Error: SSRS/EP error when the return type in display method is incorrect – Dynamics AX 2012

October 11, 2013 1 comment

When you work with data sources through a query in EP/SSRS you might land up in this error “Data or calculated fields with type “Record” are not supported”.

Record_type_error (2)

How do i resolve ?

One of the tables that is being used in the data source has a display method with a return type as “record”.  Scan through all the display methods and find the one that has the display keyword but still returns a type record in the signature. In our case we had a method similar to this

    Public display inventTable getInventTable()
    {
         return InventTable::find(this.itemid);
    }

Why does this happen ?

It is illegal to use a display keyword for a method that returns any complex object like “Container”, “Record”, “Class”. The reason we don’t find it inside AX is because compiler doesn’t validate it and it can be deducted only at run time. So say you have you a display method as in the example above but you never use it then AX never complains about it.

When these tables are accessed through Query in SSRS, SSRS tries to run through the list of display methods to show up in the field selection. Since SSRS cannot comprehend the return type it throws this error.

For more tips and learning about SSRS – AX 2012 order the book Dynamics AX 2012 Reporting Cookbook authored by me.

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Issue: Dimension lookup “selected record invisible” – Dynamics AX 2012

October 7, 2013 Leave a comment

On a server machine which was used for UAT testing the users were complaining about the selected record not visible in the lookup as seen here,

 2013-10-07_1251_001

As we all know the financial dimension lookup uses the segmented entry control which is a managed control. Segmented entry control being a managed control we have limited handle to the behaviour and appearance. So after some search around we ended up that it was a windows theme related issue. If you happen to use AX2012 on a server machine (Windows Server 2012) or using the VPC you may notice this issue.

The solution is to change for a better theme, but hold there is a point there. By default windows server 2012 doesn’t allow you to change the theme. This feature is called a “Desktop experience”, this must be enabled to activate the the personalize option through which you can change the theme. See here on how to enable desktop experience for Window server 2012  http://www.win2012workstation.com/desktop-experience/ . If you are on a standard Microsoft Dynamics AX VPC machine then desktop experience is already enabled. You just need to make the choice of a better theme. Once we had changed our theme the lookup looked much better.

2013-10-07_1251

Interested in learning SSRS – Attend my SSRS session at AXUG. See more details here[/quote]

 

Sharpen your SSRS skills. Buy the Dynamics AX reporting cookbook

 

Productivity tip: Do you need the under score when naming – Dynamics Ax

October 4, 2013 Leave a comment

Well When we sat through the product review there was one simple point that caught our attention, surprisingly it helped us improve our productivity. This post is to share on what we learnt.

Typically i have seen several implementation and product development teams adopting the ‘_'(underscore) naming convention. In fact we followed it through out Dynamics AX 2009. Though at the very first look it appears helpful in hindsight it deters productivity.

How ?

1. While you type holding a shift key is not making typing faster.

2. Every time you declare a variable you are again held up with underscores

3. On the AOT node navigating is definitely not easier.

If you look all these points at a component level it can be ignored but when you do it over and over it adds up to a significant time.

Next time you start a new project or product consider if you need to use the underscore ‘_’ again.

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Dynamics Ax 2012 Reporting cookbook published & 5 reasons why you should go for it

September 30, 2013 Leave a comment

Hello everyone,

I’m very happy to inform you that the Dynamics AX reporting cookbook I authored is now published and available through major retailers online.

amazon-com amazon-co-uk barnes-nobleimages

If you had pre-ordered it through packt then you should already have it in your hand. If not and you are still thinking if this book is for you, here are 5 reasons that tells you how buying this book is a good choice.

7720EN_MockupCover_Cookbook

  1. Understand the inners of reporting Framework: This book helps you understand the framework portions like the controller, preprocessing, temptable marshaller to the depth with the help of flowcharts and diagrams. Just because you do it better when you know it better.
  2. Better choice of controllers and data source: The book has one or more examples for all the possible controls including the ones that are not found in the out of the box reports and discusses every possible data source available for the reports with examples. Just because you make a better choice when you know the options better.
  3. Speed up development and testing: Inside the book there are unique techniques that can help you speed up development as well gain time by quick tricks to fasten testing. Just because you get time to be creative when you make your routines easier.
  4. Implementation pattern reference: There are recipes in this book for typical development patterns like validations, defaulting values, building lookups, multi value lookups, inventory & financial dimensions and much more. Just because Google is not your only friend we are here too 🙂
  5. Analyze and Handle issues faster: The book has step by step in detail guidance to approach development issues, upgrades and design. It speaks about additional tools that can help you understand report performance and usage. Just because your mysterious must not remain unresolved.

curious and want to know more before buying ??

Look at the table of contents here  or Download the sample chapter from here

Interested in reviewing this book in  your blog ? Please contact me @casperkamal[at]gmail[dot]com

Interested in learning SSRS – Attend my SSRS session at AXUG see more details here

This blog has more SSRS tips revealed from the book read them here

Producvity tip: Don’t scroll use Ctrl + G in your Editor – Dynamics Ax

September 27, 2013 Leave a comment

The other day as i was reviewing a code modification to a long method from my team mate he had to walk me up and down through the code scrolling.

Just then the Ctrl + G flashed in me. Yes It takes a lot less effort to type in the line number then scrolling up and down. Even if you are not sure of the line number make it a guess then it is always a few lines up or down.

Go_to_line

If you are newbie here is how you can find the line number

On AX 2009 

You can identify the line number in the status bar.

2009_LineNum

On AX 2012

Activate the toggle line number in the tool bar or identify the line number from the status bar

Ax2012_LineNum_001

Best practice

Ideally keeping best practices in mind you must right methods that have limited number of lines and break them and keep it modular.

SSRS Tip: Prevent report execution through controller – Dynamics Ax 2012

September 25, 2013 Leave a comment

What a user might hate to see is a blank report. No matter where the mistake lies the earlier we react the happier the user is. Here today i’m sharing a tip on how you could stop/warn/show a info after the report execution is initiated  after the user clicks the “Ok” button in the dialog.

In the example discussed here, the idea is to check preemptively if a query will return a record or not. If no then the report aborts execution.

To implement this, open the controller of your report or create one.

On the controller class, override the method “preRunValidate”

Place the code as shown here. This method is invoked after the user clicks the “Ok” button and before the report is executed. Do not block the super call in this method as it does few other important validations. This method can return an error/warning/info. If it is a warning or error the report aborts further execution.

protected container preRunValidate()
{
    container   validateResult = super();
    Query       firstQuery;
    int         recordcount;

    firstQuery          = this.getFirstQuery();
    custStatementCount  = QueryRun::getQueryRowCount(firstQuery, 6);
    if (custStatementCount > 5)
    {
        validateResult = [SrsReportPreRunState::Error, "No valid records found for the specified range"];
    }

    return validateResult;
}

Standard recommends the method to be used for validating if the report returns a large amount of data.For reference see \Classes\CustAgingReportController\preRunValidate\
For more tips and learning about SSRS – AX 2012 order the book Dynamics AX 2012 Reporting Cookbook authored by me.

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SSRS Tip: Printing Row headers in every page – Dynamics Ax 2012

September 23, 2013 2 comments

This post today will discuss how to print row headers in every page for tablix.

When your table has a header

When using table type tablix with headers as seen in the below image, right click on the Tablix properties and select “Repeat header rows on each page” (If you use a matrix control please check the same for “Repeat header columns on each page”)

RepeatHeader

When you use a static tablix member in Row or Column.

If you don’t realize what a static tablix member, select a table and insert a row using the option “Outside Group – Above” or simply Insert Row -> Above if you don’t have any groupings. Now open the Group mode window (if not open, click the grouping icon from your report tool bar grouping_windo) and then click Advanced mode. The system will show up static members in a table. These are members that are calculated once and are rendered in one or multiple pages. These controls can also be used like headers.

Coming back, Once you have identified the static tablix member you want to repeat, On the property of the tablix member set “RepeatOnNewPage” to True. (If this doesn’t work outright, try setting the property “KeepWithGroup”  to “After”)

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For more tips and learning about SSRS – AX 2012 order the book Dynamics AX 2012 Reporting Cookbook authored by me.

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Dev Tip: Activating document handling for inquiry(read only) forms – Dynamics Ax 2012

September 20, 2013 Leave a comment

This post will explain how document handling can be activated only for specific tables or for all tables.

Activate document handling for selective tables.

To activate document handling for selective tables.

Go to Organization administration -> Setup -> Document management -> Document management parameters

Check the flag “Use active document tables”

selective_active_document

Once specified here then document handling is active only for selective list of tables. To specify the active list of tables  go to Organization administration -> Setup -> Document management -> Active document tables. Document handling is now only enabled for the selected tables in a controlled mode.

active_doc_table

Activate document handling for all tables.

Simply unchecking the  “Use active document tables” in Document management parameters makes it activate for all tables. There is a limitation here, in the case where document handling is enabled for all tables the system verifies if the table has edit/delete permission. Only if it is the case document handling is activated otherwise it is disabled. E.g This means tables like Salestable/Salesline will have permission to add/edit documents while forms that uses tables like custInvoiceJour, vendinvoice jour will have document handling disabled.

User’s may ask for document handling to be activated on these read only  forms. In these case there is a way out.

Go to Organization administration -> Setup -> Document management -> Active document tables and enter the table name, say “VendInvoiceJour” also make sure to check the “Always enabled” flag. This is very important since this means the document handling is enabled irrespective of the table permission. So this way you can activate document handling for read only tables

alwayenabled

\Forms\DocuView\Methods\doReSearch – Go to this method

on line Number: 130 – add the following line,

allowEditBasedOnActualForm = true

codeimage

Setting this will enable you to use the full document handling feature even for read only forms.

SSRS Tip: Using invisible parameters in contracts – Dynamics AX 2012

September 18, 2013 4 comments

There can be cases where you wanted a contract in the attribute but do not want the UI builder to expose it to the user. The reporting framework in AX provides a very easy way to incorporate this.

Open the parm method in the contract that you don’t want to expose. Add the attribute shown here along with other attributes. This attribute when found in the parm method will automatically prevent the UI builder from adding this to the dialog.

[DataMemberAttribute, SysOperationControlVisibilityAttribute(false)]
public LogisticsAddressing parmAddress(LogisticsAddressing _address = companyAddress)
{
companyAddress = _address;
return companyAddress;
}

This feature comes as a part of the BOF, see here http://j.mp/185ufd2

Update: Apologize for the wrong statement here. The only way to make a parameter visible when using the contract with reporting framework is to specify it in the design. This is because the contract class \Classes\SrsReportRdpDataContractInfo\buildMemberAndNestedObjectMap – 29 ignores this attribute and reads the design RDL (created using your VS) to decide if a parameter must be visible in the contract. So to hide your parameter open the parameters node in Visual studio and then set the visibility property to hidden.Also a point to understand is that the VS design overrides any specifications at the contract level for properties like  LableHelp, Visibility, grouping, HelpText, value type (multivalue) etc. (Ref: \Classes\SrsReportRdpDataContractInfo\fillReportDesignProperties). Thanks to a AXForum member who pointed this out.

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For more tips and learning about SSRS – AX 2012 order the book Dynamics AX 2012 Reporting Cookbook authored by me.

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SSRS Tip: Using labels for dynamic texts in SSRS reports – Dynamics Ax 2012

September 16, 2013 9 comments

Dynamic text in the reports makes them more readable and meaningful. In this article we will see how we can use labels from  AX to construct your dynamic text. The string format option comes handy to help us do this.

Here is how you must specify a string text with labels in it.

Open the report control properties and on the property “Value”, select the expression option and place your text in the format seen here.

=System.String.Format(“This is a label id converted at run time {0}”, Lables!@SYS1560);

You can also use report or data base fields like Fields!CustTable.Value to construct your Dynamic text.

For more tips and learning about SSRS – AX 2012 order the book Dynamics AX 2012 Reporting Cookbook authored by me.

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