Getting Started on RDL reporting on NAV 2016

Horia

We're moving from NAV 2009 classic to NAV 2016 and I'm trying to get my head around RDL reporting.

Where should I start, which ressources are available online ?

Does the learning curve is pretty steep ?

Seems like you know a lot of VB Script pattern for the RDL layout, where can I find more info about those expressions and what they do.

Any productivity tips and advises on RDL reporting is welcome

Slawek_Guzek

RDLC reports are covered in most SSRS courses. NAV reports differ a tiny bit in how to get the data into the report.

The SSRS course will give you good overview of the technology but unfortunately will not explain specific custom functions (the VB code) used in NAV standard reports.

When it comes to upgrading old reports you can:

1. re-do them from scratch, using standard reports as templates

2. use 3rd party converters, converting classic reports into RDLC. There is a company, Simplanowa, quite active on Mibuso, who does report converter, there is at least one more, 1ClickFactory who also provides conversion services. Converted reports may need some further attention, especially complicated ones, and not everything in NAV report can be directly translated to RDLC

3 You can also avoid going through the pain of RDLC reporting whatsoever by using 3rd party tool ForNav - which lets you convert NAV classic reports into a bespoke ForNAV format, and run them seamlessly from NAV as if they were native RDLC reports. My own experience with ForNav is great. I have converted 1k+ bespoke reports in a few hours, and most converted reports worked fine, and perfectly matched graphically original classic reports. The non-working reports after conversion have all problems related to differences in C/AL code and table structures between NAV versions.