What this book covers

Chapter 1, How Do I Start to Create a Report?, explains how to create a report in Dynamics NAV. This chapter explains that the report development can be done in two steps: by creating the data model and then the layout. It also explains how to include captions and labels. Then, it dives into Visual Studio, explains how to create the layout, and demonstrates the difference between Visual Studio and Report Builder.

Chapter 2, Getting Started with the Tablix, covers how to use the Tablix control when we create the layout of the report. This chapter explains how the Tablix can be used as a List, Table, or Matrix, and demonstrates the differences between them, and also discusses when to use each. This chapter also covers the different techniques of how to filter, sort, and group information in the report layout. It also introduces you to some important properties.

Chapter 3, Expressions, discusses the expressions and how they can be used to generate values for certain properties.

Chapter 4, Data Visualization Techniques, explains that creating a report is not difficult, but making it easy to understand so that you can spot trends and learn from your data takes some consideration. The main goal of a report is to communicate the information clearly and effectively, for example, through graphical means. A report needs to create insights by communicating its key aspects in an intuitive way. In this chapter, you will learn about the different techniques available in Microsoft Dynamics NAV to visualize the information.

Chapter 5, Document Reports, explains how the RDLC report layout for documents, such as sales invoices, is created. We will explore this in detail with the most important workarounds, how and why they are required, and explore some alternative solutions.

Chapter 6, Tips and Tricks, contains tips, tricks, and useful things to know when developing reports or to speed up report development. It also contains recipes, or report design patterns, on how to show a header or footer on the last page, place it at the bottom, use a query in the dataset, optimize the report performance, create hyperlinks, reusable report components, or templates, report scheduling, and how to upgrade reports.

Chapter 7, Performance Optimization Techniques, contains tips, tricks, and recipes on how to optimize or performance tune a report.

Chapter 8, Word Report Layouts, introduces you to the built-in Word report layouts and explains how to customize them. This chapter also explains how to build a new Word layout reusing an existing Word invoice template, how to refactor and upgrade datasets for Word report layouts, and how to schedule a report to execute on the server side.

Chapter 9, Power BI, introduces you to the world of Power BI. Power BI can be used to extract data from Dynamics NAV, via ODATA web services, so that you can create BI reports in Excel, using simple pivot tables and charts, or you can make use of Power Pivot to create a more complex and optimized data model. It also covers Power View, a tool used to build interactive data visualizations on top of a Power Pivot data model. Last but not least, it also introduces Power BI in Office 365 and Q&A, a feature of Power BI in Office 365 to generate reports by simply typing in a question.

Chapter 10, Reporting Services, introduces you to the Reporting Services of SQL Server. This chapter explains how you can use reporting services, as a free report development tool, as an alternative tool to create reports on top of a Dynamics NAV database in SQL Server.

Chapter 11, Charts in Dynamics NAV, introduces you to the built-in chart designer in Dynamics NAV. It's frequently used by end users to create charts in Role Centers. This chapter also covers the business charts and how to customize them, as a developer.