What are the Visual Studio options for developing RDLC reports for Dynamics NAV 2009
Updated 24. September 2009 to include options for Dynamics NAV 2009 SP1. / Claus Lundstrøm
Today we have the following outlined in our Online Help
For development of reports for the RoleTailored client, one of the following products is required:
· Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express edition SP1 or above
· Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard or Professional SP1 or above
· Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Standard or Professional or above
Note: If Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 edition is used, the Reporting Add-In for Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 is also required.
I would like to elaborated on this because other version are also available and we also have a hotfix available for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 users which need explaining.
So here it goes. The following editions of Visual Studio are supported:
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Editions:
· Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express edition with SP1. With “Reporting Add-In for Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005”
· Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard or higher editions with SP1
Tip: If SP1 is not installed for any of the 2005 version you will be asked to convert report when opening Visual Studio from Classic Client. Converting the report will not do any good, so SP1 is required.
Note: Visual Studio included in SQL Server 2005 is not supported.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Editions:
Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express edition with SP1. With “Microsoft Report Viewer Add-on for Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition” NEW FOR SP1
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Standard or higher editions
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Standard or higher editions with SP1
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 included in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Workgroup or higher editions
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 included in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express with Advanced Services
Note: ZIndex hotfix is included in SP1 for Visual Studio 2008. ZIndex hotfix issue explained in the end of this blog post.
Note about Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition: NOTE: ONLY IF YOU ARE USING DYNAMICS NAV 2009, SINCE THIS HAS NOW BEEN FIXED IN RELEASED SP1
Unfortunately this does not work out of the box with NAV 2009 RTM, since “Microsoft Report Viewer Add-on for Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition” was released after NAV 2009 RTM.
When using Visual Web Developer with Report Viewer Add-on, you will be asked to convert report when opening Visual Studio from Classic Client. Converting the report will not do any good.
There is a workaround for this:
1. Navigate to “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\60\Classic”
2. In this folder there is 2 folders called “ReportLayout2005” and “ReportLayout2008”
3. Copy all files from “ReportLayout2008” to “ReportLayout2005”
Doing this will of course kill support for “Microsoft Visual Studio 2005” and “Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express” on this specific client, but now Visual Web Developer 2008 works, and you no longer get the convert report message. We plan to have this issue resolved in SP1 for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009, so there is no need for this manual workaround.
ZIndex issue:
- Without ZIndex hotfix:
When making any change to a report in Report Designer(Visual Studio) all ZIndexes will be updated in the RDLC.
- With ZIndex hotfix:
When making any change to a report in Report Designer(Visual Studio) only ZIndexes for the specific change will been updated.
Having the ZIndex hotfix installed will make comparing of changes in between version of a report easier.
Hotfix works for all Visual Studio 2005 versions. ZIndex hotfix is included in SP1 for Visual Studio 2008, but please notice that hotfix is not available in Visual Studio 2008 without SP1.
Read more about the ZIndex hotfix for Visual Studio 2005, and how to obtain here.
Thanks,
Claus Lundstrøm, Program Manager, Microsoft Dynamics NAV