Over 90 recipes to help you resolve your new SSRS Reporting woes in Dynamics AX 2012 R3
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Understanding and Creating Simple SSRS Reports 1
Introduction 1
Using a query as a data source in a report 3
Creating auto designs from datasets 8
Grouping in reports 11
Adding ranges to the report 13
Deploying a report 15
Creating a menu item for a report 18
Creating a report using a query in Warehouse Management 20
Introduction 24
Creating multiple data regions and charts in reports 24
Creating a chart data region 27
Creating a new layout template 29
Expression in reports 33
Aggregation in reports 36
Adding an image in auto design 38
Formatting reports 40
Adding unbounded parameters in reports 41
Adding filters to data regions 44
Adding document map navigation to reports 46
Creating drill-up/drill-down actions in reports 47
Introduction 50
Opening a report through a controller 50
Modifying the report query in controller 55
Opening a report with a dialog 56
Creating a report using the UI Builder class 58
Adding a lookup on a report dialog using the UI Builder class 62
Connecting the UI builder class with a contract class 65
Adding ranges from unbound parameters to a query 66
Modifying the UI by caller 72
Turning off a report dialog 73
Setting up security for reports 73
Adding up the report menu item into privilege 74
Calling multiple reports from a controller 77
Calling multiple reports simultaneously using a single controller 78
Debugging a report model 80
Adding data methods in business logic 82
Adding a URL drill through action in reports 84
Debugging business logic 86
Unit testing business logic 87
Creating a report using a controller and the UI Builder class 88
Introduction 95
Creating a simple RDP report 96
Testing the RDP report 103
Creating a simple precision design 104
Creating an advanced RDP report 107
Creating a report with multiple data sources in a single table 114
Creating a group view report 117
Adding headers and displaying company images 122
Using an existing temp table in RDP 123
Pre-processing reports 127
Introduction 129
Adding a datasource through business logic 130
Using an XML feed as a datasource 133
Building a parameter lookup using business logic 136
Building a report through an external datasource 141
Adding a parameter for an external datasource query 145
Creating a customer summary OLAP report 146
Adding a parameter lookup for OLAP 150
Designing an OLAP table report with SQL Report Builder 156
Designing a map sub-report with SQL Report Builder 164
Creating a sub-report in auto design 170
Creating a sub-report in precision design 173
Introduction 177
Creating a matrix report 178
Creating a multicolumn matrix report 183
Creating a column chart report 186
Creating a line chart 189
Gauges in reports 193
List and rectangle controls in reports 196
Adding reports to the role center 201
Introduction 206
Upgrading a report from its previous version 206
Analyzing and modifying an existing report 210
Implementing validation in reports 214
Surrogate fields in reports 216
Grouping and ordering controls in the report dialog 221
RDP with multiple temporary tables 227
Multi-value lookup 229
Inventory dimensions in reports 233
Financial dimensions in query reports 236
Financial dimensions in RDP reports 238
Introduction 250
Assessing report performance and usage 250
Handling long-running reports in AX 254
Troubleshooting reports in AX 260
Auto e-mail, save as file tasks in reports 266
Handling events after report completion 268
Generating and displaying barcodes in reports 271
Hiding controls by context 280
Using AXEnumProvider as the dataset for parameters in reports 282
Adding a new report design to print management 284
Deploying language-specific reports to speed up execution time 286
Improving the functionality of reports 287
Introduction 289
Creating reports by fetching the data using complex queries 290
Creating reports by fetching the data using views 294
Creating reports by fetching the data using maps 297
Chapter 10: Unit Test Class and Best Practices Used for Reports 301
Introduction 301
Creating a unit test class for a contract class 302
Creating a unit test class for a controller class 305
Creating a unit test class for an RDP class 307
Best practices for AX 2012 report development 317
Index 321
Preface
Reporting provides consolidated, factual, and up-to date information about any area of business in an organization. This will help the organization member to take the right decision for their business. It acts as a treasure trove of reliable information for long-term planning and decision making.
In Microsoft Dynamics R2, AX provides the tool to build the SSRS reports but in Microsoft Dynamics R3, the tool to build the SSRS reports in a more simple and efficient way. This book will give over 90 more recipes for beginners to understand the SSRS reports in Microsoft Dynamics AX R3 faster and in a simplified manner.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Understanding and Creating Simple SSRS Reports, helps you to walk through the basis of SSRS reports and create a simple report using queries. This chapter will also help you understand the basic characteristics of reports.
Chapter 2, Enhancing Your Report – Visualization and Interaction, covers how to enhance the visualization and interaction of reports through parameters, creating data regions and charts, and formatting the reports.
Chapter 3, A Report Programming Model, helps you build the SSRS reports programmatically inside Dynamics AX and add the validations programmatically.
Chapter 4, Report Programming Model – RDP, helps you to develop the advanced reports using the data provider framework. In this chapter, we will create a report using RDP classes.
Chapter 5, Integrating External Datasources, covers how the SSRS reports can be extended to include other data sources or through the integration framework.
Chapter 6, Beyond Tabular Reports, helps you understand the other formats of reports such as using matrices and charts. This book also covers the interesting components of reports such as gauges, rectangles, and lists.
Chapter 7, Upgrading and Analyzing Reports, discusses the approaches for moving the MorphX-based reports into SSRS reports and also covers the patterns of reports.
Chapter 8, Troubleshooting and Other Advanced Recipes, dives into the performance and troubleshooting of SSRS reports. This will also introduce the log viewer through which you can analyze the report usage and its log.
Chapter 9, Developing Reports with Complex Databases, discusses developing the SSRS reports that have complex data and how to drive that data into reports using maps, views, and queries.
Chapter 10, Unit Test Class and Best Practices Used for Reports, helps you create the unit test classes for a report, which will help you test the business logic being written to develop reports. It will also tell you best practices to be followed when developing the reports.
What you need for this book
To practice the content in this book, you need the following software:
- Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3
- SQL Server Reporting Services
- SQL Server Analysis Services
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 in case of CU8
Alternatively, you can use the Virtual Image available for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 through the Microsoft Learning download center.
Who this book is for
This book is aimed at IT administrators looking to develop their own reports for their internal demands and for X++ developers who want to deepen their understanding of SSRS reports.
This book requires some basic knowledge of the SQL server reporting system, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, X++, and MorphX. Some examples are based on C#.NET; however, it is not a must to read this book.
