion and editing.

 

Enhanced integration with Microsoft Dynamics NAV

We offer several ways of starting the Designer experience. It can be started as a separate application. End-users can start the Designer from the request page. (This option is obviously only available if you have the Designer installed.) If you choose “layout” in the Object Designer, it will automatically detect if it is a ForNAV report and start the Designer. If you do not have a developer (or application builder) license, you can start the Designer from “Custom Report Layouts”. ForNAV 1.3 has full support for printing to Word, Excel and PDF, and SAVEASWORD, SAVEASEXCEL, SAVEASPDF and SAVEASXML.

 

Dataset including columns can be edited in the ForNAV Designer or in C/SIDE

The master is the report object in C/SIDE. When you load a report to the Designer, it will upload the dataset from C/SIDE. You can edit the dataset and columns directly from the Designer. When you save the report, the dataset in the object is automatically updated. You can also make source expression, like in C/SIDE (or “classic”), so in most cases you do not need the dataset at all.

The “Show output” command can be controlled from the pre and post section triggers in C/SIDE. You can also control it directly in the Designer using JavaScript.

 

Preview function with live data

When editing reports with the ForNAV Designer, you can instantly preview your report with live data. This makes report design much more efficient, as you can easily see the result without leaving the Designer. When using preview, you also have the option to see the request page.

 

Creation of new reports, including templates and other tools for enhancing productivity

When you want to create a new report, you can start with one of our templates. Currently we have a list and header/line report. More templates will follow. When creating new reports, you have easy access to company information, including company logo. We have added captions in 20 languages for “copy” and “page”, and we support page x of y (also for batch reports). When adding an address, the Designer has standard functionality for growing the number of lines automatically.

 

Conversion and editing of RDLC reports

If you want to edit an RDLC report, you can convert it to ForNAV and use the Designer to modify it. We are able to convert most constructs from RDLC into a more user-friendly and “readable” format, including support for several headers and footers.

There are a few constructs which will not convert without manual intervention:

  • Script functions like Previous, which only applies to RDLC
  • Some sections are not placed on the correct data items and have to be moved in the designer or corrected using the replace file at conversion
  • CanGrow on table columns are not converted and will be implemented in a later version

 

Minor updates and corrections of the Reports ForNAV Converter

We have made some updates and corrections to the Reports ForNAV Converter to maintain a fully automated process for converting reports from Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 to the newer versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

 

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Reconversion might be needed

If you are updating from an earlier version of ForNAV (1.2 or earlier), you need to reconvert your reports. This is done by exporting all ForNAV reports from your NAV 2016 (or 2013/2015) in a txt-file. Run the txt-file through the new version of the Converter, import the converted txt-file to NAV 2016 (or 2013/2015), and compile the reports. You do not have to reconvert from the C/SIDE (or “classic”) reports.

 

Please also make sure you have the newest ForNAV DLL in the add-ins folder on the server you are running on.

 

One thing you should notice: We had to reverse the z-order of the controls (the order controls on a section is rendered) to support “bring to front” and “bring to back” in the Designer. Since Classic NAV did not support z-order, this will not have an impact on your layout in most cases – but in some instances, you have to use the designer to make the z-order correct or reconvert from Classic.

 

If you are converting RDLC reports, you will find some hints here:

https://www.fornav.com/rdlc-hints/

 

if you want to learn more about the Reports ForNAV Designer, you should take a look on our updated video presentations:

https://www.fornav.com/reports-fornav-1-3-video-presentations/

 

Questions or feedback? – just write an e-mail to support@fornav.com