Walkthrough: Creating a Nonprinting Report

Article
10/18/2021

In this walkthrough, you will create a non-printing report. A non-printing report is a report that only does processing without actually outputting or printing a report. This type of processing is usually achieved by using codeunits. You use the ProcessingOnly Property of the report to make the report non-printing without much programming. This functionality also gives you access to the request page and enables the user to filter the data before you run the report. Instead of writing C/AL code to open tables and retrieve records, you only have to define a data item.

About this Walkthrough

This walkthrough shows you how to create a non-printing report that enable a user to adjust the prices in the item table. The user enters the factor by which to adjust the prices on the request page. The user can use the filters on the request page to filter the data and apply the adjustment to only the filtered data.
This walkthrough illustrates the following tasks:

Defining a data model.
Declaring variables.
Adding controls to the request page.
Using triggers to process the data.
Testing the report.

Prerequisites

To complete this walkthrough, you will need:

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 installed with a developer license.
CRONUS International Ltd. demonstration database installed.

Defining the Data Model

When you create a new report, you must define where the data that the report will display should come from. You define the dataset in Microsoft Dynamics NAV Report Dataset Designer.This report has one data item that is based on the Item table (table 27).

To define the data model

In the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Development Environment, on the Tools menu, choose Object Designer.
In Object Designer, choose Report, and then choose the New to open the Report Dataset Designer.
In the first row, in the Data Source field, choose the up arrow to open the Table List window. In the Table List window, select the Item table (table 27), and then choose the OK button.
Verify that the Data Type column is set to DataItem.
On the View menu, choose Field Menu.
In the Field Menu window, select all the fields and then choose the OK button.

You can select all the fields by selecting the upper-left corner of the window or by holding down the Ctrl key and selecting all the fields.
At the prompt, choose Yes to add the selected fields.
Select the DataItem row, and on the View menu, select Properties.
In the Properties window, select the DataItemTableView property, and in the Value field, choose the AssistEdit button to open the Table View window.
In the Key field, select the No. key and choose the OK button.
In the Order drop-down list, select Ascending. Choose the OK button to close the window.
In the Properties window, select the ReqFilterFields property, and in the Value field, choose the AssistEdit button to open the Field List window.

You will add filters that will enable users to filter the data based on the No. field or the Inventory Posting Group field or both.
In the first row, choose the up arrow to open the Item-Field List window and select the No. field, and then choose the OK button.
In the second row, choose the up arrow to open the Item-Field List window and select the Inventory Posting Group field, and then choose the OK button.

You will now set the property that will make the report nonprinting. Later, you will add code to triggers to do the actual processing.
In Report Dataset Designer, select the next empty row. On the View menu, choose Properties to open the Properties window of the report.
In the Properties window, locate the ProcessingOnly property, and in the Value column, choose Yes.
A message that states that the report layout will be deleted appears. Choose Yes to delete the layout. On the File menu, choose Save As.
In the Save As dialog box, in the ID field, enter 50006, and then in the Name text box, enter Nonprinting Report.
Make sure Compile is selected, and then choose the OK button.

Declaring Variables

You will now declare the variables you will be using in the code.

To declare variables

On the View menu, choose C/AL Globals and declare the following variables. You will enter the variable name and the data type in the C/AL Globals window. The subtype and length are not applicable.

Variable name DataType

Window

Dialog

Adjustment

Decimal

NewPrice

Decimal

Variable name	DataType
Window	Dialog
Adjustment	Decimal
NewPrice	Decimal

Adding Controls to the Request Page

You will now add a text box where the user will enter the adjustment factor. By default, the value of the text box is 0.

To add a text box control

On the View menu, choose Request Page to open the Request Options Page Designer.
In the Request Options Page Designer, on the first row, in the Name column, enter a name, then in the Type column, select Container, and then in the Subtype column, select ContentArea. For example, you can name the container AdjustmentContainer.
On the second row, in the Caption column, enter Enter the adjustment factor, and in the Type column, select Field. In the Source Expr column, choose the AssistEdit button to open the C/AL Symbol Menu window.
In the C/AL Symbol Menu window, select Adjustment, the variable you created earlier, and choose the OK button. This value will be used as the factor by which the unit price will be adjusted.
Verify that the second row is indented one unit to the right and then close the Request Options Page Designer.

Using Triggers to Execute Code

Now that you have defined the data model and designed the request page, you will add C/AL code to the triggers of the Item data item to calculate the actual price adjustment.

To use the triggers to execute code

In Report Dataset Designer, select the DataItem row.
On the View menu, choose C/AL Code to open the C/AL Editor.
In the OnPreDataItem() trigger, enter the following lines of code:
```
Window.OPEN('Processing item #1#########');
If Adjustment = 0 THEN
  CurrReport.QUIT;
```
The first statement in the OnPreDataItem trigger opens a progress window that shows the progress of the report as it is run. Because the report is nonprinting, the usual printing progress window is not shown. If the table is large, the report may run for a while. Therefore, it is a good idea to show the user how the process is progressing.

The second statement ends the report without doing any processing if the adjustment factor is 0 (zero). If the adjustment factor were allowed to be zero, all the prices in the table could be set to zero.
In the OnAfterGetRecord() trigger, enter the following lines of code:
```
Window.UPDATE(1,"No.");
NewPrice := Adjustment * "Unit Price";
VALIDATE("Unit Price", NewPrice);
MODIFY;
```
The first statement in the OnAfterGetRecord trigger enters the item number in the window when a new record is retrieved. The second statement uses the value stored in the adjustment variable to adjust the unit price of the items and assigns the adjusted price to the NewPrice variable. The VALIDATE function of the Unit Price field is used to update the price of the items. Any special processing (for example, updating of related fields) in the OnValidate trigger of the table field is performed. Finally, the MODIFY function is used to write the change.
Close the C/AL Editor window and save the report.

Testing the Report

You can now test the report.

To test the report

In Object Designer, select the report you just created and then choose Run. The request page for the report is displayed.
In the Enter the adjustment factor text box, enter an adjustment factor. For example, you can enter 10 and then choose OK. The window opens and displays the items that are being adjusted. In this case, the unit prices for all the items in the table are adjusted. The report is not displayed and is not printed.

You can run the Items table, look at the unit prices and run to report again using an adjustment factor of 10. If you look at the unit prices in the Item table again, you will notice that the unit prices have increased by a multiple of 10. You can also set the filters to select specific records to modify.

Next Steps

You might consider designing a report that has a layout and can be printed. For more information, see Walkthrough: Designing a Customer List Report.

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