ArcherPoint Dynamics NAV Developer Digest - vol 62
The ArcherPoint technical staff—made up of developers, project managers, and consultants—is constantly communicating internally, with the goal of sharing helpful information with one another.
As they run into issues and questions, find the answers, and make new discoveries, they post them companywide on Yammer for everyone’s benefit. We in Marketing watch these interactions and never cease to be amazed by the creativity, dedication, and brainpower we’re so fortunate to have in this group—so we thought, wouldn’t it be great to share them with the rest of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Community? So, the ArcherPoint Microsoft Dynamics NAV Developer Digest was born. Each week, we present a collection of thoughts and findings from the ArcherPoint staff. We hope these insights will benefit you, too.
Kyle Hardin shared this keyboard shortcut:
I am faster with the keyboard than I am with a mouse, so I am always looking for key combinations in NAV that let me keep my hands off the mouse and on the keyboard. When 2009R2 came out, many of the keyboard shortcuts we were used to either changed or went away completely, but Microsoft has been good at adding them back with more recent versions.
Example: Hit these keys in sequential order (NAV 2015): Alt M C
This brings up the company list, and F4 activates the lookup to let you select a company to switch to.
Now what? I’ve chosen the company, but I have to grab the mouse to click the OK button, since Enter doesn’t do the trick!
Super-secret tip of the day: Ctrl-Enter (at the same time) simulates hitting the OK button. Now you don’t have to touch that darn mouse.
Jon Long: My favorite Ctl-Windows-Alt-F1 to zoom on lines.
Faithie Robertson shared this keyboard shortcut for commenting lines in the NAV 2015 DEV client:
Somehow in the midst of implementations and upgrade projects, I missed this little tidbit about the NAV 2015 DEV client. It made me pretty happy, considering I’ve memorized the keystrokes “//-down-left-left & repeat” to comment multiple lines.
With an object open in the DEV client, highlight the rows you want to comment out, and use the toolbar EDIT – Comment Selection – and poof! They’re all commented out with “//”! And if you want to do the reverse, use EDIT – Uncomment Selection.
And if I’m the last to know – I’m still happy to find it and share it because no one should have to memorize “//-down-left-left & repeat” ever again! 🙂
Reporting Tips
Helle Madsen on using integers for fieldcaptions:
Reporting Tip: If you use an integer for fieldcaptions and other header information, you might not want to have it as the first dataitem in your report. If you use PrintOnlyIfDetail=Yes on the “real” dataitem, the report will still generate a page if integer dataitem is at the very top in your datamodel. Instead, you can indent the integer dataitem under the “real” table, and now PrintOnlyIfDetail works. This will generate more rows in your dataset, but it will also skip records without details. Remember to change the expression in the layout for column headings, etc. to something like =Last(Fields!NameCaption.Value, “DataSet_Result”)
Matt Traxinger: The key is just to have all of the Constants in a single integer data item. If you do those at the beginning of the report you can use First(Fields!Name) and if you do it at the end you can do Last(Fields!Name)
Matt Traxinger on reporting terminology:
Let’s get our terminology straight. I often misuse the terms data model and data set, but I’m getting better.
The data model is what you see when you are designing your report. It’s where you choose your tables and columns and create the structure of the report.
The data set is what is produced from the data model. It contains the actual data that will be displayed on the report. You can view the data set by previewing the report and clicking Help –> About This Report.
Matt Traxinger on integer data items:
Integer data items are your best friend. They allow you to logically group columns in your data model without affecting the data set. Your data model doesn’t have to be an incoherent mess. Group constants together at the top of the data model (like company logos) and group related information (kind of like the Fast Tabs on pages) for other data items like Sales Header. This will help developers and end users alike when they are creating their layouts.
Faithie Robertson on converting NAV reports from A4 format:
NAV 2015 contains 31 standard report that are set to “A4” paper. This is a common cause for reports not printing correctly. It seems every upgrade has at least one of these that has to be changed. And since knowledge is power….here’s the list of the reports that use “A4”. (When changing the paper size to Letter, be mindful that the margins may need to be adjusted as well.)
Click here for a list of the reports.
If you are interested in NAV development, check out our collection of NAV Development Blogs.
For step-by-step instructions on how to perform specific tasks in Microsoft Dynamics NAV, see our collection of How-To blogs.
If you found this post useful, you might also be interested to read through our archive of the Dynamics NAV Developer Digest.