How To Use Item Attributes in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017

Have you ever been in a situation where a you wanted to add some additional details about the Items in your inventory and you did not know where to add them? There are Description and Description 2 fields in the Item table, or you can use extended text or comments, but can it hold all the information that you want? For example, when NAV is integrated with an online store, that might demand more information about the Item in a structured way rather than having all the information flat in a Description field.

Fortunately, NAV 2017 comes with a new feature, ‘Item Attributes’ to rescue us from having to spend a few hours on customization to resolve this. It has a few commonly used attributes predefined in the Demo Database and the best part is that you can add any number of attributes to it and define what value types it accepts.

To define new Item Attributes, navigate to Sales & Marketing/Inventory & Pricing/Item Attributes. Then to create an attribute, you should provide the attribute name and the type of value it accepts as shown below. Item Attributes also supports multi language and when an attribute is no longer in use you can block it from the same page by simply checking the Blocked checkbox.

Figure 1 - Define the New Item Attribute in Dynamics NAV 2017

After creating new Item Attributes, we can define the values of the attributes to each item from the Items List page. In the Actions tab of the Items list page click on the Attributes icon, select the attributes, and enter their values in the Item Attribute Values window. Blocked Attributes and blocked Attribute values does not appear in the dropdown list. The information entered here is also available in the Attributes fact box on the right.

Figure 2 - Assigning Item Attributes to the Item in Dynamics NAV 2017

It is also possible to filter the Items based on the attribute values. To do this, click on the Filter by Attributes icon in the Items list page and enter the conditions based on which the list should be filtered. It supports the commonly used filtering operations and makes it possible to filter the items based on multiple attributes and multiple attribute values, which functions similar to page filters.

Figure 3 - Filtering Items by Attributes in Dynamics NAV 2017

The filtering option is helpful in selecting the items in a Sales Order or Sales Invoice page, as you can apply the Item Attributes filter by clicking ‘Advanced’ in the Item field of the order lines.

In NAV 2017, we can also define attributes for the Item Categories, which will be applied to the item as we select Item Category while creating new Items.

Figure 4 - Assigning Attributes to Item Categories in Dynamics NAV 2017

While Item Attributes is a small change in the product, it has a huge impact on customers and partners. Partners should be ready with the commonly applicable item attributes as per the customers’ items. It will be easy to deploy when setting up Dynamics NAV for new NAV customers. We should also be able to customize the reports to allow customers to filter the reports based on the Item Attributes, which will help them analyze data better.

If you have any questions about this function or other Dynamics NAV questions for any version, contact ArcherPoint.

Read more "How To" blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

If you are interested in NAV development, check out our collection of NAV Development Blogs.

How to Backup and Restore NAV Database Using SQL Server 

Data is one of the most valuable assets of any company. To ensure you keep your data safe, database backups are essential.

After the release of NAV 2013 R2, Microsoft discontinued the NAV Database backup (.fbk) feature. An additional option was added to allow for import/export of data in NAV 2013 R2, but doing a backup using the Import/Export Data feature is time consuming. For a complete Database backup, SQL Backup is the best and fastest option.

Creating a Full Backup From SQL Server Management Studio

• Open SQL Server Management Studio from the menu
• Navigate to Database for which you want to create backup

Right click the Database. Select Tasks → Backup

Figure 1 - Select Backup from SQL Server Management Studio

• To create a full backup, select ‘Full’ in Backup type
• Choose where to  save the backup file using ‘Add’ button under Destination

• Under Options select ‘Verify backup when finished’ to ensure that all the files in the backup are readable and can be restored
• Click ‘Ok’. Backup File will be generated in the specified location

Figure 2 - Options in the SQL Server Backup Window

Restoring the Dynamics NAV Database

To restore a full database backup, which we created through previous steps:

Right click the Databases → Restore Database

Figure 3 - Restore Database Options

• Select ‘Device’ and click Assist Edit button.
• Click ‘Add’ and navigate to destination where backup file is stored
• Select .bak file and click ‘OK’
• Click ‘OK’ in ‘Select backup devices’ window

Figure 4 - Select the Backup File to Restore

• Fill in the name of new database
• Navigate to ‘Options’ and uncheck the check boxes under Tail-log backup

Figure 5 - Rename the Database and the Option Restore Window

• Navigate to ‘Files’ and update the data file and log file as shown below
• Click ‘OK’
• Database is restored

Figure 6 - Rename File Window for Database

Best Practices for Dynamics NAV Database Backup and Restore

1. A Complete SQL Backup of Production database should be taken weekly (over the weekend)
2. The SQL Backup process can be automated using a SQL Server Agent

If you have any questions about this function or other Dynamics NAV questions for any version, contact ArcherPoint.

Read more "How To" blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

If you are interested in NAV development, check out our collection of NAV Development Blogs.

Benefits of Using the Dynamics NAV Web Client

With the release of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, Microsoft released a new client option, the Web Client. Despite the benefits, many customers are still not using this option. This blog will dispel some myths surrounding the Web Client as well as describe the benefits of using it over the Windows Client.

Enhanced Capabilities

The Web Client capabilities are enhanced with every new version release of NAV, which is not always true with the Windows Client. If a customer plans to switch to using the Web Client, there are other benefits, including:

• installation is not required on every client machine;
• platform cumulative updates are easy to implement (update only required on the server); and
• hardware and software requirements are nearly zero; a client will only need a supported Web browser.

Cost of Using the Web Client

When we look towards the cost of using the Web Client from a license perspective and development cost, it is zero.  The Dynamics NAV user can use both the Windows and Web Client. Development/ customization done by partners and Add-On providers will automatically work with the Web Client without any additional cost.

If you compare the Windows and Web Clients in NAV 2017, there are number of features that only work with the Web Client. Read more about the enhancements in the NAV 2016 Web Client.

If you have read about the new AL Extension for Visual Studio, there are certain features that lead me to believe that the future of Dynamics NAV will be using only the Web Client. For example, the new AL Compiler in Visual Studio auto populates the Web Client after compilation. Moreover, the design mode (In-client Designer) option, where users can add new fields, change layout, and create simple extensions, is only available within the Web Client. Read more about the In-Client Designer option here.

Figure 1: Screen Shot of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Web Client

Effort of Using the Web Client

Lastly, the level of effort and time required to apply cumulative updates (hotfixes) using the Windows Client instead of the Web Client can be significant. Imagine if you have 300+ user terminals all requiring this hotfix. If you use the Web Client, the hotfix can be applied in a maximum of 30-minutes to one hour; but if you use the Windows Client, you need to apply the hotfix on all of the Windows Client terminals/machines and server(s), which can take hours to complete.

Benefits of Using the Web Client with Microsoft Dynamics NAV at a Glance:

• The hassle-free Client is now the Web Client. No installation is required
• The Web Client can be accessed from any computer; as a user, one would only need their ID and password
• Executable updates are easier as they only need to be performed on the server
• Using the Web Client outside the company network is easy to configure

If you have any questions about this function or other Dynamics NAV questions for any version, contact ArcherPoint.

Read more "How To" blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

If you are interested in NAV development, check out our collection of NAV Development Blogs.

Read more Dynamics NAV blogs by Saurav Dhyani.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017 Architecture

An entire book could be written, and likely has, on the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017 architecture and how to design the on premise infrastructure to host it. To help you get the most out of this software, and to understand the foundation on which it has been built, this blog provides a summarized version of Dynamics NAV 2017’s complex architecture.

Three-Tier System

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017 is a three-tier (or three-layer) architecture system. It consists of:

• presentation tier
• logic or business processing tier
• database management system tier

The presentation tier consists of the NAV Windows Client (formerly RTC), the NAV Web Client, the NAV Tablet/Phone Client (Universal App), and the NAV Development Environment. The business logic-processing tier is where the NAV code is executed and is called the NAV Service Tier or NST for short. The database management system tier is SQL Server.

In the older two-tier (2009 and older) architecture, the Classic Client performed all the business logic processing. It was considered a fat client; it had to be located on the same LAN segment as the database server. The new presentation tier is a thin collection of clients. The one slight exception is the NAV Development Environment that is exclusively used to develop NAV code. The rest of the user interface clients, because of being thin, can be deployed in a variety of dispersed environments, from LAN to WAN to over the Internet. The NAV Windows Client for Dynamics NAV 2017 now comes in a 64-bit version, which enhances performance and supports larger report datasets than the limited 32-bit client from NAV 2013 to 2015.

The business logic-processing tier is a service that runs on a server and links or sits in the middle between the client and the database. There is so much that can be said about the capabilities of the NST service, but the primary take away for this discussion is that the service is 64-bit and multi-threaded, meaning it uses more than one processing core to process. Its job is to execute the NAV code as requested by the client, translating the code into SQL queries, processing the data, and passing the resulting information back to the client.

Many have the misconception that most of the work being done in a NAV environment is on the SQL Server. While SQL server does do a lot of work, the real work to take data and turn it into information is done on the NST. The queries that are generated in the translation of NAV code to TSql are simple. They are reads, writes, edits and deletes. No complicated table joins, table triggers or stored procedures to execute. This means SQL Server uses relatively little CPU cycles compared to the NST. The SQL Server does use a lot of RAM and needs very fast disks particularly for reading.

Best Way to Configure Dynamics NAV 2017

You might be thinking, “Brian, we know about the three-tier architecture since back in NAV 2009 sp1. But how do we size the hardware and what is the best way to configure NAV 2017?” That is a great question and really the point of this blog post. Microsoft has not released performance-testing results since they came out with NAV 2013 R2, but fortunately, the architecture has not changed since then with the slight exception of the 64-bit Windows Client. In the Microsoft white paper, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 Sizing Guidelines for On-Premises Single Tenant Deployments, we see in their conclusions that 500 concurrent users completed 90% of their tasks with acceptable response time.

The amount of RAM used broke down to 5MB per user plus 500MB for overhead. What the paper also suggests is that four CPU cores is the optimum number to handle 500 concurrent users, or approximately 150 users per core. What they found was that beyond 500 users even adding more RAM did not improve performance. Therefore, to handle more users requires scaling out to multiple servers instead of scaling up the hardware. While it is great that the results show a potential for 500 concurrent users performing transactions on a single service, it is important to keep in mind these were done on a small base NAV CRONUS database and simple transactions. In the real world with customization and ISV add-ons, the number is more like 200-250 concurrent users.

SQL Server

SQL Server hosting a Dynamics NAV 2017 database is a light consumer of CPU cycles but a heavy consumer of RAM and dependent on very fast disks. SQL Server is designed to cache as many previously queried datasets into RAM as it can in case those queries are executed again. SQL Server will cache the entire database given time and enough RAM, and this is a good thing. Therefore, a good rule of thumb is you should have more RAM on your SQL Server than the size of your database (plus 2-4GB for the OS). This rule starts to break down with databases larger than 128GB due to restrictions set on the Standard Edition of SQL Server. If your database is larger than 200GB and you have more than 100 users, seriously consider the Enterprise Edition and stick to the rule. Fast disks are solid state or 15k RPM SAS drives in RAID10 arrays on local controllers. There are a glut of best practice SQL disk setup guides, so I am not going to dive deep here. Suffice it to say, NAV is a lot like any other OLTP database with about a 75% read to 25% write ratio, so dedicate a disk array for the data files and another for the transaction log file(s). All other databases and administrative files should be on a third array.

NST Server

The NST server is where the real magic happens; this is where the NAV code is executed. The most important thing I can say about designing this server is use the fastest CPUs possible. I am talking GHz frequency; 2.8GHz is the bottom number. I recommend 3.1GHz and higher for my clients. Newer CPUs that have bursting technology might idle at 2.0 to 2.4GHz, but are capable of spiking up beyond 3.0GHz. For environments of 25-50 people, two CPU cores is all that is needed. Widen the freeway with more cores if you have more users, but make sure the ride is fast with those higher frequency cores. The NST service is 64-bit and can consume higher amounts of RAM. However, the really busy services that I run into rarely use more than 4GB at a time and unlike SQL server will throttle back down when not in use. The NST service is multi-functional or has multiple end-points. It serves four unique functions, client connections, two flavors of web services (SOAP & OData), and the headless client known as NAS. I recommend to my clients that if they are going to deploy more than the client connection function, that they deploy dedicated services for each and disable the functions not used in each service. Theoretically, a fully deployed NST would have four NST services each with a dedicated Active Directory user Service Account. In that case, I would recommend 14GB of RAM for the server. Four for the OS, four for the client connection NST, two each for the SOAP, OData, and NAS services. (Stay tuned for a future posting on best practice NST settings.)

Client Computers

As for the client computers, any Windows 8.1 or 10 computer with at least 2GB of RAM can host the NAV Windows Client. Microsoft does not officially support Dynamics NAV 2017 on Window 7 (don’t tell anybody, but it runs just fine on Windows 7 Professional 64-bit or higher with Service Pack 1). The NAV Web Client can be accessed from just about any HTML browser. The NAV Universal App can be installed on Android, iOS or Windows devices, but on 4” or more for phones and 7” or more for tablets. The NAV Universal App consumes the secured (https) NAV Web Client site inside or outside the on premise network. There are a couple of ways to deploy the NAV Windows client easily with unattended installation or using Microsoft’s ClickOnce .NET application deployment tool the details for each easily accessible on MSDN.

The Dynamics NAV 2017 three-tier architecture is more complicated than in previous versions. Do not fret though; it just takes a little planning and a little help from your friendly neighborhood Dynamics NAV partner to put together the best possible system for your on premise deployment.

Read more "How To" blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV. For more technical blogs, check out our collection of NAV Development Blogs.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV Report Hacks 

Working with reports in Dynamics NAV can be quite interesting and is actually intuitive, especially if you have a few report hacks, reminders, and ways to make things easier at your disposal.

Below are some of the aspects of report development that are often overlooked or forgotten.  Without these reminders, working with reports in Dynamics NAV can be difficult and frustrating. Feel free to print this list out and keep it handy when working with reports.

Top Things to Keep in Mind when Working with Reports in Dynamics NAV

Filters for Integer loop:  Imagine counting from -2,147,483,647 to 2,147,483,647. That is what happens when you run a report with Integer DataItem without filters. It is important to set filters for all the DataItems in the report. When you do not, you will end up with a report displaying items of irrelevant orders, incorrect customer balances, etc.

Scope: Have you ever come across a scenario in which aggregate functions like Sum give a gigantic value?  It often happens in reports with multiple groups. A lifesaver here is the usage of Scope.

Angular Brackets for Dates: When you are developing a multi-language report, make sure that the date formulae are enclosed in angular brackets. If you do not, the formula 1W+1D in English may be converted to 1S+1J in French, which could be a big problem.

Also, do not forget to set language of the report as follows:

CurrReport.LANGUAGE := Language.GetLanguageID(“Language Code”)

Page Size: It is easy to forget about this property, which will result in blank pages/data cut off/ wrapping of data etc. if you do not set the page size.

Rectangle: It is quite common to see texts displayed in incorrect positions especially in Report Headers. This happens even when CanGrow and CanShrink property of the textbox is set to false. Here Rectangle comes to our rescue. Place textbox/textboxes inside a Rectangle and the problem is solved!

Number Formatting: You may wonder why numbers are not formatted even when you set the number format. One of the reasons could be that the textbox values may not have been converted to a numeric value. CInt or CDec function comes in handy to resolve this issue.

HTML: To allow html content in your report make sure you set Markup Type as HTML - Interpret tags as styles in Placeholder properties.

No Image:  If your logo or image is missing in your report then there is a high chance that you missed using CALCFIELDS for the picture field.

Barcode: Use a Barcode scanner to verify if the barcode in your report is readable. Many a times you can see barcode displayed in the report but it will not be readable by the scanner.

Temporary: Make sure that you set the Temporary property for Buffer tables and Temporary variables to avoid deletion of any data.

Page Number:  If you see continuous page numbers across the document, then it is time to check the ResetPageNumber property of the group.

Padding: Is the textbox content wrapping even after setting CanGrow and CanShrink property as False? If so, then adjust the size of text box or change the padding to avoid wrapping.

Report Header Size: If your report header is huge but you do not want it to occupy so much space in all the pages then you can just move the contents of report header to the report body.

Keys: Yes, it does matter in Reports too. You have to set a key for DataItem or use SETCURRENTKEY to avoid long running time of the reports.

Permissions: Set appropriate permissions for the report to use other objects otherwise the users may face errors while running the report.

HRESULT Error: It is a quite common error, which occurs while using Export to Excel. It could happen due to many reasons. One of the most common reasons is setting invalid Cell Type. So make sure that the datatype of a field and Cell Type are compatible.

Read more "How To" blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Check out our collection of NAV Development Blogs, visit our resource center, and be sure to subscribe to our newsletters.

Fixing the Location Filter in Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 to NAV 2016

Microsoft Dynamics NAV Coffee Break: Introduction to User Personalization 

Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a useful tool that typically impacts everyone in a company. Chances are most people at your company use Dynamics NAV at some during the day, each with a different task using a different set of features of the software. By using Dynamics NAV’s user personalization feature, each user can have their very own customized version of Dynamics NAV to make their user experience more productive and efficient. In this video, Gwen demonstrates how easy it is to set up and assign profiles that are included in Dynamics NAV out of the box.

Look for Gwen's next blog on how to customize the user profile once you've set it up.

You can view this video and many other video tutorials for Dynamics NAV on ArcherPoint's YouTube Channel. 

Dynamics NAV Coffee Break: Fixing Stuck Filters in Classic Client

Sometimes the filtered views get “stuck” in Microsoft Dynamics NAV Classic. Despite trying to “clear all” or other tactics, nothing seems to fix a stuck filter. In desperation, many people reset and delete all the customizations to restore the default settings. Gwen demonstrates an alternative to this torched earth approach to fixing stuck filters. She walks through a design change, which allows for a change on one screen (undoing a stuck filter) without completely removing all filters.

You can view this video and many other video tutorials for Dynamics NAV at ArcherPoint's YouTube Channel.

For more step-by-step instructions on how to perform specific tasks in Microsoft Dynamics NAV, see our collection of How-To blogs.

Creating a Ranked Jet Report

Those of us who use Jet Reports are painfully aware that Jet does not have a ranking feature for replicated lists. However, there is a workaround: you can create an automatically sorted Jet report with nested Jet functions and use Excel’s rank function to give you a ranked Jet report. This blog will walk through the steps to do just that.

Basic Sorting in Jet

To sort any replicating function in Jet using a field in the same table, add that field to your filters and use a + or – sign in front of the field name. If it is a field you don’t need to filter on, and only just sort on, use an asterisk * in the filter. We will use this same principal to sort a replicated list by rank.

Example:

Figure 1- Example of sorting a replicating function in Jet Reports

Figure 2 - The Jet Reports Function Wizard

Sorting by Rank in Jet Reports

To sort a replicated Jet list by rank we will use the same premise as the simple plus and minus sign sorting and add a nested Jet function and Excel Rank.EQ function.

First, create your table or report in Jet as you normally would. In this example, I have made a simple list of salespeople and their sales. The Salesperson column contains the NL Jet replicator function to create rows and the YTD Sales column contains a GL function for the total sales for that salesperson.

Figure 3 - Sorting a Replicated Jet List by Rank

In order for your report viewers to readily see the ranking add in an Excel RANK.EQ formula. This step is not required, but usually helps create a report that is more visually pleasing. Add a column for the rank and type in =RANK.EQ (cell reference for field you want to rank on, array for first cell in the reference column to empty cell below, 0). Visit Microsoft’s Office Support site for further explanation of the RANK.EQ function in Microsoft Excel.

In the example below, notice that the ref or cell array section of the formula should include the empty cell just below the replicated row. This will ensure the formula’s array expands as the rows replicate.

Figure 4 - Excel's RANK.EQ Function

Now that we have a visible ranking, we are ready to insert a nested function into our replicator formula to sort the report results automatically. The easiest way to do this is to highlight the function syntax in the formula bar of the Jet report cell your Rank references (YTD Sales in our example) and copy the text. Make sure you copy the text and not the cell. In the example, this is the YTD Sales cell that uses a GL Jet function (you can use the NL function in this way too).

Figure 5 - Rank References Highlighted

Then select your row replicator cell and click the NL button to open the Jet Function Wizard.

Figure 6 - Select the NL Button

In the Jet Function Wizard, paste the copied GL (or NL) function into a blank Filter Field. If you have other filters set that is fine, this will not interfere with them. Then add a quote mark and a plus or minus sign (depending on how you need the results sorted) before the equals sign. Add a quote mark at the very end of the function as well. In the portion of the function that references the replicator results, remove the cell reference and enter an NF function with the key blank and the field matching the field value on the original NL function. Example: NF(,”Code”). Finally, in the Filter cell enter an asterisk “*”.  Click OK.

Figure 7 - Set Filters in the Jet Reports Function Wizard

The final function will look like this (could use NL instead of GL):

Figure 8 - Final Function Example

= NL ( “What” , “Table” , “Field” , “+=GL(“”What”” , Account , “”Start Date”” , “”End Date””, “”View”” , NF( , “”Field””)) “ , “*”)

Notice the nested function uses double quotation marks. Jet should add those automatically for you. I find the copy and paste method to be the quickest way to perform the rank and sort; however, you can use the Nested Jet Function button instead. Please note, if you use the Nested Jet Function button you will have to add the doubled quotation marks and equals signs to your entry to get it to work correctly.

Click the Report button on the Jet ribbon and your results should be a list of values sorted with matching ranking.

Figure 8 - Ranked Report

Using the nested Jet function paired with rankings creates reports that do not require a manual sort or adjustments after running and gives you a nice clean presentation of data.

To find out more about Jet Reports and how it integrates with Dynamics NAV please visit our resource center, and be sure to subscribe to our blog and newsletters.

For more step-by-step instructions on how to perform specific tasks in Microsoft Dynamics NAV, see our collection of How-To blogs.

ArcherPoint Dynamics NAV Developer Digest - vol 166

The NAV community, including the ArcherPoint technical staff, is made up of developers, project managers, and consultants who are constantly communicating, with the common goal of sharing helpful information with one another to help customers be more successful.

As they run into issues and questions, find the answers, and make new discoveries, they post them on blogs, forums, social media...so everyone can 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 community—so we thought, wouldn’t it be great to share this great information with everyone who might not have the time to check out the multitude of resources out there? So, the ArcherPoint Microsoft Dynamics NAV Developer Digest was born. Each week, we present a collection of thoughts and findings from NAV experts and devotees around the world. We hope these insights will benefit you, too.

Appending a Document to a Printed Purchase Order in Dynamics NAV

Kyle: I have a customer that needs a large extra page of Terms and Conditions to be appended to a printed Purchase Order. This extra page is an entire page of 6-point font legalese. I currently have that stored as a PDF in a BLOB, and then right after the report prints, I have the system print the PDF. This works fine for printing, but not so well for attaching to an email since you wind up with two separate files.

I can't figure out a way to inject a PDF into a SAVEASPDF report.

So I am thinking of switching the PO report layout to Word, converting the Terms and Conditions from PDF to Word (so the BLOB is now a Word document), and then using DotNet Microsoft Word calls to combine the two and generate a single file.

Thoughts? Commentary? Personal insults?

Michael: Does the PDF have to appear with a particular format, or is it just raw text that could be read from a table and appended as an extra data item on an extra page of the report?

Kyle: It has to appear in a particular format. Parts are bolded, parts are italicized. And it is enough text that even if I could ignore the formatting, I'd have to make it BIGTEXT and somehow parse out each line and hope it wraps correctly.

Suresh: One way is to store the file in the specified format in a specific location as PDF, so that it is easy to modify the file if needed and then use the merge tool to merge the PO report PDF with that file. See this thread on adding another page on a PDF file.

Bill: If you paired the Blob Text Set and Get functions with an HTML Placeholder on the report, that might get you what you need, see Waldo’s entry on HTML on Reports.

Not sure about an HTML text editor to edit the text in NAV, but I've seen various add-in controls over the years. At worst, you could cut/paste the HTML out of a WYSIWYG editor.

Tom: I did something like this for a client some time ago, but I didn't have to deal with special formatting like bold/italic fonts. I did it by putting all the terms/conditions in a table, and then looping through the table and putting the text on a line. There was also a "Line Break" Boolean that let the invoice report know that it needed to break before a line. But with special formatting, you might just have to make it an image and then print that.

Kyle: I managed to get the two documents combined into one using DotNet and Word, but Word's PDF converter isn't 100% accurate, so it mangles the layout a bit.

I am going to have to cave and turn this into an image.

How about you, NAV developers? Have you run into this need? How did you deliver your solution?

Stay abreast of what is new in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV community and at ArcherPoint by subscribing to our monthly newsletter, Better Business, by completing the form in our Resource Center.

If you are interested in NAV development, be sure to see our collection of NAV Development Blogs.

Read more "How To" blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Dynamics NAV Coffee Break: Document Number Formulas

Document Number Formulas are a timesaving feature available in almost all versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision), both classic and RTC versions. The Document Number feature is most often used in the Recurring Journals. This video provides a brief tutorial how to use this feature to save time and effort in Dynamics NAV.

You can view this video and many other video tutorials for Dynamics NAV at ArcherPoint's YouTube Channel or call for a consultation.

Dynamics NAV Coffee Break: Using My Notifications 

Microsoft introduced a variety of new features and functionality with the release of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017. The MyNotifications feature is among them. By using this feature to tailor each NAV user’s instance, it can help you be more productive while using Dynamics NAV. This video provides a brief overview of where find this feature, how to add filters, delete standard options, and personalize for each Dynamics NAV user login.

To learn more about the new features in Dynamics NAV 2017, see the Feature Enhancements blog part 1 and part 2

You can view this video and many other video tutorials for Dynamics NAV at ArcherPoint's YouTube Channel.

Read more "How To" blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Dynamics NAV Coffee Break: The Check Ledger Entry Screen 

There are some unknowns about the Check Ledger Entry screen in Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision) including where to access it (spoiler alert: only from the Bank Account card), and how to use it to its fullest potential. This short video provides an overview to help you get the most out of this component of Dynamics NAV as well as explains the difference between the entry status of Voided and Financially Voided.

You can view this video and many other video tutorials for Dynamics NAV at ArcherPoint's YouTube Channel.

Read more "How To" blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Dynamics NAV Coffee Break: Getting Checks to Print

How many times has this happened to you…you are working in Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision) using multiple bank accounts, and switching banks, and when you go to print a check nothing happens? You do not get an error message, but you also do not get your checks printed. This short video will help answer the question, “Why didn’t my checks print?” It will walk you through where to look and what to change to avoid this frustrating problem and ensure that your checks will print as needed.

You can view this video and many other video tutorials for Dynamics NAV at ArcherPoint's YouTube Channel.

Read more "How To" blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Dynamics NAV Coffee Break: Account Categories

Over the years, it has been noted that Dynamics NAV does not provide out-of-the-box balance sheets, income statements, and the like. Microsoft has responded to this gap with the Dynamics NAV 2017 release, which includes the Account Categories feature, which automates the process of creating the account schedules and financial statements. In this installment of NAV Coffee Break, Gwen provides an overview of how to create sub-categories and use the Account Categories feature so your time in Dynamics NAV is efficient as possible.

You can view this video and many other video tutorials for Dynamics NAV at ArcherPoint's YouTube Channel.

Read more "How To" blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Dynamics NAV Coffee Break: Posting into a Closed Year

How many times has this happened to you? You think you have successfully closed out the year in Microsoft Dynamics NAV only to find out after the fact that there is a change you need to make? It is a common occurrence for Dynamics NAV users. In this installment of the Dynamics NAV Coffee Break, we'll explain what happens when you post into a previously closed year in Dynamics NAV and how to make corrections as necessary. You'll also see how to filter to find any updated corrections easily.

Check out this video to see how it's done.

You can view this video and many other video tutorials for Dynamics NAV at ArcherPoint's YouTube Channel.

Read more "How To" blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Dynamics NAV Coffee Break: Employee Ledger Entries 

The latest release of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, NAV 2018, offers a new feature called Employee Ledger Entries. This feature allows you to pay your employees with the same ease and efficiency as a vendor. Gwen demonstrates how to use this functionality to improve your efficiency. She walks through how to edit an Employee Card, update the General Journal, and more. She also highlights the new Suggest Employee Payments option in this how-to video.

You can view this video and many other video tutorials for Dynamics NAV at ArcherPoint's YouTube Channel.

See our blog for a comprehensive review of everything that is new in Dynamics NAV 2018 and register for our What's New in NAV 2018 webinar on April 4.

Below is a transcript of the video for your convenience:

Dynamics NAV Coffee Break: Tax Exempt Setups Made Easy

You can view this video and many other video tutorials for Dynamics NAV at ArcherPoint's YouTube Channel. 

If you are interested in NAV development, be sure to see our collection of NAV Development Blogs.

Read the "How To" blogs from ArcherPoint for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Compressing Item Ledger Entries in Dynamics NAV

There are different ways to reduce the size and speed of a Dynamics NAV upgrade. This blog will cover one component, compressing item ledger entries that may prove useful. However, it is important to note that with any major change such as this, it requires thorough testing of the solution and mapping out a blue print for the plan.

To begin, it is important ask yourself:

1. Is this part of an upgrade plan to a new version of Dynamics NAV, or are is the client trying to do this in an existing database?
2. Is the client planning to try to keep some of the historical data in the system for historical purposes for reporting and analysis? Alternatively, are they planning to clean the slate and go back to the historical data in a copy of the historical database prior to the process being run if any historical analysis is required?

Summary of Compressing Item Ledger Entries through an Upgrade Scenario

The following is a summary of what I have discussed with partners who have done the process through an upgrade scenario. In particular, this was completed often when moving from 2.X to 3.X Versions due to the significant change in data structure, which was a result of the introduction of the Value Entries in Version 3.X and prior. As a result, the process below requires modifications depending upon what data exists – i.e. Manufacturing, Assembly (2013 and later), Kit Data (2009 and earlier), open Orders – Sales/Purchase/Production/Assembly, Warehouse Entries, Location Setup, etc.

In the Database

Make sure all SO’s and PO’s are invoiced (no received/shipped not invoiced) and run the Adjust Cost Item Entries and Post Inventory Cost to G/L. This may entail having to use the Undo Receipt Shipment or Undo Receipt if the orders cannot be invoiced. This is key so that you do not delete Item Ledger Data that has dependencies on existing outstanding order status as well as any unprocessed adjustments for quantity or value.  NOTE: Further challenges come into play with Manufacturing Production Orders. The best practice is not to have partially processed transactions prior to deleting Item data, which can get to be quite challenging.

1. Run Inventory calculation to find out what is on hand and export this to a file. (E.g., Dataport or XML Port would be required to export Quantity by Location/Variant/Lot No. /Serial No.)
2. Make a backup of the base ILE object and Value entry Objects.
3. Renumber the ILE and Value Entry Table to a table in the 50000 range with a new name if history is going to be retained in the database for reporting.
4. Import the ILE and VE object again. Do this because there are usually too many records in the ILE to start copying them to another table. This is fast and easy. (It is also easier to write Reports and Forms of these Tables with pre-upgrade data. As a result, the upgrade will take hours instead of days.)
5. Delete the Item Ledger (T-32), Item Register (T-46), Item Application Entries (T-339), Value Entries (T-5802), Average Cost Adjustment Entry Point (T-5804), Post Value Entry to G/L (T-5811 – should be cleared with Post cost in step 1), G/L - Item Ledger Relation (Table-5823 includes link of T-5802 to T-17- G/L Entries. Other possible Tables include Inventory Adjmt. Entry (Order) (T-5896) if NAV 203 or later, Reservations Entries (T-337), Capacity Ledger Entries (T-5832), Warehouse Entries (T7312).
6. Complete the upgrade without Inventory, then import the qty. on hand (with serial and lot) and post it. This also makes a great opportunity to cleanup items not used anymore.
7. Run a Dataport and Import into an Item Journal after the upgrade together with the Quantity on Hand with Unit Cost ($) desired)

The primary goal of this process is to be able to import and export data in the system and generate through Dataports the Item Journals to establish new Inventory data beginning quantity and cost.

The biggest challenge is managing some of the additional details, such as Item Tracking (LN and SN Data), Manufacturing, Assembly (or Kitting depending on Version), and other data linked to the existing ILE and VE data.

I hope this gets to a place to where there is a vision for the processing required. Again, I would test the process extensively because removal of data and identifying all related dependencies is an extremely challenging endeavor. I suggest referring to the Inventory Costing in Microsoft Dynamics NAV white paper. This is a good reference as a beginning point for consideration with the data structure for inventory posting and costing data analysis. While the paper was written for Dynamics NAV 2013, the fundamentals are still the same.

I wish to keep in mind that this is kind of a theoretical discussion. I have never blown away item data and then rebuilt it with the process. Through interactions with partners along the way, this has become kind of a moving document for how to manage the process. We would like to hear your thoughts and ideas. Please comment below.

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How to Save Commonly Used Filters in Dynamics NAV

Often when we work in Dynamics NAV, we use the same filters and settings over and over again.  You might have a customer list that you pull to review every month, or a set of invoices you need to print to PDF weekly, or a set of GL accounts in our Chart of Accounts that you frequently use, and for all of them you have to enter the filters each time. To save time, NAV allows you to save the filters whereby one click allows you to load the table you want with the filters you need.

To setup a set of saved filters on a table in NAV, begin by going to the table and entering your filters, as you want them.

Figure 1 - Dynamics NAV Posted Sales Invoice Table Filters

If you are using a date filter and want the date to update automatically instead of having to manually type in a date, NAV filter fields will accept commands to use current month or past months or calculate days or months as needed.

Figure 2 - Date Filter Commands in Dynamics NAV

Date Function Examples:

For other NAV filter tips check out our blog on NAV filters and be sure to download and print out our NAV Filter Guide.

Once your filters are set, click the small gray drop down arrow next to the table name and select Save View As.

Figure 3 - Save View As Window in Dynamics NAV

In the Save View As window delete out the default name and type in what you would like to call this table with these set of filters:

Figure 4 – Rename Table Filter in Dynamics NAV

Then select the Activity Group in which you want to save it. (Home will put it on your Home list of tables on the left side of your main NAV screen)

Figure 5 – Select Activity Group

Click Save and select Yes to restart NAV.

Figure 6 – Restart Dynamics NAV

Now when NAV opens you will see your new saved filter set on the Home page (or whichever Activity Group you selected).

Figure 7 – Activity Group

Finally, if you want to change the order of your saved filter sets, right click anywhere in the Activity Group column and select Customize Navigation Pane:

Figure 8 – Customize Navigation Pane

Then in the Customize Navigation Pane window, you can use the buttons to change the order of your saved filter sets. Once your order is set, click OK and select Yes to Restart NAV and you are done.

Figure 9 – Organizing Customization Navigation Pane

You may also be interested in our guide to Dynamics NAV shortcut keys.

For more blogs on getting the most out of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, be sure to visit our website and subscribe to our blog. If you would prefer to see (versus reading) how to complete a variety of tasks in Dynamics NAV, please visit our YouTube channel.