Nav developer's blog : NAV 2009

Problems in transformation forms to pages using TransformationTools

gediminb — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:10:00 GMT

After Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 SP1 release more and more developers start using it and trying to adopt existing solutions for new 3tier environment.
Most workload comes from trying to adopt current forms to new object - pages.
Particularly transformation could be done by using TransformationTools (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd338789.aspx), however it is not "best ever" and partners reporting problems and require to fix it...

But it isn't so easy...

This tool is delivered to us from dev team and it helps us to make transformation faster, but it is supplementary tool - we can use NAV without this tool and we can "convert " our solutions without it - do it manually.
So "big thanks" to dev team for this tool, however we can't expect that dev team will fix all problems in tool with the same priority as base products (Microsoft Dynamics NAV).

And we can't expect fixes for problems related to incorrect transformed statements - after transformation pages can't be compiled...
Problem is in tool simplicity: it searches for text and convert it to another text. Converting rules are described in file CodeRules.txt (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd338843.aspx).
But simplicity is as strength as weakness of this tool - only text described in CodeRules.txt file will be converted, if there are any differences in text - transformation will be incorrect.
For example:
In form code we have statement:
CurrForm.Number.UPDATEFONTBOLD(Number);
Then after transformation on page will be created new variable NumberEmphasize
And statement will be converted to:
NumberEmphasize := Number;
It is because UPDATEFONTBOLD is not used in pages and must be removed.

So far so good.
Tranformation will be done correct for statements:
CurrForm.Number.UPDATEFONTBOLD(Number1=Number);
CurrForm.Number.UPDATEFONTBOLD(Number1>Number);
and etc. because transformation rules are described in CodeRules.txt

But transformation tool is looking for direct text fit to rules and will not transform text which is not described in Coderules.txt.
If code becomes little more complicated (not described the same syntax as CodeRules) - transformation tool capitulates.
For example next code will not be transformed:
CurrForm.Number.UPDATEFONTBOLD(Number1<Number);
CurrForm.Number.UPDATEFONTBOLD(Number1=xRec.Number);
CurrForm.Number.UPDATEFONTBOLD(xRec.Number1=Number);
CurrForm.Number.UPDATEFONTBOLD(Number1=Number2=Number3);
CurrForm.Number.UPDATEFONTBOLD(Number1=(Number+100));
...

Yes... We can make rules for these statements too (dev team delivered rules file), but we will never describe everything what could be written by happy-creative developpers around the world...
Maybe some rules could be never used? Who knows..?

I can collect all requirements for CodeRules.txt and periodically release new one (fixed). Do you want to order me do it, let me know in comment to current post :) ...

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

Gedas Busniauskas

Microsoft Lithuania
Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) EMEA

Troubleshooting multi-machine installations of NAV 2009

lalake — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:36:00 GMT

The NAV 2009 documentation walkthroughs provide step-by-step instructions for installing NAV 2009 on 2 or 3 machines. However, we have found that some of the same configuration issues come up time after time after installation.

When on calls with partners and customers, it seemed to me that this information was spread out all over the place, so I wanted to organize it in a different way for troubleshooting purposes so that I would have most everything in one place. Hopefully this will be helpful to others as well.

The intention of this post is to provide a checklist of sorts for troubleshooting some of the areas where we frequently find errors or omissions in configuration after NAV 2009 has been installed.

Errors on the RTC resulting from configuration problems include but are not limited to...

Login failed for user...

A Server was not found at...

The User ID and password are invalid

*************************************

Before anything else, check to see what accounts are running the NAV and SQL services. Make note of domain account names, machine names, and FQDN (Fully qualified domain name)

Check for Incorrect SPN’s

When the NAV Server and the database are on separate machines AND the NAV Service is running under a Domain Acct:

2 SPN’s have to be set up for the NAV Service. SERVER will be different depending on your server name.

i.e. Server_DynamicsNAV/Server.FQDN:7046

Examples…

SERVER_DynamicsNAV/SERVER.NAV2009DC.LAB:7046

SERVER_DynamicsNAV/SERVER:7046

SPN for SQL Service is not needed IF SQL is running under NetworkService.

SPN for SQL IS needed if SQL is running under a Domain account – see "SQL SPN" at the end of this post

When the NAV Server and the database are on separate machines, AND the NAV Service is running under NetworkService account:

No SPN is needed for the NAV Service.

SPN for SQL Service is not needed IF SQL is running under NetworkService.

SPN for SQL IS needed if SQL is running under a Domain account – see "SQL SPN" at the end of this post

Tools

Tools are normally installed on Win 2008 by default (depending on features selected). For 2003, install the Windows Support Tools

- Windows 2003 Support Tools

o ADSIEdit.msc

o SETSPN.exe

Setting the SPN :

o Run the ADSI Edit tool on any server computer in the domain. To do this, click Start, click Run, type Adsiedit.msc, and then click OK.

In the ADSI Edit window, expand Domain, expand DC, expand CN=Users, right-click CN= AccountName, and then click Properties.

Note: The AccountName placeholder represents the domain account you are using to start the NAV Server (and/or SQL) service.

In the Properties dialog box, double-click the servicePrincipalName attribute to open the Multi-valued String Editor dialog box. (There are a few shortcuts to find the servicePrincipalName, you can check the ‘Show only attributes that have values’ to shorten the list or click in the Attributes box and type ‘ser’ to jump close to the attribute.)

In the Value to add box, add a SPN for the NAV Server (or SQL Server), and then click Add, keeping in mind that the SERVER will be different depending on your server name. For SQL SPN see Appendix A.

SERVER_DynamicsNAV/FQDN:7046

Note: Replace “SERVER” with the name of your server, and “FQDN” with the fully qualified domain name, such as “SERVER.MICROSOFT.COM”.

In the Value to add box, add a SPN for the NAV Server, and then click Add. Keeping in mind that the SERVER will be different depending on your server name.

SERVER_DynamicsNAV/SERVER:7046

Note: Here for the “SERVER” value, only specify the name of the server.

Click OK two times.
Close the ADSI Edit window.

Check Delegation

When running the NAV Service under a Domain Account:

Delegation has to be set up for the account running the NAV service.

Note: The Delegation tab will only be present after adding the SPN to the domain user account.

o Click Start, then click Run.

o Type in dsa.msc and click OK.

o Expand the Domain and then click on Users.

o Locate the domain user account you are using , right click and select Properties.

o Under that Delegation tab, select the ‘Trust this user for delegation to any service (Kerberos only)’, then click OK. (This is not constrained delegation as mentioned in the Walkthrough, but this makes it a little easier to setup delegation. You can always come back after it is setup and working to implement constrained delegation.)

o Close the Active Directory Users and Computers window.

o Note: for Constrained delegation, select Trust this user for delegation to specified services only and then select MSSQLSvc.

When running the NAV Service under NetworkService Account:

Delegation has to be set up for the machine running the NAV service.

o Click Start, and then click Run.

o Type in dsa.msc and click OK.

o Expand the Domain and then click on Computers.

o Locate the computer name, right click and select Properties.

o Under that Delegation tab, select the ‘Trust this user for delegation to any service (Kerberos only)’, then click OK.

o Close the Active Directory Users and Computers window

Check SQL Logins and OCL

Adding the login(s) to SQL and setting up the Object Change Listener (OCL):

OCL is NOT required if the NAV Server and SQL Server are on the same machine AND the NAV service is running under Network Service.

If using a Domain User to run services, make sure the login has been added to both SQL and NAV. Also check that user has Full Control to the server folder.

o The account may already exist in SQL but the permissions must be manually set correctly):

Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
Click Security to expand the tree-view, right-click Logins, and then select New Login.
This opens the Login - New dialog box.
Add the domain user account in the Login name field, using the following format:

domain\domainUser

Click OK to exit the Login - New dialog box.
Click Databases, Demo Database NAV (6-0) or other database name, and then click Security to expand the tree view.
Under Security, right-click Users, and then select New User.
This opens the Database User - New dialog box.
Add the domain user account in the User name and Login name field, using the following format:

domain\domainUser

o Add $ndo$navlistener in the Default schema field.
Click the Securables page.
Click Add, click OK, click Object Types, check Tables and then click OK. Click Browse, check the [dbo].[Object Tracking], click OK, click OK again.
In the Explicit permissions check Grant on the Select permission.
Click OK to exit the Database User - New dialog box.
Close Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.

If the NAV server and SQL Server are on different machines AND the Network Service Account is running the NAV Service, then the Login and OCL must be set up using the same steps but for the machine account rather than the domain user…
Use the above steps, but replace the domain account with the machine account, i.e. <domain>\<computername>$

Check the configuration of Delegation for the RTC

Change the ClientUserSettings.config on the computer running the RTC, under the current user's profile, to define that a domain user account is to be used when connecting to the NAV Service tier.

On Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, the default location is:

X:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft Dynamics NAV

On Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, the default location is:

X:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Add the following key to the file:
<add key="DelegationInfo" value="DomainUser"></add>

There are two possible values: NetworkService and DomainUser. To enable delegation, set the parameter to DomainUser.

This will need to be repeated for all workstations that will be using the RTC.

After confirming all items above and making any changes, be sure to stop and start the NAV Server service before you attempt to re-connect using the RTC. If you still encounter the error message, remember that Kerberos tickets last for 10 hours, so if you add/change the SPN, you may either have to wait for any existing tickets to expire or download KerbTray and attempt to expire any existing tickets. This is found in the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit, which can be downloaded from:

http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en

Check the SQL SPN (if applicable)

SPN must be added for SQL Server when running under a domain account.

There are errors in the documentation walkthrough regarding how to create the SPN for SQL. The easiest way to check for the correct SPN syntax is to look at how it automatically generates the SPN when running with network service (switch the account running the SQL service to NetworkService, check the SPN and use that to set up the SPN for a Domain Acct.

An example might be...

MSSQLSvc/LALA1719334.NAV2009DC.LAB:1433

where

SQL Service = MSSQLSvc

Server = LALA1719334

Domain = NAV2009DC.LAB

Port = 1433

Laura K. Lake

Microsoft Dynamics NA

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) North America

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

Converting company names for NAV Web Services

scowri — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:26:00 GMT

A few weeks ago I saw an up tick in the number of cases having problems accessing exposed web service. Some of the problem has been because the “CRONUS USA, Inc.” company name converts to an unfamiliar “CROUNS_USA_x002C__Inc”. This will be changing in NAV 2009 SP1, but until that time it would be helpful to know exactly how company names are converted for NAV Web Services. The rules are:

The character '%' are converted to the word “Percent”.

The characters '@', '"', '.', '/', '(', ')', '\', '-', ' ' (blank space) are converted to “_” with the following two additional rules.

- no two succeeding “_”’s
- no trailing “_”

This covers most cases and only applies when replacing the above characters, not with the following "special characters".

Any remaining “special characters” are converted to “a valid XML name” (basically a numeric value, for example, the ampersand ‘&’ are converted to “_x0026_”). When a "special character" is converted like this, you could have two succeeding underscores ('_').

List of known special characters (please update as needed.):

The ampersand ‘&’ are converted to “_x0026_”
The comma ',' is converted to “_x002C_” (i.e. 'CRONUS USA, Inc.' would be converted to 'CRONUS_USA_x002C__Inc')

Additional, the How-To “Use SystemService to Find Companies” in the NAV 2009 Developer and IT Pro Documentation explain how to call the Companies operation on the SystemService to list the available companies with the converted names.

Scott Wright

Microsoft Dynamics North America

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) North America

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

Strange errors come during change SourceExpr value in NAV report designer...

gediminb — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:14:00 GMT

Our colleague raised problem: why he receives strange error during report compile, after he changed SourceExpr value for some control in report designer in NAV 2009.

Error message was:

Error while validating RDL content:
The Value expression for textbox “CompanyInfo” refers to the field ‘PricesInclVAT_YesNo’. Report Item expressions can only refers to fields within the current data set scope or, if inside an aggregate, the specified data set scope.

Error itself looks very strange because:
1. It comes from validating RDL content, but we changed nothing in it.
2. Changed was SourceExpr in NAV classic client report designer>sections>control property, and it has no relations to field mentioned in error. Actually what was changed: report 204 – Sales-Quote; control 116; SourceExpr had value "Sales Header"."Prices Including VAT" and now it has value FORMAT("Sales Header"."Prices Including VAT").

If we change back value – error disappears.

After deeper analyze we found that RDL dataset has field ‘PricesInclVAT-YesNo’, but after report designer change SourceExpr value by adding FORMAT – this field disappears from dataset. So problem really is in the SourceExpr value, however value itself is correct. And after few more research we found there is control 167 – name PriceIncVAT_YesNo which has exactly the same SourceExpr value - FORMAT("Sales Header"."Prices Including VAT").

Conclusion: only one source expression is pushed to RDL, if there are few controls with the same SourceExpr, only first will be in RDL, other will not appears there.

I asked NAV architects about this issue and they answered:

The field names that we show in the RDL dataset do NOT come from the SourceExpr property "directly". Each control on a report has a DatasetFieldName property, which is what we use to build the field names in the RDL dataset.

The DatasetFieldName property is then derived from the SourceExpr property the first time you open Visual Studio for a report using the View --> Layout menu item. After this, if you change the SourceExpr, the DatasetFieldName does not get changed. (The whole purpose of this property is to fix the dataset field name so even if you change your SourceExpr, you won’t need to redesign your RDL). This should cover most of the user scenarios.

In a few scenarios, you are not covered though: one is, if you move sections or controls in the layout, and if two controls have the same SourceExpr value, the control we choose to export to the report dataset may change with another one with the same SourceExpr. Since they have different DatasetFieldName properties, your RDL will break. We don’t cover this scenario and we don’t believe that we could fix this easily.

In another scenario: if you change the SourceExpr, and the data type of the new field is different than the old one, RDL compilation may fail due to the expressions used on that field - as these are data type dependent.

So, during report design be very careful with modifying 2 properties: SourceExpr and DataSetFieldName. Changes could impact RDL very much and result could be not you are expecting. Of course this is important if you already have RDL report prepared, if you will create new layout by using "Laoyout suggestion", problems will not come, because new RDl laoyout will be created regarding earlier described rules.

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

Special thanks to John Vestergaard from Logica Danmark A/S for pointing us to this feature.

Gedas Busniauskas

Microsoft Lithuania
Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) EMEA

Where is the zup file again?

Lohndorf — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:12:00 GMT

I keep forgetting where the CustomSettings.config, ClientUserSettings.Config etc files are. So I keep looking it up again in "Where is the zup file". This time, I collected the location of these files in a NAV form so I don't have to look them up anymore. In addition to this you can edit the files from the form directly. It looks like this:

The first time you run the form it will insert a record with the default settings. If your installation is in different folders, then you can of course just modify this. You can also create new records in case you have multiple NAV2009 installations / config files.

Note: If you run on Vista / Win2008 and want to update the config files from here, then you may have to start your NAV client as Administrator, or you may get "access denied" when clicking the update button.

I hope this makes it simpler to change setup settings. Objects attached are:

Type	ID	Name
Table	74250	NAV2009 Config Files
Form	74250	NAV2009 Config Files Card

Instructions for use: Run form 74250.

As always, these postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

Lars Lohndorf-Larsen

Microsoft Dynamics UK

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) EMEA

What do SPNs actually do - NAV 2009

Lohndorf — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:36:00 GMT

Three terms keep coming up when setting up NAV 2009 when NAV-server (middle tier) runs on a different machine than SQL Server:
- Delegation / Impersonation
- Kerberos
- SPN

Delegation / Impersonation is what it says it is. Kerberos is handled more or less automatically by Windows. But what do SPNs actually do....

(un)fortunately SPN can't be explained without first explaining Delegation and Kerberos.

Delegation / Impersonation:
The end-user (RTC) logs on to the NAV-Server which then logs on to the SQL Server - using the end-user's credentials (impersonating the end-

user). All logins here are Windows logins. Impersonation would also be a nice way for a hacker to gain access, so therefore Windows requires

that a domain administrator specifically allows the NAV-server to impersonate users on the SQL Server.

This is only when the NAV-Server and SQL Server runs on two different machines. When they run on the same machine, then Windows has already

authenticated the end-user when they connected to the NAV-Server. So when the NAV-Server logs on to the SQL Server (on the same machine),

Windows has already knows the end-user. So in this case there is no need to set up delegation, and hence no need to worry about Kerberos and

SPNs.

But with two machines, delegation is needed. Delegation requires Kerberos.

Kerberos:
Connections between two users happen all the time. What Kerberos adds to such a connection is a certificate (ticket) which ensures that each

of the two users can trust the identity of the other user. This is actually a kind of countermeasure against a user (hacker) impersonating

another user. Windows requires that before it allows delegation, that the connection being delegated is a Kerberos connection. In this way,

Windows has assurance that the user credentials being forwarded are valid. So when RTC connects to the NAV-server, it has to do this with a

Kerberos connection.

A Kerberos connection is between two Windows user accounts. A user doesn't know (shoulnd't know) what user account the NAV-server runs under.

This is where SPNs come in. So, finally we get to the SPNs:

SPN:
SPN (Service Principal Name) is a simple table that maps a service to a user account. Think of it as a table with two fields: Service-name,

and Windows User name. When the NAV client wants to start a Kerberos connection to the NAV-server, it will connect to for example

DynamicsNAV\Nav-Server:7046. Kerberos requiring a user name will then look this up in the SPN table and find the user name there. So, only if

an SPN has been created for the account that runs the NAV-service, will Windows be able to then start a Kerberos connection. And the user will

never need to know which that account the NAV-server is running under.

When setting up SPNs, make sure that:
1) The account that runs the NAV-service has an SPN that contains what the NAV client will connect to (Server name in the right format),and
2) Quite a common probem: Make sure that there are no duplicate SPNs. If you change the NAV-service to run under a different account you must set up SPNs for the new account. Then make sure to also remove the SPNs for the old account.

So in short: Delegation / Impersonation requires Kerberos. Kerberos connection to a service running an unknown account, requires SPN. And,

visa versa, if SPNs have not been set up correctly, then Kerberos won't work so then Delegation wont work either.

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

Best regards

Lars Lohndorf-Larsen

Microsoft Dynamics UK

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) EMEA

Setting up NAV 2009 on Three machines

Lohndorf — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:38:00 GMT

Setting up delegation and SPNs for NAV 2009 on three machines (when the NAV Server and SQL Server are on two seperate machines) is described in "Walkthrough: Installing the Three Tiers on Three Computers". But in addition to this, also be aware of the following:

The syntax of SPNs has changed since KB 968189
You may need to set UserAccountControl flag in Active Directory

Also thanks to our German colleagues for already posting this information here and here.

Syntax of SPNs has changed since KB 968189

After installing KB 968189 for NAV 2009 (Build 6.0.28795.0) the SPNs now have this format:
<Instance>/<server host>:<port>
<Instance>/<server FQDN>:<port>

So for example if the SPNs used to be set like this:

NAV-SERVER_DynamicsNAV/NAV-SERVER.Domain.com:7046
NAV-SERVER_DynamicsNAV/NAV-SERVER:7046

From this build and later they have to be set like this:
DynamicsNAV/NAV-SERVER.Domain.com:7046
DynamicsNAV/NAV-SERVER:7046

About KB 968189 itself, it solves a very specific problem where it may not be possible to connect if the domain has multiple DNS Suffixes, which is quite unusual. Most installations are not affected by this. You can check whether you are affected by running ipconfig from a command prompt, and see if it lists more than one domain name under "Connection-specific DNS Suffix".

Setting UserAccountControl flag

In some cases you have to set UserAccountControl as described in KB 305144. You set this flag by running ADSIEDIT.msc, go to properties of the user account running your NAV Server, and then select UserAccountControl. Setting it to 17301504 means TRUSTED_FOR_DELEGATION+TRUSTED_TO_AUTH_FOR_DELEGATION

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

Best regards

Lars Lohndorf-Larsen

Microsoft Dynamics UK

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) EMEA

Upgrading to Dynamics NAV 2009

jvukovic — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:10:00 GMT

Upgrade procedure to Dynamics NAV 2009 is not very different from upgrade procedures we had in previous versions, but some differences do apply, depending on what we want to achieve with the upgrade.

First scenario is executables only upgrade, which is the same as traditional executables upgrade in NAV. That means upgrading classic NAV client to NAV 2009 version by opening previous database versions with new client, and selecting yes when prompted to convert database, without any object changes or data transfer. Or alternatively, creating a new database with NAV 2009 client, and restoring a backup of customer's database.

This will, as before, upgrade the version of executables running NAV to 2009 version (builds 6.0 and higher) and create necessary system tables, but this will not automatically open up for using new NAV 2009 functionality (like RTC client or Web Services). Running the first scenario is a mandatory part of any upgrade scenario, just as it was in previous versions.

Beware of few issues that can rise from this scenario, see the link below for description.

http://blogs.msdn.com/nav_developer/archive/2009/05/08/upgrading-older-databases-to-nav-2009-runtime.aspx

Another scenario is doing an executable upgrade that would open up for using Web services, but would not include any object upgrade or data transfer.

This is where 3-tier scenario enters stage and a Dynamics NAV server should be set up and connected to the database (this is the normal installation/setup process of the service). Dynamics NAV Web service should also be installed, see Dynamics NAV documentation for installation and setup of different components.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd301130.aspx

To be able to use Web Services after doing an upgrade of executables and setting up a NST and Web service, one must also import and populate web service form (810) from a NAV 2009 client. This will open up for exposing codeunits (and also pages, but at this stage, pages are not yet present in database).

To further enable using RTC, one should also import tables 9050-9060, these are cue tables used in role centers of RTC. If you are creating and running custom Role Center pages, remember to create a record in each table by specifying any value as primary key (or follow code examples from standard Role Center pages that will insert a record if table is empty). A record in any of these tables will be automatically inserted when using standard NAV Role Page (based on that table).

In addition, reports should be 'transformed' to add RDLC layer and forms should be transformed to pages. You can also run reports with classic engine form RTC (that is run classic NAV report in RTC), in which case no object upgrade is necessary for reports. Note though, to run reports with classic engine on RTC client, each machine running RTC client (and classic reports) needs to have Classic client installed as well.

Furthermore, Role Center pages should be created or standard ones imported from NAV 2009 client (pages in range 9000-9020). Finally, PROFILE table (table 2000000072) should be populated with standard (or custom) profiles, and role center pages tied to these.

Last, but not least, you must make sure the existing code is modified to run in both scenarios (see MSDN documentation on code considerations for NAV 2009).

However, the job needed in this last scenario (specially transforming forms and reports) is not much different than using full database upgrade . In full upgrade version, objects in standard and custom version of NAV (version we are upgrading) would be merged with standard NAV 2009 objects to create custom NAV 2009 database. Note, all forms in standard NAV 2009 version are transformed to pages, so it is advisable to run Form transformation to create pages, once forms are merged to NAV 2009 object version. Also, one should 'upgrade' reports to add RDLC layer, once custom reports are merged to NAV 2009 version.

No data transfer would occur from W1 5.0 to W1 NAV 2009 version, as there are no changes to table structure from 5.0 version. Upgrading from earlier version would still imply data transfer using Upgrade Toolkit.

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

Best regards,

Jasminka Vukovic

Microsoft Dynamics NO

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) EMEA

Labels in NAV2009 Report Design

Lohndorf — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:40:00 GMT

When adding fields to a report, the caption is typically added automatically or with a bit of drag and drop from the DataSet in VS Report Layout. But if you want to add additional labels, for example Report Name in the header, then there are a few more steps you must follow.

Of course, you can just add a new TextBox in VS Layout, and type in the value you want to show. This is simple but will not give you Multi Language. Using a label from the classic report design gives you Multi language, but is a bit more complicated. This is what you need to do:

As usual, before you can use it in the layout you must add the label to the report sections, and then specify the caption you want to display. In this case, make sure to also specify a name in the DataSetFieldName-property of the label. For this example, let’s call it Report_Label.
To get the label value (Caption) into the layout, you must first add it to the Table on the Body-part of the layout. Note: It must be part of the table, and not in a TextBox outside of the table. The name of the cell will default to the DataSetFieldName you specified (Report_Label). And the value must be =Fields!Report_Label.Value. You get this value automatically if you drag it from the Data Set into a detail-section of the table. The caption is only here to be available from the header part of the report, so you can set the Visible-property to No.

Finally you can get the label from the table and add it to a header-section in the report layout: Add a new TextBox, then name it something unique, for example Report_Label1, and set Expression = =ReportItems!Report_Label.Value. Note that "Report_Label" refers to the cell you added above, not directly to the label on the sections.

This picture shows the steps needed to get the label to show in the header:

Lars Lohndorf-Larsen

Microsoft Dynamics UK

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) EMEA

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

GetCompaniesList error configuring Outlook Sync to use Web Services

scowri — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:29:59 GMT

In NAV 2009, Outlook Synchronization includes the option to use the new Web Services functionality instead of using C/FRONT and NAS. This is great and demonstrates some of the functionality that Web Services has to offer.

One issue that can arise when setting this up in a “3 machine” environment is when configuring the Microsoft Office Outlook Add-In. When selecting a company, you could receive an error similar to one of the following.

The connection to "" Microsoft Dynamics NAV database failed. The program returned the following error: GetCompaniesList error: The login failed when connecting to SQL Server xxx. connection string: NavSynchronizationUrl=http://yyy:7047/DynamicsNAV/WS/Codeunit/DynamicsNAVsynchOutlook;CompanyName=zzz; Please verify your synchronization settings. If the problem persists contact your system administrator.

The connection to "" Microsoft Dynamics NAV database failed. The program returned the following error:GetCompaniesList error: The request failed with HTTP status 401: Unauthorized. connection string: NavSynchronizationUrl=http://yyy:7047/DynamicsNAV/WS/Codeunit/DynamicsNAVsynchOutlook;CompanyName=zzz; Please verify your synchronization settings. If the problem persists contact your system administrator.

Note xxx is the server name of the SQL Server (Database Tier), yyy is the server name of the Dynamics NAV Server (Service Tier), and zzz is the company name.

These errors can occur if NAV Web Services are not setup with the correct SPNs and delegation information. If you haven’t already, make sure your have reviewed the walkthrough on setting up a 3 machine install (found in the nav_install.chm help file, NAV Help can be downloaded here.) and the previous post about setting up NAV 2009 Web Services.

Scott Wright
Microsoft Dynamics NA

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) North America

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

NAV 2009 Web Services on a three machine setup

scowri — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:28:04 GMT

Much like the setup of the RTC/NAV Server connection in NAV 2009. NAV 2009 Web Services needs to have a SPN added to properly authentic the users accessing it.

Consider the following scenario in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009. You have just completed the “Installing the Three Tiers on Three Computers” walkthrough. The NAV Role Tailored Client (RTC) is working. You have started the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Business Web Services service. When you attempt to view a Web Service URL in a web browser from a client machine you receive a login prompt. If you try to login, you are prompted three times before the process is stopped. An example of possible Web Service URLs is:

http://xxx:7047/DynamicsNAV/WS//Services
http://xxx:7047/DynamicsNAV/WS/SystemService

Note xxx is the server name of the Service Tier. This also assumes that you are using the default port (7047) and default service name (DynamicsNAV).

This problem occurs because a Service Principal Name (SPN) has not been added to the domain user account running the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Business Web Services service for the HTTP service, which is the normal service name used by web services.

Resolution

In order to eliminate the login prompts and allow authorized users to view the Web Services URL, you need to add the following SPNs to the domain user account running the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Business Services service.

HTTP/FullyQualifiedDomainNameOfNavWebServiceServer
HTTP/NameOfNavWebServiceServer

Now, I'm sure you all know if you use the ADSI Edit snap-in, or another utility such as the LDP or LDAP 3 utilities to incorrectly modify attributes to AD objects you could seriously mess up the AD, so be careful. Also, you need to be a domain admin to make the following changes.

To add the SPNs from a domain server, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Run, type Adsiedit.msc, and then click OK.
Note The ADSIEdit tool is included in the Windows Server 2003 Support Tools. If you are using Windows Server 2008 the ADSIEdit tool will already be installed. To obtain the Windows Server 2003 Support Tools, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6EC50B78-8BE1-4E81-B3BE-4E7AC4F0912D&displaylang=en
In the ADSI Edit snap-in, expand Domain [DomainName], expand DC= RootDomainName, expand CN=Users, right-click CN= AccountName , and then click Properties. If you are on a server running Windows Server 2008, you may need to first connect and bind to an instance.
Notes
DomainName is a placeholder for the name of the domain.
RootDomainName is a placeholder for the name of the root domain.
AccountName is a placeholder for the account that you specify to start the NAV Server service.
If you specify a domain user account to start the NAV Server service, AccountName is a placeholder for the domain user account.
In the Properties dialog window locate the servicePrincipalName attribute and double click it to open the Editor Dialog window.
Using the following format enter the following two SPNs individually. Click the Add button to add each SPN.

HTTP/FullyQualifiedDomainNameOfNavWebServiceServer
HTTP/NameOfNavWebServiceServer
When finished, click OK, and then OK. Finally close the ADSI Edit window.

Additional Information

Since Kerberos ticket usually expire after 10 hours, you may need to purge the current Kerberos tickets from client machine before the setup of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Outlook Add-in can be completed in Microsoft Outlook.

With Kerbtray.exe, you can easily verify or remove (or both) Kerberos tickets from any of the associated computers that are being used. To download the Kerbtray utility, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4e3a58be-29f6-49f6-85be-e866af8e7a88&displaylang=en

Scott Wright
Microsoft Dynamics NA

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) North America

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

Dynamics NAV 2009 and MS Office Integration, send-to Excel and Word

jvukovic — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:10:00 GMT

This blog describes changes in office integration feature, send-to Excel and Word, when using RTC client in NAV 2009.

Send-to menu option on RTC client is typically located in menu, under Actions - Send to option. Shortcuts for this functionality is added, but unlike version 5.0, only send -to Word and Excel options are available.

To export any page to Word/Excel, open the page and in Actions-Send-to menu select Word or Excel. The style sheet selected as default for that page/all pages will automatically be selected.

Codeunit 403 is no longer called by client when selecting these options, so any customizations of this process will not be used by RTC. This also means the Style Sheet tool can not be used with RTC.

There are no changes to this functionality when running with Classic client for NAV 2009.

Jasminka Vukovic

Microsoft Dynamics NO

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) EMEA

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

Using variables and C/AL code in a report in NAV 2009

Lohndorf — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:53:00 GMT

This previous blog "NAV 2009 - The structure of reports in VS report designer" describes how to get data from your data items into the layout of a report in Visual Studio (VS) report designer. This time we look at how to control the iterations of a report with code, and showing variables rather than fields on a report. So, for when you manually want to control what to print.

The tricky part is really to get the structure of the report right. Once this is done, adding additional information from variables / controlling data items from code, is not much work - mainly for these reasons:

The data flow in the report is still done from data items, which means the old way.
To show variables on a report, you just add it to sections, and it automatically becomes available from the VS report designer.

This example shows how to:

Use code to control the number of iterations on a data item
Show variables on the report
Add options to the request page, so user can tick “show Details”

Control data flow from code

This is really the same as it has always been. Just use C/AL code on data item triggers to decide how many iterations / whether to print a record or not. For this example, we will just print integer numbers. So to begin with, make a new report with the following two data items:

Integer - DataItemTableView = SORTING(Number) WHERE(Number=FILTER(1..3))
Integer (name it Int2), and indent it under the first one. Don’t specify further properties for this data item – we will control this from code. The report should look like this:

As I am sure you realise, without filtering on the Integer table the report becomes very long! So, to restrict the second data item to print just 5 numbers, just do it as you would normally from C/AL code:

Int2 - OnPreDataItem()
SETRANGE(Number,1,5);

This is really all you have to do to manually control what data is printed. As mentioned already, this is not different to how it has always been.
So now we just need to complete the report to print these numbers. This is where it can get more tricky if you are new to tables in VS report designer. For further details about the next steps, refer to this post.

First, to make data available in VS report designer, add it to the sections:
Go to View -> Sections, and add Number for each of the data items (Integer.Number and Int2.Number) from the Field Menu. It doesn’t matter where on the sections you add it.
Then, finally open VS report designer (View -> Layout) to put the numbers on the report. In VS report designer, add a table. Insert a group by right clicking on the icon for the Header:

Set the group to have Expression = “=Fields!Integer_Number.Value”, and untick “Include group footer”. Then put Integer_NumberCaption into the header, Integer_Number.Value into the Group Header and Int2_Number.Value into the Group Details, like this:

The report should now print 3 times the numbers 1 – 5:

Adding variables to the report

Now, instead of printing records from the two data items, create a variable and assign it values dynamically. Create a new global variable called TextVar, type Text, then assign it some value, for example like this:

Int2 - OnAfterGetRecord()
TextVar := 'Num ' + FORMAT(Number);

Again, just like you are used to. All you have to do from here, is to add it somewhere to sections to make it available in VS report designer.

In many cases, a report is designed to be run from either the classic client or the Role Tailored Client (RTC), and you need to add something to sections just to get access to it from VS report designer, but you don’t want it to show when the classic report runs the report. In this case, just set Visible=False, and the classic report won’t show it. In places in the standard application where this is done, the property ForeColor has also been set to 65535 (Yellow), just to mark that this field is only there so that it can be used in the VS report designer. For example, look at sections for report 116 – Statement.

Adding options to a request page

In the classic report designer you have request forms. In reports for RTC, you have request pages. To add something to a request page, go to View -> Request Page, and you are in a normal page designer. For this report, add a variable called HideDetails (Boolean) to the request page like this:

Note that Type is “Field”, whether SourceExpr is an actual field, or as in this case a global variable. Again, to make it available in VS report designer, you must add the variable to the sections. Then go into the layout in VS report designer.
To hide a section from the table, use the Visibility-tab for the section. Right click on the Details section in the table, then Edit Group, and on the Visibility tab set Visibility to Expression, and the expressions to =Fields!HideDetails.Value:

The end result is, that now when printing the report from RTC, you have the option to Hide Details.

Lars Lohndorf-Larsen

Microsoft Dynamics UK

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) EMEA

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

NAV 2009 - The structure of reports in VS report designer

Lohndorf — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:41:00 GMT

One thing is to make a report look pretty. But before you can do that, you have to make it work first. This post is about how to get the data structure right when designing reports in VS report designer for the new client in NAV 2009.

If you are completely new to the new environment, then take a look at this post first:

NAV 2009 - Report Designer - Introduction to the new environment

This post also assumes that you are already familiar with designing reports in the classic report designer.

Start with a classic report

The new environment in Visual Studio (VS) report designer relies completely on the data structure you define in the classic report designer. So you must first design data-items and link them in the right way. You must also use the classic report designer to decide what to display on the report – but not where to display it. Only data that you add to sections in the classic report designer is available in VS report designer. You can add fields and other data wherever you like in sections – as long as the data is there. Then you use VS report designer to place the data where you want it.

Sections in VS report designer - 1 Header, 1 Body and 1 Footer

A report in Visual Studio always has exactly 1 Body section. You cannot add more than 1. Optionally it may have 1 Header and 1 Footer. You cannot add further headers or footers.
Enable Header and Footer sections by right clicking in a blank area, then enable / disable header and Footer section:

Warning: If you disable the Header Footer the section with all its content will be deleted.
When the report runs, it will run the Header section once, then the Body section once, and then the Footer section once. It will not – like in the NAV report designer – run the Body section for each iteration / record. Looping through records is done by creating a table in the body section. So understanding tables is really important to getting the right data in your report.

Tables
This is there we loop through the data in a report. To create a table, insert it from the toolbox. As default it will have a Header, Detail and Footer section.
To enter something in a cell, either right click it, select Properties, and specify Value. Or drag and drop items from your Data set. Remember that your data set (“Website Data Sources”) consists of what you have added to the sections in the classic report designer.

Table Sections:
Header:
This is a typical place to put captions. If you drag an item containing text from your data set into a header, the environment automatically adds “First” to it. “First” means that it will show the first value in the data set, as opposed to looping through each record in the data set.
Detail:
This is where you have the iteration of the data in the report.
Footer:
This is a typical place to put totals. If you drag an item containing a numerical value from your data set into a footer, the environment automatically adds “Sum” to it, and the report will print the total from the report.

Example / exercise – simple report with one data item

The following example shows how to use the basic sections in a table in a report with 1 data item.

1) Create a new report with one data item Customer. On Sections, add Customer No. Name and Balance (LCY):

Unless you plan to run this report from the classic client it doesn’t matter where or how you add fields to the sections, or if you add header / footer or any other types of sections. You only add fields to the section because then they will then become part of the data source in VS report designer.

2) Click on View -> Layout to open VS report designer. Add a table from the toolbox. Look at “Website Data Sources” to see the fields available in the data set. This is the fields that you put on the sections. So if you want to add fields here, then go back to the sections, add them there, and next time you open the layout those fields will be there.

3) Drag and drop Caption fields into the Header, Normal fields into the Detail, and Balance_LCY_ into one of the Footer-cells:

That’s all you have to do to create a simple report. So now let’s add some more structure to the report.

Multiple data items:
This is where it can easily go wrong if you forget a step or two. First, we need to go back to the “old” environment and see how this affects your data structure.
The data structure and links are decided by the data items on the report and the fields you put on the sections (View -> Sections). About adding fields to sections, there are two things to be aware of:
1) To include something in the data set, it must be on the sections
2) If you add sections for another data item, then this affects the data set and the way the report runs
If you created the report from Example 1 above, then add the following:
Add a new data item “Cust. Ledger Entry”. Indent and link it to the Customer data item as you would normally. If you now run the report, it will run just as before. Then go to sections and add one or more fields from “Cust. Ledger Entry”. Run the report again, and this time you will see a difference. When you added fields to the sections, you also expanded the data set. The table in the layout will now print a row for each record, and because you have added data to the data set, it will print one row for each. You need to group this data in order for it to make sense. This is where it can get a bit tricky.

Grouping

The table in VS report designer will just print all the data in the data set. Unless you group the data correctly, the result will not make any sense. To insert a group, highlight a row in your table, right click it, then “Insert Group”:

For a group you must specify the Expression, which tells the table what to group by. When creating a group it’s for the indented table – in this case “Cust. Ledger Entry”. So we want to group it by Customer No. From the Customer table. So select that as the expression:

Also, just to simplify the report, un-tick “include group footer”.
This completes the structure of the table. But the report will print one group header and group fields, so leaving these empty will mean a lot of blank lines. To complete this report, drag fields into both the new group header and into details.

This is where the report can easily get wrong if you miss a small detail, and where it may be necessary to try a few times before the report looks the way it should. The result of the report is a combination of data items, sections, and the table you created in VS report designer. So if something is not right, the problem may be any where in those areas. One tip: If the report prints a lot of blank lines, then check if you have any blank rows in the table. Here is a simple table layout that prints customer s and Cust. Ledger Entries:

Table elements

As described in the previous sections, you have to use the right table elements in the right places. This is what the icons of the table elements mean, and how and where to use them:

Table header
Will print once at the top of the table.

Group header
This is for when you have an indented data item. The header will show data from the top-level data item, for example Customer No.

Table Detail
This corresponds to a body-section, either from a main table or from an indented table.

Group Footer
This is also for indented data items. How this will print, depends on how you have set up the group in the table.

Table Footer
Will print once, at the end of the table

Lars Lohndorf-Larsen

Microsoft Dynamics UK

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) EMEA

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

NAV 2009 - Report Designer - Introduction to the new environment

Lohndorf — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:21:00 GMT

Microsoft Dynamics NAV has always had its own report designer. In NAV 2009 it still does, but in addition to this you can also use the Visual Studio (VS) report designer.

NAV 2009 – both the classic and the new client – will still run reports designed in NAV’s report designer. So in way nothing has changed. You can still use the existing report designer. VS report designer offers a lot of new options and features. The idea of this post is to describe what features out of 100s that you actually need. When it comes to a simple report, only a very few features are needed to get started. This post tells you which ones they are.

Old versus New

The classic client can still only run reports designed in the classic report designer. The new client (Role Tailored client – RTC) can run reports designed with either the classic or with VS report designer. When RTC launches a report, it checks if a layout has been defined in VS Report designer. If it has, then it will run that. If no layout has been defined, it will launch the report engine from the classic client and run the report exactly like it would have been run from a classic client. This does require that a classic client has been installed as well, even if the user will never have to run this client.
I this way you can use the classic report designer for some reports, and VS Report designer for others.
Report design is still done from Object Designer in the classic client.

VS report designer is a different environment. It has features that are not available in the classic report designer, but also limitations compared to the classic report designer. For example, it does not support Trans-Headers and Footers. But as described above, the VS report designer is a choice you have – you can still use the classic report designer if there are things you can't achieve with the VS report designer.

The new environment

Sections is where you make your report layout in the classic report designer. This will run in the classic client as well as in RTC. For RTC you can create a report layout, which is done in VS report designer. So “Sections” refer to the classic report layout while “Layout” refers to the layout done in VS.

The classic report designer introduces four new options:

Tools -> Create Layout Suggestion:

This makes a “best effort” to transform your classic report design and create a suggested layout in VS report designer. This can do a lot of the hard work for you so you don’t have to start from scratch, or design sections first in the classic report designer, and then create the layout in VS report designer. The tool can’t guarantee to transform every report, but it will always at least give you a good start, and for many reports it will do all the work needed.

Tools -> Delete Layout:

This deletes the report layout

View -> Layout:

This opens VS report designer and is where you will go to design your report for the RTC.

View -> Request Page:

The classic client runs forms while the new client runs pages. The same goes for request forms on a report. So if you want to add options to the report for the new client, then do that in the request page.

VS Report Designer

Going to View -> Layout opens VS Report Designer which looks like this:

The parts of this environment you need, are:

Toolbox:

Normally you can switch between the Toolbox and “Website Data Source” (fields) as shown in the red circle in the picture above. But if for some reason the toolbox is not visible, then go to View -> Toolbox. If you use the “Create Layout Suggestion”, then this will add the necessary elements to the report, and you won’t need the toolbox. If you create a layout from scratch, then all you need from the toolbox – at least for simple reports , is a table:

Website Data Source:

This is where you select the fields to print on the report. It will automatically show you anything that you have added to sections in the classic report designer. So to add / remove fields from here, go to sections and add / remove them from there.
To add the fields from the WebsiteData Source, just drag and drop them into a table or to where you want them displayed.

VS report designer has 100s more options, features and elements, but the ones mentioned here are the only ones you need to get started.

Workflow – designing reports

So having explained which features you need - at least to create a simple report - this is how to use them:

When you have done your layout in VS report designer, close and save it which will bring you back to the classic report designer. Moving one line up or down will prompt you if you want to load the report layout. When you do that, the VS report layout is saved in the report object itself.
So exporting a report from Object Designer will export all of it, including the layout you have designed in VS report designer, whether you export the object as .txt, .xml or .fob. If you export the report as .txt or .xml, you can see the VS report layout added at the bottom of the report, in a section called RDLDATA.

Finally, to run the report, either run it directly from Start -> Run, like this to run report 99800:
dynamicsnav:////runreport?report=99800
or of course you can add the report to a page to run it from the new client.

Lars Lohndorf-Larsen

Microsoft Dynamics UK

Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) EMEA

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.