Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2: Mysterious Mysteries
Now that Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 is in the wild, we’re starting the process of learning its quirks.
And there’s something I’ve found that is difficult to figure out—unless someone tells you about it.
I’ve seen it mentioned in a few other places, but I want to put it up here to spread the word around.
The Mystery
Sometimes, you’ll open up a report in Dynamics NAV 2013 R2, and you’ll try to open the report layout in Visual Studio, and you’ll get a message saying “An error occurred when opening the report designer. A supported version of Visual Studio could not be found.”
Figure 1 – Screenshot showing the error regarding a supported version of Visual Studio
The Solution
You should be able to download Visual Studio for free, and that will be a supported version of Visual Studio. You can also use a fuller version of Visual Studio 2012 (if you have it), and I’ve heard that Visual Studio 2013 will work as well, although I haven’t tested it. And, yes, there’s also a Visual Studio 2013 Express,
I’ve gotten that error a few times, even with Visual Studio installed. It happened to one of my customers today, and I used Visual Studio to edit a report for them just last week.
There is an answer, though. If you open up the Dynamics NAV development environment, and go to Tools – Options, you need to have the Use Report Builder property set to “Yes”, or you’ll get the “A supported version of Visual Studio could not be found” error.
For more information on topics related to Microsoft Dynamics NAV development, read the ArcherPoint Developer Blog, written specifically for Dynamics NAV developers, or contact ArcherPoint directly.
Credit should go out to the Mibuso.com thread at http://mibuso.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=59317&f=32 for helping me figure this out.