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QUICK START MANAGEMENT REPORTING

© JET REPORTS INTERNATIONAL, INC. 2016 v 1.1

Foreword This book teaches the basics of Jet Professional using practice-driven examples with conceptual explanations. Meaningful business management reports are developed using data from the Cronus demo database offered with a Microsoft Dynamics NAV installation. Software used in this book: Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 Microsoft Excel 2013 Jet Professional 2017

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Preface There are many powerful report writing tools available. One point to consider when evaluating new tools is the learning curve necessary to truly leverage the technology, and whether it is only for seasoned report writers, or if the average user will be able to make productive use of the tool. In comparison to many report writing tools, Jet Professional does not require knowledge of Structured Query Language (SQL). Like other tools, Jet Professional does require some fundamental knowledge of the underlying data. This knowledge would include the tables and fields where the data for the report is located as well as knowing how initial data relates to data in other tables, when data from more than one table is required. This information can usually be discovered from a quick look at the originating application. In most cases, this comes down to just a handful of tables for any job function. Another benefit of giving Jet Professional to functional users is that it is a read-only tool. Users can report against the data without the worry of accidentally changing data in the underlying database. Special thanks to Mr. B. Groenendijk, Informatics teacher at the Hogeschool Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for his advice and suggestions towards the structure and contents of this material.

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Jet Reports, Jet Professional and

Jet Enterprise

Jet Reports, Inc. is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, USA, and is the market leader for reporting and business intelligence (BI) solutions for Microsoft Dynamics, helping over 100,000 users in 94 countries discover new insight from their data quickly. Our promise to customers is that we will empower business users with the data they need, when they need it, in the format that works for them. The result is reporting and BI solutions that are easy to learn and easy to use. The Jet Professional solution discussed in this book, is an add-in for Microsoft Excel that integrates real-time data from Microsoft Dynamics and other ERP systems into custom Excel reports. Jet Reports also offers Jet Enterprise, a complete business intelligence solution providing a data warehouse and OLAP cubes. The powerful Jet Professional capabilities can be used to access these cubes from within Excel. For more information regarding Jet Reports and our suite of solutions, visit: www.jetreports.com. Jet Reports – Fast. Accurate. Anywhere.

http://www.jetreports.com/

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Table of Contents Foreword .................................................................................................................................................. 1

Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... 2

Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................... 4

Conventions ......................................................................................................................................... 6

Prerequisite Knowledge ....................................................................................................................... 6

Preparation .......................................................................................................................................... 7

Report Design ....................................................................................................................................... 8

Chapter 1 ................................................................................................................................................ 10

Introduction to Jet Professional ......................................................................................................... 10

1.1 Jet Professional ...................................................................................................................... 10

1.2 Introducing the Jet Reports Development Process ............................................................... 13

1.3 Functions ................................................................................................................................ 16

Chapter 2 ................................................................................................................................................ 22

Reporting Using the Report Wizard ................................................................................................... 22

2.1 Report: Balance Overview...................................................................................................... 23

2.2 Report: Item list by Gen. Prod. Posting Group....................................................................... 33

Chapter 3 ................................................................................................................................................ 47

Reporting using the Table Builder...................................................................................................... 47

3.1 Report: Inventory by Vendor ................................................................................................. 48

3.2 Report: G/L Sales Analysis ...................................................................................................... 54

3.3 Scheduler ............................................................................................................................... 59

Chapter 4 ................................................................................................................................................ 66

Reporting with the Browser ............................................................................................................... 66

4.1 Report: Chart of Accounts ...................................................................................................... 68

4.2 Report: Number of Customers by Location ........................................................................... 74

4.3 Report: Timeliness of Purchased Goods ................................................................................ 78

4.4 Report: Due Account Receivables by month ......................................................................... 87

Appendix ................................................................................................................................................ 94

Jet Ribbon .......................................................................................................................................... 94

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Descriptions of Functions................................................................................................................... 97

Example functions .............................................................................................................................. 99

Keywords .......................................................................................................................................... 107

Jet Professional Settings .................................................................................................................. 110

Publishing to the Web Portal ........................................................................................................... 111

Running Jet Professional Web Portal Reports ................................................................................. 113

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Conventions

Microsoft Excel will be referred to as Excel and the ERP system will be referred to as the database. The field names in ERP systems often contain spaces (e.g. Qty on sales orders). To increase legibility in the descriptions, the field names will not be surrounded by quotation marks but will instead be formatted in Italic. In the functions the quotation marks will be used as they should be used in Excel. Throughout this book, the instruction narrative is broken down into the following sections:

Definition

Description

Example The following icons are used to highlight a specific aspect of the subject under discussion:

Offers an additional insight based on experience.

Warns of a common misconception.

Provides you with extra information on the subject at hand.

Gives you a link to a video-tutorial from the Jet Reports resources website.

By default, many ERP systems come with a demo database. For the purpose of this document, we are using the CRONUS demo database. In this book, some phrases are introduced with a definition or description to better explain or clarify certain functionalities or procedures. It is possible that these phrases are not used in the Jet Help pages or in Jet Professional itself. The following terms are used: region, replication, reserved area, keywords and anchor column/row. After its introduction, buttons on the Jet ribbon will be referred to by their name without the addition of “button.” For example, the Browser button, will now be referred to as simply Browser.

Prerequisite Knowledge

To make proper use of this book, some knowledge of Excel and databases is desirable. With respect to Excel, the following knowledge is assumed:

General Excel use

Relative and absolute cell references

Use of the Insert Function button

Grouping

Use of the & sign to combine text strings (Concatenate)

Functions SUM and SUBTOTAL

Inserting charts

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With respect to your own database, the following knowledge is assumed:

Use and syntax of filters

Default sorting

Preparation

The following software is needed:

Microsoft Excel 2010 or higher

Jet Professional 2017 or higher

A database

This book uses Microsoft Excel 2013, Jet Professional 2017 and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015.

A connection to the Cronus database should be set up as the default data source, if available, or a connection to your own data source. The book will refer to this default data source by name as Data Source 1. The user should be a Jet Professional Designer for this data source. This can be verified in the Data Source Settings window. The language code selected for the examples in this book is 000 (no language module selected). This affects how some field names are displayed in Jet. For example, in Microsoft Dynamics NAV the Balance (LCY) field in the Customer table, and the Amount (LCY) field in the Cust. Ledger Entry table will display as Balance ($) and Amount ($) respectively if you have “ENU – English (United States)” selected.

If you are not using the Cronus database, the examples in this book will only work when logged into the Jet Training Remote Desktop.

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Report Design

After the introduction in Chapter 1, all subsequent reports will be designed following a fixed design process. This process outlines five steps that should be fulfilled by the requester (and eventual user of the report) and the designer (the developer of the report):

1. Report request: This is a short description of what should be returned in the report. The report request is the result of the interaction between the requester and designer and is a means for achieving a clear understanding of the report requirements by both parties. The designer must understand what is needed, and why.

2. Report information: The designer analyzes the report request by looking for the relevant data sources, companies, tables and fields. In case of multiple tables, the relations between these are also to be determined. ERP systems have hundreds of tables and often dozens of fields in each table. In this step, the right tables and fields are identified.

3. Mockup: Based on the report request, the designer should create a visual representation (in Excel if possible) of what the report will look like. The mockup should show headers, display fields, sub-totals, grand totals, sorting, grouping, filters, and formatting.

4. Report creation: Based on basic information and mockup, the designer creates the report.

5. Report evaluation: The designer presents the report to the requester, who will evaluate the result. The evaluation should focus on numerical accuracy and format. In practice, this will often lead to new insights and requests for changes in the form of extra fields, sorting, subtotals, totals or even report structure. The development of a report is by nature an iterative process, because each version of the report provides additional insight into how the output is solving the business problem.

This book will focus on steps 1 through 4 of the design process and present a short analysis of the report after step 4. Relevant subjects will be highlighted in frames the first time they are needed, making it important to move through the chapters in order. The Jet Professional tools Report Wizard, Table Builder or Browser will be used to create the initial reports. The result of these tools will be analyzed in separate sections as needed.

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Choosing which tool to use for any given report request depends on the mockup and overall specifications. The tool descriptions are summarized here:

Report Wizard The report consists of one table and the result should be shown in rows with optional grouping, sorting or filtering.

Table Builder The report may combine fields from several database tables into one table. The result allows PivotTable or PivotChart creation. Formatting options are limited.

Browser The report is based on one or more database tables and has a free structure, ranging from simple to complex. Unlike the Report Wizard the Browser is not an automated tool. It usually requires knowledge of the Jet Function Wizard (Jfx) to successfully complete a report.

Jet Reports offers a third product in addition to Jet Professional and Jet Enterprise, called Jet Express. Jet Express offers a subset of the functionality provided by Jet Professional. Information notes refer to Jet Express where relevant.

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Chapter 1 Introduction to Jet Professional

This chapter describes the basic principles needed for the development of business management reporting with Jet Professional.

1.1 Jet Professional

Jet Professional is an Excel add-in for advanced reporting based on one or more databases. Report creation using Jet Reports requires no traditional programming skills. This makes it possible for end-users with basic Excel skills to create reports based on data from their ERP system. Jet Professional can connect to any of the Microsoft Dynamics ERPs or any other databases that are ODBC compliant. Jet Professional makes it possible to combine multiple data sources into one Excel report, and in the case of Microsoft Dynamics NAV and GP databases, to combine data from several companies simultaneously into one report. Because Jet Professional is used inside Excel, the full feature set of Excel is available within Jet. This provides for an extensive list of functional as well as visual tools needed to create either simple lists or complex dashboards. In short, Jet Professional makes it possible to develop reports such as:

Performance dashboards

Budgeting and planning

Consolidation

Financial and logistical reporting

Sales analysis

Ad-hoc reporting

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Some examples below:

Examples of reports

Use

Below is some of the terminology used for Jet Professional. Jet Professional is always operating in one of two modes; Design or Report.

Definition: Design and Report modes

Design mode: The mode from which the report will be developed. It is the default mode for Jet when Excel is launched without opening up a Jet Report that was previously saved in Report mode.

Report mode:

The mode in which the report is run. The user can work with the finished report in this mode.

Report mode is also called Viewer mode. In Jet Professional, this term can be selected from the drop down menu in the Application Settings, on the General tab, under Simulation mode so that a Designer may see what the report will look like before sharing it with users. In the Jet Help pages and the rest of this book, the term Report mode will be used.

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Closely related to Design and Report modes, there are two types of users: Designers and Viewers.

Definition: Designer and Viewer

Designer: The Designer develops reports in Design mode, and runs them in Report mode. When the design is complete, the designer runs the report then saves the report in Report mode so Viewers can run it. Designers must have a Jet Designer license to develop reports.

Viewer: The Viewer runs reports in Report mode only.

When the report is run, the database is accessed and the report will expand as defined in the design phase of the report writing process. Jet Professional functions used by the Designer will be hidden from the Viewer, however Excel functions will be visible.

A third type of user is one that does not have Jet Professional installed. This user will still be able to view reports that are run by a Designer or a Viewer, but will not be able to refresh the data or see the Jet Professional functions.

Database interaction

Jet Professional is capable of accessing several databases simultaneously in the same report provided they are each defined as Jet data sources.

Definition: Data source

Data source: A data source is a connection to a database.

Jet Professional has these types of data sources:

Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 and earlier, used for older NAV databases using C/FRONT;

Dynamics NAV 2013 and later (Web Services), connect to NAV using the Web Services;

Dynamics NAV 2013 and later (SQL Server), connect to a NAV database using a direct SQL connection;

Universal, for all possible databases that support OLE- or ODBC- connections;

Dynamics GP, for Microsoft Dynamics GP databases;

Jet Data Warehouse, for the Jet Enterprise data warehouse;

Cube, for the Jet Enterprise OLAP cubes. The data sources GP or NAV allow the user to report from a default Company. The rest of the data sources only define the database.

The tables in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV are accessed by Jet Professional using the rights (roles) assigned to the user who logs into the database as defined in Data Source Settings, Authentication. This prevents Designers and Viewers from creating or running reports on tables or data they are not authorized to access. In Microsoft Dynamics GP permissions are maintained in the database in programs such as SQL Server Management Studio.

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1.2 Introducing the Jet Reports Development Process

Below you can find a short introduction to the development of a report using Jet Professional. The example will be a simple customer report. With the installation of Jet Professional, Excel will have an additional ribbon named Jet:

Jet Ribbon

More information about the separate controls found on the ribbon can be found in the Appendix. Open a new Excel workbook. Click on the Jet Ribbon. Click on the Browser button: The following window will appear:

Browser - first look (values may differ in your database)

Make sure the navigation bar in the upper section of this window (below the window title Browser) matches the screenshot above: Data Source 1,<<Your Company Name>>, Rows, Records, gray star and Favorites. Be sure that the cursor focus is on the table section (left side) by clicking on any table name. You can jump to the table you want by typing in beginning character or characters without pausing. In this example, we find the Customer table by typing the letters c u s t o without pausing long between the letters. The table Customer is now selected:

Browser - Table Customer selected

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If a list is presented to you within Jet Professional, you can find a value easily by typing the starting letters of the value at a normal typing speed.

Click once on a fieldname in the field list on the right (e.g. Address) and type the letters n and o to select the field No.:

Browser - Field No. selected

Now drag the field No. to cell D4 in the Excel worksheet (make sure you are in Design mode):

Drag and drop No. to cell D4

The result will look like this (Note: the exact value may be different, depending upon your database):

Result after dropping field No.

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Now drag the field Name to cell F4:

Field Name to cell F4

The result should look like this:

Result after dropping field Name

Now click the Report button. A customer list will be generated with one line per customer showing customer name and number.

Customer overview functions

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1.3 Functions

A Jet report is a collection of Jet functions. Using wizard buttons or actions, these functions are generated automatically. These can be edited individually using the appropriate Jet Function Wizards, also known collectively as the Jfx.

Jet Function Wizard (Jfx)

Description: Jet Jfx buttons

The Jet Jfx is similar to the standard Excel button Insert Function ( ). This wizard has special functionality to make it easier to set up Jet Professional functions such as a database connection that provides table and field names, as described below. By default, the Jfx will display the last used function.

If you select the NL Jfx from a blank cell, the following window will pop up:

The Jet Jfx window

If you select any of the specific Jfx buttons from a cell containing a function, the fields in the Jfx will be filled in accordingly, making it easy to edit Jet functions using this wizard.

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Select the drop-down in the top left corner of the Jfx window to change the type of function.

Change the Jet Function using the list of available functions

This wizard has two ribbons: Function Wizard and Help. The Function Wizard ribbon is made up of three sections, the Function Selection dropdown, Function Tools and Argument Tools. The Help ribbon offers help for the selected function. The green bar is an address bar (breadcrumbs) that shows where in the function you are. Below this bar you’ll find function-specific arguments. In the NL function you will have a filter pair in the Filters section, with the option of up to 10 filter pairs. If you click OK, your selections will be saved to the cell and the Jfx window will close.

The Jfx Function Selection on the Jet ribbon allows you to choose which of the four Jet Professional functions you want to use.

NL: A collection of data functions and replicators that

retrieve data from the database. NF: Retrieves a field value from an NL function. NP: A collection of functions made to make reports easier,

faster and more powerful. GL: A set of functions specifically designed for retrieving

financial information from the Microsoft Dynamics NAV or GP General Ledger.

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The ribbon section, Function Tools, is made up of these buttons:

Evaluates the function with the arguments entered and returns the result. Function, result and debug-information will be shown in a pop-up. Results in a red font indicate an error, otherwise the result will appear in black. Does an immediate drilldown using the current function, showing you the records that will be fetched using this function. This is identical to the Drilldown in the Formula section of the Jet Professional ribbon. If activated, shows your favorite tables and fields of the selected data source. Activation is indicated by an orange highlight of this button. Favorites can be selected and edited in the Browser in the Wizards section of the Jet Professional ribbon.

The ribbon section, Argument Tools, contains the following buttons:

Allows the selected argument (a filter value) to receive special characters or blank filters that would otherwise cause problems. Examples of special characters are: &, <, >, etc. This function will concatenate two @-symbols in front of your filter, e.g. "@@"&C3. Look at Description: Filter @@ for more information about this subject. Selects an Excel named range to insert into the active argument. The shortcut key, F3, will give the same result. This function will be grayed out when there are no named ranges in your Excel workbook. Inserts or edits a nested Jet function in the selected argument. This functionality is outside the scope of this book.

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Where relevant, a lookup button ( ) will be available in the argument. This lookup button will show a list of values that could be used in the field. The following lists are available:

What parameter lookup Table parameter lookup

Filter field or Keywords lookup

The shortcut key F6 also shows these lists. When a list is open, the search box will find as you type, while looking for your string in the list of available values.

Search for "qua"

A double-click or Enter will confirm your field choice and place it in the argument. The lookup list for the filter value allows you to create a filter out of operators and field values. The lookup lists are not mandatory and the arguments can be filled in by simply typing them. Cell references can be entered by keyboard or directly selected on the Excel sheet using the mouse.

Cell references and the logical values TRUE and FALSE should not be enclosed in quotation marks in the arguments.

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Descriptions of Functions contains a detailed description of the Jet functions applicable in this book.

The Excel button Insert Function ( ) allows you to edit Jet functions as well, without the Jet-specific functionality.

Jet Express only has the GL function and limited capability for the NL function.

Examples

This section gives you an example for the NL and NF functions. In the Appendix, Example functions, contains more possible variations relevant to the contents of this book. Examples for the NP function can be found in Chapter 3 and in the Appendix. The report exercise in 1.2 Short Introduction contains Jet functions in row 4. To open these functions with the Jfx, we have to go to Design mode first. Click on the Design button, on the Jet ribbon, and then select cell D4 in your open Excel workbook. The Excel function bar shows the function that will retrieve the customers in Report mode:

Cell D4: =NL("Rows","Customer")

If you click on the NL Jfx now, you will get the Jet Jfx for cell D4:

Jfx for NL function

Close this window and select cell E4. The function bar now shows the Jet function that will show the value for the field No. for the customer retrieved in cell D4:

Cell E4: =NF($D4,"No.")

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Click on the NF Jfx button to show the dialog for the NF function:

Jfx for NF function

The Filter section in the NF function is outside the scope of this book.

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Chapter 2 Reporting Using the Report Wizard

In this chapter two reports will be developed using the Report Wizard. The first report will be a simple report, followed by a more complex report using grouping and sorting. The Report Wizard can be used if the report is based on one table, with the data shown in rows. It allows simple sorting and grouping. It’s also useful as a basis for much more complex reports.

Description: Report Wizard

The Report Wizard button launches a series of input forms that allows designers to generate a report based on one table. Once the screen sequence is complete and the report is generated the report can only be edited directly in the cell or using the Jfx. It is not possible to re-run the wizard for the same report.

The dialog will run through 7 steps to build your report: Step 1. Select data source and table. Step 2. Select fields on the table. Step 3. Select grouping. Step 4. Select sorting. Step 5. Select totalling fields. Step 6. Select filters and filter fields. Step 7. Select additional options.

Field selection in Steps 3 and 4 will be limited to only those fields you selected in step 2. Step 5 (totals) will only offer you the numeric fields that were selected in step 2. Step 6 (filtering) will allow you to select all fields in the table. Steps 3, 4, 5 and 6 each allow a maximum of 10 fields per step. The specifics for each step will be elaborated upon in the exercises below. Every Report Wizard window has a set of buttons:

Back: Return to the previous Report Wizard window. Next: Continue to the next Report Wizard window. Finish: Close the Report Wizard and generate the report with the parameters provided. Cancel: Close the Report Wizard and ignore the data entered.

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2.1 Report: Balance Overview

The Accounts Receivable Manager has requested a report that provides an up-to-date list of customers with an outstanding balance. The report should show the total balance of all customers.

Report request

The report should show a list of customers with an outstanding balance and a total of all outstanding balances at the bottom of the report. The goal of this report is to improve collection performance and liquidity.

Report information

For the requested report, the only values needed are customer number, name and balance. The table name must be determined. Although the overview is called Customer List, this may not be the name of the actual data table. This can be determined by researching through the Browser, asking your DB manager, talking to others on your team or research online. It has been found that the No., Name and Balance (LCY) fields are situated in the Customer table. For data source and company we use Data Source 1 and CRONUS USA, Inc. Report information: Data source: Data Source 1 (Your data source name may be different) Company: CRONUS USA, Inc. (Your company name may be different or non-existent)

Table: Customer Fields: No., Name, Balance (LCY)

Table relations: None

Mockup

The report requested is a list with one row per customer that is not grouped in any way. The default database sorting is used based on the primary key of the table used. No additional action is necessary. The field Balance (LCY) will be totaled to show the total outstanding balance for all customers. To only show customers with an outstanding balance, a filter on the field Balance (LCY) is required: Balance (LCY) <> 0. There are no additional hidden filters or viewer options required. Basic parameter settings: List overview with one line per customer record Grouping: none Sorting: default Totaling fields: Balance (LCY) Viewer filters: Balance (LCY) <> 0 Hidden filter: none

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Report creation

Click on the Report Wizard button in the Jet Professional ribbon to start the Report Wizard dialog. In the first Report Wizard window use the Default Data Source selected. Select the Customer table. Click the Next button.

Report Wizard step 1 - Data source and table

In the second Report Wizard window, report fields are selected:

By selecting Fields in the upper left corner, all fields can be selected or deselected at once.

Individual fields can be selected or deselected by using the checkbox next to the respective field.

Selecting or deselecting fields can also be accomplished by double clicking them, pressing the spacebar on the selected field, or dragging and dropping the field in the screen Field Order.

After selecting the required fields, they will be listed in the window part Field Order. Click Next.

Report Wizard step 2 - Fields

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On the third and fourth steps (grouping and sorting), no fields are selected. Click Next twice. On the fifth Report Wizard window, the field Balance (LCY) is selected. Click Next.

Report Wizard step 5 - Totals

In the sixth window, the filters are selected. In the left column, the filter fields are selected. Select Balance (LCY). In the right column to the right of Balance (LCY), underneath Value, the required filter value is entered. For Balance (LCY) we enter <>0 replacing the default filter “*”. Using the filter “<>0” will ensure that customers with a zero balance will not appear in the report output. Filters in Jet follow the guidelines and operators which are documented in the appendix of this guide. It is important to note that filter values in Jet cannot be empty. For example, in your own database a filter value may not be required. In Jet, if a filter is available, but not used for a given report, the * must be present. The Report Wizard contains the * symbol as the default filter value. Check Set at report run time. This will allow the Balance (LCY) to be a Report Option.

Report Wizard step 6 - Filters

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Description: Report Options

Report Options are created using the keywords as described in the Appendix, Keywords for Report Options. If set up, the window Report Options appears after clicking Report or Refresh. The Report Options screen allows the Viewer to change the filters provided by the Designer. If set by

the Designer, the Viewer can also select a filter value using the lookup button ( ). In the seventh and final window, some additional options can be set. The option, Prepare this report for use by Report Viewers (Recommended), should remain checked. This will add the keyword +Values to cell A1 (Appendix Keywords for more information). The option, Add basic Excel formatting to the report, can be selected at the discretion of the Designer to add some basic formatting to the generated report. The option, Outline the groups on the report using the Excel Data Grouping feature, is grayed out if no fields are selected in step 3, Grouping:

Report Wizard step 7 - Additional options

After clicking the Finish button, the report will be created, and in Design mode looks like this:

Report Wizard result

The designer can then apply some final touches. For example: format the headers and format the amounts as currency:

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After the Report Wizard, the designer adds some final touches

Clicking the Report button will show the Report Options box:

Report Options

Clicking the Run button will then generate the report in Report mode:

Report Wizard Result (Report mode)

If some final touches or other adjustments are needed, click the Design button again to go back to Design mode.

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Report evaluation

In Design mode, a report has two worksheets:

A sheet called Options, in which the Report Options are defined.

Report sheet, which contains the report design with the Jet Functions.

Each sheet has generated text, functions, and keywords in row 1. This is an area reserved for Jet Keywords such as Hide and Fit that are used to provide formatting.

Definition: Jet Reserved Area and Keywords

Only Jet keywords are allowed in the reserved area of row 1 and column A. Reserved Area:

Area on the sheet that is exclusively reserved for keywords. Keyword:

Parameter or command string that controls the output format or option functionality of a report.

A keyword in row 1 controls column output for the column in which the keyword is placed. A keyword in column A controls output for the row in which the keyword is placed. A cell in the reserved area may contain multiple keywords. The keywords are separated by a + placed between the keywords.

Go to Appendix, Keywords, for a description of the keywords used in this book.

Options Sheet

The screenshot below shows keywords and functions on Options sheet (only visible in Design mode):

Option Sheet

The keyword, HideSheet, in cell A1 means that this sheet will be hidden in Report mode. In addition, the reserved area contains keywords to control the Report Options window. Cell C5 contains the title or name for option Balance (LCY). Cell D5 contains the filter value for option Balance (LCY).

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Cell E5 contains the NL(Lookup) function for Balance (LCY).

=NL("Lookup","Customer","Balance (LCY)")

This function creates a lookup list of possible options for the user to select from when the report is run. In this case, it will show the unique values for Balance (LCY) from the Customer table. Immediately after clicking Report or Refresh the user is presented with the Report Options window:

Report Options Report Sheet

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This is the result shown on the sheet labelled Report:

Worksheet Report

Here, the reserved area contains keywords that will make the column fit, or hide it, when the report is run. Select cell F6 and click the NL Jfx. The dialog window below will appear:

=NL("Rows","Customer",,"Balance (LCY)",$C$2)

This function will generate a list of record keys from the Customer table in column F. This list is filtered on the field Balance (LCY), using the value in cell $C$2. Cell F1 contains the keyword Hide and the font color in column F is gray. This is the column containing the NL function and it is hidden in Report mode.

To show the hidden columns in Report mode, click the Unhide button on the ribbon:

This option is only available for Designers.

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Definition: Key

A key is a series of characters that form the address to a specific record within a given table, company and data source. Every table record is identified by a unique (record) key. See Example: Record Key in the Appendix, Example functions, for an example of a key.

Cell G6 contains the following NF function (using the Jfx):

NF($F6,"No.")

This function will result in the value of field No. for the record referred to by the key in cell $F6. Cells H6 and I6 contain the NF functions to retrieve the values for fields Name and Balance (LCY) respectively.

H6: =NF($F6,"Name") I6: =NF($F6,"Balance (LCY)")

Cell I8 contains this function:

I8: =SUBTOTAL(9,I6:I7) The reason for using the SUBTOTAL function in Excel, instead of the more common SUM function, is discussed in the next section of the development process.

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Report: Item list by General Prod. Posting Group. Cells B2, G5, H5, I5 and H8 each contain a caption that represents the field title. This caption is plain text and can be changed or removed by the designer without having an impact on the functionality of the report.

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2.2 Report: Item list by Gen. Prod. Posting Group

The Sales Manager wants to provide his team with an up-to-date overview of available stock by item, grouped by posting group. The report requires the current inventory (quantity on hand), the quantity to be received, and quantity on sales orders that are reserved for shipping.

Report request

The report has to list items, show the quantities on hand on sales orders and purchase orders, and be grouped by Gen. Prod. Posting Group. In addition to a total by item, the Sales Manager also requests a total by posting group. The report has to be sorted by item description. The Viewer (sales department employee) needs the ability to filter on item number and posting group. The purpose of the report is to provide insight into the current availability of items for certain orders. Availability of similar items may be offered as a replacement item or additional sales opportunities.

Report information

First and foremost, the items must be identified in the report. The (item) fields No. and Description are available for this purpose. The fields required for the report have been identified, all in the Item table: No., Description, Inventory, Qty. on Purch. Order, Qty. on Sales Order and Gen. Prod. Posting Group. Data source and company are Data Source 1 and CRONUS USA, Inc., respectively. Report information: Data source: Data Source 1 Company: CRONUS USA, Inc.

Table: Item Fields:

No., Description, Inventory, Qty. on Purch. Order, Qty. on Sales Order and Gen. Prod. Posting Group


Mockup

The report will be a list containing one line per item, grouped on Gen. Prod. Posting Group. For the sorting, the primary sort will be on Gen. Prod. Posting Group. The next sort will be on the Description field. Specifications call for the fields Inventory, Qty. on Purch. Order, and Qty. on Sales Order. Filters on the fields No. and Gen. Prod. Posting Group are required to fulfill the report request. No extra viewer options are required. The final filter, this one hidden from the Viewer, should exclude blocked items. Mockup: List overview with one line per Item record Grouping: Gen. Prod. Posting Group Sorting: Description Totals: Inventory, Qty. on Purch. Order and Qty. on Sales Order Viewer filters: No.

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Gen. Prod. Posting Group Viewer options: None

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Report creation

Click on the Report Wizard button in the ribbon to create a new report. In the first step of the wizard, the Default Data Source is maintained and the Item table is selected:

Report Wizard step 1 - Data source and table

If Default Data Source is deselected, the generated NL functions will contain the keyword DataSource=, with the selected data source as the filter value. See the Appendix, Keywords, for a description of the keywords used in this manual.

The second Report Wizard screen allows for a selection of the necessary fields as depicted below:

Report Wizard step 2 - Fields

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In the third window, the field Gen. Prod. Posting Group is selected for grouping:

Report Wizard step 3 - Grouping

In the fourth window, the field Description is selected for sorting. The button selection on the right allows for a choice between sorting ascending and descending. In this case, the standard selection, Ascending, is kept:

Report Wizard step 4 - Sorting

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In the fifth Report Wizard window, the fields Inventory, Qty. on Purch. Order and Qty. on Sales Order are selected for totaling. All of these fields can be selected in one click by using the checkmark in the upper left corner of the window, next to Available Fields:

Report Wizard step 5 - Totals

In the sixth window, filters are defined. At this time, no filter is set for No. and Gen. Prod. Posting Group, so the default value “*” is maintained. Because only non-blocked items should be shown, the field Blocked should have a filter value of False (use the lookup button to obtain this value). Unchecking Set at report runtime (below the Blocked filter) will ensure that this is hidden and not available as an option in Report mode:

Report Wizard step 6 - Filters

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The seventh window allows the selection of additional options. The Outline the groups on the report using Excel Data Grouping feature is available now as a grouping field (Gen. Prod. Posting Group) since it was selected in step 3 of the wizard:

Report Wizard step 6 - Additional options

Clicking on finish will generate the report in Design mode:

Report Wizard result in Design mode

In Design mode, the report can be formatted further:

Extra formatting added by the designer

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Clicking on the Report button will launch the Report Options window pop up:

Report Options window

Clicking on Run will generate the report in Report mode:

Report Wizard result in Report mode

Note that the Excel Data Grouping function (left) will be collapsed by default. Clicking on the + sign will expand the corresponding row. Click on Design to go back to Design mode to further analyze the report.

Report Evaluation

In Design mode, the report has two sheets with generated text, functions and keywords:

A sheet called Options, in which the Report Options are defined;

The Report sheet, which contains the report.

Worksheet Options

The Options sheet is built by the Report Wizard:

Worksheet Options - Cells E5 and E6 contain the NL(Lookup) functions for No. and Gen. Prod. Posting Group:

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E5: =NL("Lookup","Item","No.") E6: =NL("Lookup","Item","Gen. Prod. Posting Group")

This function defines the values shown in the Lookup window that can be called from the Report Options. Click on the Report button to display the Report Options window:

Report Options

As a preparation for future reports made in this book, it is necessary to save a part of this report as a snippet.

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The Snippets button:

Snippets is a clipboard tool for capturing and saving reusable portions of the report design. A snippet is a saved range of cells, including all definitions like values, functions and formatting. They can also be shared with other Jet users.

The Snippets button opens the snippet window:

Snippets window – empty

A snippet can be added by selecting a single cell or a range of cells and then clicking on the snippet

button. Select cells A1 to E5 in worksheet Options as shown below:

Snippet selection

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Clicking the New Snippet button in the Snippets window saves the selection to New Snippet 1:

Snippets window - New Snippet 1

If a function within a snippet refers to another cell outside of the snippet, the cell reference will be replaced by “*”.

Click New Snippet 1 and change its name to Option Definition

Snippets window - renamed snippet

To use a snippet, just drag and drop it to the desired location on the spreadsheet. The snippet will show an outline of the required space while dragging it across the sheet.

The Delete button ( ) in the Snippets window will delete the selected snippet.

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Worksheet Report

Below is the result of the wizard on the Report sheet, shown in Design mode:

Worksheet report

Using the Excel search function (Ctrl+F), the designer can find all NL functions. Look for “NL” and press Find All:

An Excel Find and Replace window

Looking for the NL functions used is an easy way to quickly analyze a report. This search action reveals two NL functions, one in G7 and one in H8.

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Cell G7 contains this function:

=NL("Rows=4","Item","Gen. Prod. Posting Group","No.",$C$2,"Gen. Prod. Posting Group",$C$3,"Blocked","False")

This function generates a list of unique Gen. Prod. Posting Group values from the Item table. There are filters on the fields No., Gen. Prod. Prod Posting Group and Blocked. This resulting list is called a Summary List. A Summary List is always a unique list of values based on the Field parameter in the replicator.

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Cell H8 contains this function:

=NL("Rows","Item",,"Gen. Prod. Posting Group","@@"&$F8,"No.",$C$2,"Blocked","False","+Description","*")

This function generates a list of record keys. There are filters on No., Gen. Prod. Posting Group, and Blocked. The Description filter is only used for sorting, and uses “*” as the filter value. This is known as a Dummy Filter. Sorting is defined by the + or – sign in front of the filter field name. The resulting list is called a Data Dump and is created by leaving the Field parameter blank.

In the Jfx, a filter field is preceded by a sorting icon ( ). This icon is not visible until the user clicks into the filter field.

Clicking this button allows a change in sorting options:

No sorting:

Ascending:

Descending:

This button adds a + or a – sign in front of the filter field name.

Description: Sorting

Sorting refers to the order in which the NL function returns the requested records. Default sorting If no sorting is defined by the user and the Field parameter has been left blank in the NL function (which creates a record key) the primary key field(s) from the table will be used. In case of the Customer or Item table, this key is No.

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If no sorting is defined by the user and the NL function has a value in the Field parameter (which creates a unique list of values) the values will be sorted ascending by the field defined in the Field parameter. Manual sorting Default sorting is overruled by adding a + or – in front of a field name in a FilterField parameter. These signs control the ascending or descending sort order on the respective field. If multiple fields are selected for sorting, the leftmost field in the function (highest in the Jfx) has sorting priority. Example This function sorts the inventory items, first by Gen. Prod. Posting Group, then by Inventory:

=NL("Rows","Item",,"+Gen. Prod. Posting Group","*","-Inventory","<>0") The box, Set at report run time, was deselected in the wizard for the field Blocked. As a result, this filter value is set inside each NL function rather than having the cells refer to a value on the Options sheet. Therefore, the field Blocked is not available to the user as a filter option. This is known as a “hard-coded” filter. Cells I8 to M8 all contain NF functions to display field values fetched by the NL functions:

I8: =NF($F8,"No.") J8: =NF($F8,"Description") K8: =NF($F8,"Inventory") L8: =NF($F8,"Qty. on Purch. Orders") M8: =NF($F8,"Qty. on Sales. Orders")

Cells K10 to M10 contain the following functions:

K10: =SUBTOTAL(9,K8:K9) L10: =SUBTOTAL(9,L8:L9) M10: =SUBTOTAL(9,M8:M9)

Cells K12 to M12 contain the following functions:

K12: =SUBTOTAL(9,K8:K11) L12: =SUBTOTAL(9,L8:M11) M12: =SUBTOTAL(9,M8:M11)

The range of every SUBTOTAL function (second parameter) in row 12 contains the SUBTOTAL function in row 10. Contrary to the SUM function, the SUBTOTAL function does not include other SUBTOTAL values in the grand total.

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Chapter 3 Reporting using the Table Builder

In this chapter, two reports are built using the Table Builder. The first introduces basic Table Builder concepts. The second is a more complex report that uses multiple tables. At the end of this chapter, the report is scheduled using the Jet Professional Scheduler. The Table Builder is used when the required result is a simple table or source data for a pivot table.

Description: Table Builder button

The Table Builder button opens the Table Builder form. This allows for the building of a report in Excel Table output form, based on one or more tables. It also allows the re-use of an existing saved Table Builder layout. This layout will generate a report design with the NL(Table) function. The generated report will result in an Excel table.

Table Builder button can be used to generate an Excel table from the database and to use the resulting table for one or more PivotTables. It is always possible to redevelop the resulting report by adjusting the report in Design mode. The generated result will contain functions (i.e. NL(Link) and NL(LinkField) functions). These functions are outside the scope of this book. Further development of this report is limited to the use of PivotTables.

Watch this video introduction to Table Builder:

http://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/be08t40zkd?autoPlay=true&controlsVisibleOnLoad=true&popover=true&version=v1&videoHeight=450&videoWidth=800&volumeControl=true Watch this video on Multi-Table Reports:http://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/kponc9n8t8?autoPlay=true&controlsVisibleOnLoad=true&popover=true&version=v1&videoHeight=450&videoWidth=800&volumeControl=true

Description: NL(Table)

An NL(Table) function results in an Excel table for the defined data. These tables are mainly used as a source to supply a PivotTable with data.

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3.1 Report: Inventory by Vendor

The logistics manager wishes to receive a report that provides information regarding the stock level of items by vendor, supported with a chart. In addition, the user should have the ability to analyze the report using certain criteria. The report design will assist in planning reservations of certain items with certain vendors.

Report request

The report should present items with their current inventory in stock, sorted by vendor. The output needs to be presented in the form of both table and chart. Each item should show both the vendor and the inventory quantity. The user should be able to filter on Inventory Posting Group, Shelf Number, Tariff Number and Gen. Prod. Posting Group. The total inventory of all items shown should also be displayed. Insight into stock quantities by vendor can be useful to make better arrangements with vendors to optimize the stock.

Report information

A PivotTable with interactive filtering capability is needed for the final report output. The basis for this is an Excel table, generated by a report created using the Table Builder. All required information can be found on the Item table. In this table, the fields Vendor No., Inventory, Inventory Posting Group, Shelf No. and Product Posting Group are found.

The resulting Excel table will only contain rows with unique combinations. Every combination of the selected fields will therefore only appear once. To prevent the functionality from grouping several lines into one, the primary key on the table has to be selected.

A data source and company Data source 1 and CRONUS USA, Inc. are used. Report information: Data source: Data Source 1 Company: CRONUS USA, Inc.

Table: Item Fields

No., Vendor No., Inventory, Inventory Posting Group, Shelf No., Tariff No. and the Gen. Prod. Posting Group. Table relations: None

Mockup

First the Excel table will be generated with all the named fields of the table Item. This table will eventually be used as the source for the PivotTable functionality. No grouping will be used in the Excel table. However, the vendor number and the level of the stock will be presented with a balance in the PivotTable and PivotChart. Slicers will be made to create the filter functionality. Sorting will be done using the standard sorting of the database. There are no Viewer filters, Viewer options or hidden filters.

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Basic format: An Excel table with one row of each (Item) No. resulting in a PivotTable and PivotChart with slicers

for the Inventory Posting Group, Shelf No., Tariff No., and the Gen. Prod. Posting Group. Grouping: none Sorting: none Totals: none Viewer filters: none Viewer options: none Hidden filters: none

Report creation

Launch the Table Builder by clicking on the Table Builder button. An empty screen will appear:

Window Table Builder

Click on and Select Table Item.

While entering the table name in the search box the find as you type feature will help locate the table.

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The Item table is now selected. Fields can be selected in the Fields - Item section. When reporting from a Microsoft Dynamics NAV database, Flow Fields can be selected in the section below the Fields window. When reporting from a SQL database, you can switch between Views, Tables, and Tables and Views from the bottom of the field list to filter on a specific set of tables or views.

Fields and Flow Fields

Select the fields No., Vendor No., Inventory (of the Flow Fields), Inventory Posting Group, Shelf No., Tariff No. and Gen. Prod. Posting Group. A table or field name can be entered into a search field and find as you type will help locate them. At the top of the Table Builder screen the result of the Report Layout will be shown:

Report layout

The display sequence of fields can be changed by dragging the fields left or right to a new position. Also the name of the field can be changed by clicking on the title:

A field can be deleted by clicking the X top right:

Or by unchecking the field name on the marked field list:

Click OK at the bottom right of the screen. The following new screen will appear:

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Table Builder Template Confirmation

After clicking Yes, the template will be saved as an xml file. You will be able to open it later in the Table Builder through the File menu:

After this procedure, the definition of the report will be generated:

Result Table Builder (Design mode)

Cell C5 plays a central role in this report. This function generates an Excel table after a click on Report.

…

Result Table Builder

DrillDown from reports built using Table Builder is not possible (see Description:

Drilldown button)

This report was created as a simple example without setting up a filter. When building

many reports there is usually at least one filter.

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Report evaluation

The Jet Professional steps are now finished. However the report is not yet complete. Only the data that

will serve as the basis for the PivotTable and PivotChart has been created. The following steps must be

taken to finish the report.

In Report mode, click on a cell in the Excel Item table, then click on the Excel Insert ribbon, and then

PivotChart for charting options:

Make a PivotTable with a PivotChart

Click OK and a new worksheet with a PivotTable and PivotChart will be created. In the PivotTable Fields list, check Vendor No. and Inventory to place these fields in the AXIS (CATEGORY) area and the ∑ Values area:

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Click on the Insert Slicer button in the Pivot Table Tools ribbon and select the fields in the window as shown below:

Insert Slicers

Click on OK and the slicers will be placed in the worksheet with the PivotTable and PivotChart. Position and format the slicers and charts, and change the layout to create your own report. The figure below depicts one possible example of how this report could be organized.

Table builder result (Report mode PivotTable and PivotChart with slicers)

By selecting the slicer values as needed the output can be updated quickly.

The result can now be used by another user of Excel Version 2010 or higher. There is no need for them to install Jet Professional to view the results. However, if they don’t have Jet Professional, the Excel table cannot be refreshed to include data.

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3.2 Report: G/L Sales Analysis

The sales manager would like a report that shows sales over several periods by sales account detail. The report must be able to filter on a variety of financially related fields.

Report request

The report must present the sales ledger accounts with a balance that can be filtered on the posting date. The items must be presented as tables and charts. For each account number the following fields must be shown: name and balance. The user must have the ability to filter on G/L Account No., Amount, Businessgroup Code, Area Code, Customergroup Code, Salescampaign Code, Gen. Prod. Posting Group, Gen. Bus. Posting Group. The total sales must be shown. The values generated by this report will provide marketing insight into sales activities by account for planning and budgeting purposes.

Report information

Because of the need for interactive filtering, the report will be created using PivotTable functionality. The data source for this PivotTable will be provided by the Excel table that will be defined in the Table Builder. The report request will be analyzed by using the data, companies, tables and fields within the database. In G/L Entry table, the fields Posting Date, G/L Account No., Gen. Prod. Posting Group and Amount are found. The Net Change is a sum of the field Amount on the G/L Entry table. All fields are selectable except the field Name from the table G/L Entry. Now all tables and fields have been identified. The data source and company used will be Data Source 1 and CRONUS USA, Inc. Report information: Data source: Data Source 1 Company: CRONUS USA, Inc.

Table : G/L Entry Fields:

Entry No., G/L Account No., Posting Date, Amount, Businessgroup Code, Area Code, Customer Group Code, Sales Campaign Code, Gen. Prod. Posting Group and Gen. Bus. Posting Group. The field Amount with positive sales postings will display as negative; to show them as a positive amount you will have to multiply by -1.

Table: G/L Account Field: Name

Table relation: Table: G/L Entry ↔ G/L Account

Field: G/L Account No. =

No.

To reverse the sign of a value, multiply the value by -1 or use a minus (-) sign in front of the function. Either action will produce the same result.

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Mockup

First an Excel table will be generated from the G/L Entry and G/L Account tables with all the above mentioned fields. This Excel table will be used as information for the PivotTable functionality. No grouping will be used in this Excel table. In the PivotTable and PivotChart, the total amount will be presented for each G/L Account. The grand total will be a total of the field Amount of all the G/L Accounts. PivotTable slicers will be generated to create the filter functionality. The standard sorting of NAV will be used; no extra functionality will be used in this report. A Viewer filter on the Entry date must be provided. The Entry date will initially be set on 1/1/2015 to 12/31/2015. There are no Viewer options. A hidden filter on the G/L Account No. from 40000 to 49999, which can be written as 4*, must be created. Mockup: Excel table with a row of G/L postings resulting in a PivotTable and PivotChart with slicers for Entry

No., G/L Account No., Amount, Businessgroup Code, Area Code, Customergroup Code, Salescampaign Code, Gen. Prod. Posting Group, Gen. Bus. Posting Group. The G/L Account table is linked to the G/L Entry table using the field G/L Account No. The Excel table is using the following fields:

Entry No, G/L Account No., Name, Original Amount (= Field Amount table G/L Postings), Amount (= -1 x Original Amount), Businessgroup Code, Area Code, Customergroup Code, Salescampaign Code, Gen. Prod. Posting Group, Gen. Bus. Posting Group.

Grouping: none Sorting: none Total: none Viewer filters: Posting Date = 1/1/2015..12/31/2015 Viewer options: none Hidden filters: G/L Account No. = 4*

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Report creation

Click on Table Builder and the following window will appear:

Window Table Builder

Click on and select the G/L Entry table. Select the following fields, one after another: Entry No., G/L Account No., Amount, Businessgroup Code, Area Code, Customergroup Code, Salescampaign Code, Gen. Prod. Posting Group, Gen. Bus. Posting Group.

Click on again and select G/L Account table and add the field Name. Change the name of the field G/L Account - Name to Name and drag the field in the Report Layout window to change the order of the fields. This will create the following result in the layout:

Report Layout (Start)

After selecting the table G/L Account, the link will automatically be created and displayed between the two tables as shown below in the window Links:

Links window

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Add the following filters to the G/L Entry table (click on the table name in the Window Tables) in the

Filters section and click Add Filter ( ):

Filters window

Filter on Posting Date is user-defined.

Rename the field Amount to Original Amount, click on the Add Formula button ( ) and add in the function field, the function –[@[Original Amount]]. After typing the @ the field Original Amount can be selected from the list. Automatically the proper syntax will be set; there’s no need to type the square brackets manually:

Window with Function

Rename the field New Function as Amount. Place this field in the right position and rename the other fields if necessary, as the following example:

Report Layout (end)

Click on OK in the Window and a message will be shown to confirm the Table Building template. After accepting, the report will be generated:

Table Builder result (Design mode)

Cell D11 contains the NL(Table) function that will generate the Excel table.

The report options (and the hidden options) will appear in gray font on the same sheet. Click on the Report button and enter the Posting Date filter in the Report Option window to see the following result:

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…

Result Table Builder (Report mode Excel table)

Additional information

After adding the PivotChart with all the necessary slicers, the report is shown below: (See Additional information on how it works):

Result Table Builder (Report mode PivotTable and PivotCharts with slicers)

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3.3 Scheduler

In this section, the completed report Report: G/L Sales Analysis will be used in the Jet Scheduler as an automatic report. We require an input and an output folder for this function. The input folder will hold the report itself, and the output folder will receive the output of the process. The output folder cannot be the same as the input folder. The creation and management of the report tasks will be accomplished with the task Schedule.

Description: Schedule button

The schedule button will start a structured interaction. The Jet tasks are managed within the Jet Scheduler. A Jet task consists of a single report or a set of reports that is scheduled within the Windows Scheduler and has a range of possibilities to create output and email distribution.

Watch this video tutorial for the Jet Scheduler: http://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/aozuxewt2f?autoPlay=true&controlsVisibleOnLoad=true&popover=true&version=v1&videoHeight=450&videoWidth=800&volumeControl=true

A complete description of the functionality of the Jet Scheduler is out of the scope of this book. However an example will be given for scheduling one report.

For this example, create an input folder with the name Reportfolder and within this folder create the output folder Output. To keep it simple, in this example the full path of the folder will be shown as three dots.

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Report: G/L Sales Analysis in Report mode in the Reportfolder with the filename Report Turnover Analysis. Click on Schedule. An empty window of the Jet Scheduler will appear:

Planning window - empty

Click on the New Task button on the first tab, called Reports. The Task Name will always default to “New Jet Task” so the task should be named intuitively. It is also possible to run a specific report or run all the available reports in that specified directory. Specify the saved report as shown below:

Jet task - Reports

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Click on the Next button at the bottom of the window. In the Schedule step, the output frequency will be determined. Specify the frequency as Weekly:

Jet task - Schedule

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Click on Next to specify the start date and time and other important details. Specify this step as follows:

Jet task - Weekly

We skip the step Options for now, and click on the button Next. In the step Email, details will be specified regarding the sending of an email.

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Define this step as follows:

Jet task - email

Click on Next to specify the output. Specify this step as follows:

Jet task - Output folder

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First you can select an Output Format from the pull down list:

Jet Workbook: standard output, including Jet functions;

Values Only Workbook: in the output the Jet Functions are replaced with the values;

HTML: output in html format1;

Webpage by page: output file each worksheet in html format;

PDF: output in pdf format (requires Excel 2007 SP1 or later).

If Remove hidden rows, columns, and sheets is checked, all hidden rows, columns and worksheets will be deleted in the output file. Click on the button Schedule; enter the Windows username with its password and the computer where the processing will take place:

Jet task – Authentication window

After a click on the OK button, the task will be placed in the Scheduler window:

Scheduler window–with planned task

It is not necessary to be logged in on the system for the scheduled task to start. It is necessary, however, that the involved computer be powered on at the scheduled time. Right-click on a task to view a list of actions that can be activated to manage the tasks:

New, Edit and Delete: Create a new task, change an existing task and delete an existing task

Run, End Task, Enable Task, Disable Task:

1 We assume that html and pdf format are known file formats.

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The execution of a task: start, end, enable or disable Help: Opens the Jet Help page concerning the task scheduler.

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Chapter 4 Reporting with the Browser

In this chapter, several reports will be developed with the Browser. Because the Browser doesn’t have a defined report structure, there are more examples in this chapter than in the preceding chapters. In this chapter, we will first create the basis for the report with the Browser. Next the NL function will be generated and filters will be added. The Browser can be used if the report has a free structure (from simple to complex) and is based on one or more tables. Description: The Browser button

The Browser button opens the Browser window where all available tables and fields from the selected data source will be shown sorted in alphabetical order. Reports will be developed using drag and drop functionality from this window. The Browser also offers the ability to define the data source and company and view sample data from the tables and the fields.

With the Browser, it is also possible to select and show favorite tables and fields (See below Description: Favorites).

Watch this video Introduction to the Jet Browser: http://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/1mzayyok1n?autoPlay=true&controlsVisibleOnLoad=true&popover=true&version=v1&videoHeight=450&videoWidth=800&volumeControl=true

Drag and Drop with the Jet Browser: http://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/gmuqp7gy22?autoPlay=true&controlsVisibleOnLoad=true&popover=true&version=v1&videoHeight=450&videoWidth=800&volumeControl=true

It is not possible in the Browser to group, sort, filter or create totals. In most cases, the

Jet functions that have been created by the Browser will need to be modified using the

Jfx.

Most databases have hundreds of tables and each of those tables have several fields. To make creating

reports from the various wizards easier, it is advised to select frequently-used tables and fields as

Favorites.

http://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/gmuqp7gy22?autoPlay=true&controlsVisibleOnLoad=true&popover=true&version=v1&videoHeight=450&videoWidth=800&volumeControl=true



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Marking of favorites is only possible within the Browser. Favorites can however be used

in many wizards.

Description: Favorites

With the Favorites function, only the favorite tables and fields are shown. A table or field can be activated and deactivated by clicking the star beside the selected table or the selected field:

: no favorite (“gray” star)

: favorite (“golden” star) Configuring a table as favorite will select all the fields as favorites as a default.

Deactivating a table as a favorite will cause all (carefully selected) fields to be deactivated as favorites as well.

Favorites can be saved and shared as a file. In Data Source Settings, select Export and then Favorites. This creates an xml file which can be imported by another Jet user.

Importing the saved favorite tables can be done by clicking on Import and then Favorites.

By clicking on the Favorites button in the address bar, only the tables and fields that have been marked as favorites will be shown:

By deactivating the Favorites button all the possible tables and fields will appear:

Watch this video tutorial about Favorite Tables and Fields in the Jet Browser: http://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/u7qp69d1tb?autoPlay=true&controlsVisibleOnLoad=true&popover=true&version=v1&videoHeight=450&videoWidth=800&volumeControl=true

The saved snippet from Gen. Prod. Posting Group report request will be used.

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4.1 Report: Chart of Accounts

The controller wishes to receive a report that will give an overview and the balance of each G/L Account. A grand total will be calculated for all G/L Accounts.

Report request

The report will present the balance of each G/L Account in the Chart of Accounts. Controlling the expenses is necessary for proper company management by comparing the actual expenses against the budget.

Report information

The report request will be analyzed in the database by defining the data files, companies, tables and fields. The table for this report is called G/L Account and the selected fields are No., Name and Balance. Data Source 1 and CRONUS USA, Inc. are used as data source and company. Report information: Data source: Data Source 1 Company: CRONUS USA, Inc.

Table: G/L Account Fields: No., Name and Balance

Table relations: none

Mockup

The report will display one line for each G/L Account. The report will use the standard sorting of the database; no extra functionality is needed for our report. We need a grand total on Balance and filters on the No. with the value of 6*, and Account Type with the value of Posting. Mockup: Report from top to bottom with one row for each G/L Account. Grouping: none Sorting: none Totals: Amount Viewer filters: none Viewer options: none Hidden filters: No. = 6*

Account Type= Posting

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Report creation

Open a new Excel worksheet, click on the button Browser and the following Window will appear:

Description: Parts of the Browser

The Browser window has the following parts:

Address bar: The Address bar appears at the top of the window. The selected data source and company with drop downs for changing the selections are shown, as well as reporting options which default to Rows and Records. The Favorites button indicates if only favorite tables and fields are shown.

Tables: Underneath the heading, Tables: (with no Favorites selected), all the tables of the current data source are shown. The selected table is highlighted in blue. A right mouse click on the table will show a menu with two options:

Copy: places the name of the table in the clipboard; DrillDown: activates the DrillDown functionality for the entire table as

described in Description: Drilldown button in section 4.

Fields: Underneath the heading, Fields: all the fields of the selected table are shown. The selected field is highlighted in blue. A right mouse click on a table shows a menu with one option:

Copy: will place the name of the field in the clipboard.

If the selected field has a list button ( ), when clicked it will show sample values.

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Details: Click on the Details button at the bottom of the window to open the details pane where the attributes of the selected table and field will be shown. Table Name and Number are displayed as well as the available keys and other information for the fields Type and Class (see C/AL-field Data Type and Field Class in the C/SIDE Reference Guide of NAV). This feature is only available when connected to a Microsoft Dynamics NAV database.

Description: Address bar in the Browser window

The default for the Address bar is as follows:

On the left side, the data source will be shown followed by the Company, in this case Data Source 1 and CRONUS USA. Inc. The tables and the fields of this data source will be shown in the Tables and Fields windows. The Rows option (default) indicates that the data chosen in the tables and fields will be displayed in rows. Other options are Count, Sum, First, Columns, Sheets and Table. The Records option (default) can be changed to Values. This will be explained later in this chapter with some examples. Use the Favorites button previously discussed in this chapter to display only your favorite tables and fields. The Address bar will change based on the user preference for the actions to be completed.

The target cell of the dropdown action will always contain the NL function.

If the data source and/or company are different from the default as shown on the Jet ribbon, then the functions will contain the keyword Datasource= and Company= with the selected data source/company as the code value.

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Use the standard Address bar (see above).

Description: Records option in the Address bar.

Dragging and dropping a field with the option Records and either Rows or Columns, will create two functions:

1. One NL function to display the record key; 2. One NF function to display the value of the field dragged from the Browser.

The NL function will display the record key because the Field parameter was left blank.

When connecting to a Microsoft Dynamics GP or NAV data source, to generate a list of keys, the Field parameter in the NL function must remain blank!

When connecting to any other data source, you will see #VALUE at this stage. Debug will display the following message:

A record key must be created by selecting multiple fields in the Field parameter of the Jet Function Wizard. Select the cell with displaying #VALUE and open the NL function. Drop down the Field parameter, single click the first desired field for the report, hold down CTRL key and continue to select all desired fields for the report. This will create a unique combination of values to use as the primary key for the record. Be sure to select at least one unique identifying field within the selected fields, even if it will not be included in the report.

Select the G/L Account table and the field No. Drag and drop this field to the cell where the NL formula must be placed for this report: D4. The NF function of field No. will automatically be placed in E4. Drag and drop the fields Name and Balance to the cells F4 and G4, respectively. Jet Professional will automatically place the correct functions, column labels and Jet keywords. Columns and rows that will be hidden in Report mode are shown in gray.

It is possible to drag more than one field at the same time by selecting the first field, and then additional fields with Shift and/or Ctrl key on the keyboard to select a range or individual fields.

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Cell D4 contains the NL function. This defines the replicator region and will control the way the report runs. This replicator region will automatically be copied when the report is run.

Definition: Replicator Region and Replication

Replication is the process that Jet Professional uses in order to create dynamic lists. Replication involves identifying a region of an Excel worksheet and inserting copies of the region into the worksheet. A replicator is an NL function that performs replication. The replicator defines a region of the worksheet to replicate, produces a list of unique values or keys, and inserts as many copies of the identified region as there are unique values in the list. Replicator Region (1): The What parameter determines the region:

What parameter Replicated Region Rows the entire row Columns the entire column Sheets the entire worksheet

Because only Posting Accounts should be shown, the NL function in cell D4 is edited with the Jfx to add the filters for the fields Account Type and No. (No. filter value of 62??? must be typed manually):

=NL("Rows","G/L Account",,"Account Type","Posting","No.","62???")

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Directly under the replicator region (row 4) is the anchor row (row 5).

Definition: Anchor row and anchor column

Anchor row: When using a Rows replicator, the anchor row is the next empty row directly below the replicated region.

Anchor column: When using a Columns replicator, the anchor column is the column directly to the right of the replicated region.

When a replicator function makes copies of a worksheet region, it inserts copies before the next available row or column. We identify the next available empty row or column as the “anchor” because it will always be at the end of the completed list in Report mode. This action allows us to use the anchor within the range of a SUM function in order to sum all values that are produced in Report mode. Use the first cell that contains a numeric value as the start of the cell range and then include the anchor row or column in the range. Insert the following text and function in cell F6 and G6:

F6: Total: G6: =SUM(G4:G5)

After some formatting work, the report in Design mode will appear as follows (if a column is not wide enough the #-sign will appear):

Result Browser (Design mode)

In Report mode, the result will be as follows (last part of the report):

Result Browser (Report mode)

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4.2 Report: Number of Customers by Location

The sales manager wants to receive an overview and chart that will show the current number of customers by location.

Report request

The report must present the number of customers by location, and this must also be shown in a pie chart. Totals and filters are not necessary. Locations with no customers will not be shown. Insight into the number of clients by location will give an indication how well this location is performing. For instance, if there are too many customers, maybe a new branch should be considered.

Report information

Again the report request will be analyzed to define the data sources, companies, tables and fields in the database. In our database, locations are associated with most customers. The table this report will use is named Customer. If we base the report on the unique values of the field Location from the table Customer, we know which tables and fields we need. We will use Data Source 1 and CRONUS USA, Inc. as data source and company. Report information: Data source: Data Source 1 Company: CRONUS USA, Inc.

Table: Customer Field: Location


Mockup

This will be a report with one row for each location. We will use the standard sorting used by the database. No totals or filters will be defined. Report layout: Report from top to bottom with a row for Location Grouping: none Sorting: none Totals: none Viewer filters: none Viewer options: none Hidden filters: none

Report creation

If the Browser is used to create reports, it will be specifically noted; otherwise the Jfx will be used. Open a new Excel worksheet, click on Browser and define the Address bar as follows:

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Description: Option Values in Address bar

Selecting Values with Rows or Columns with a drag and drop action will result in a field with an NL function for a list of unique values. After the drag and drop action, the Field parameter is filled with the name of the field.

To generate a list with unique values, the Field parameter must contain data and is not allowed to be empty!

Select the Customer table, and drag the field, Location Code, to cell D4. This will result in the following NL function where the Field parameter is filled with the “Location Code”.

=NL("Rows","Customer","Location Code")

If needed, filters can be changed or added later. Automatically the field name from the database will be placed in the cell directly above the cell with the NL function. Change the Browser address bar as follows:

Drag the Customer table to cell E4, and type the text, Number of Customers by Location Code, in cell E3. Change the NL function in cell E4 to be filtered by location:

FilterField1 = “Location Code” and Filter1 = D4. To avoid empty filter values, “@@”& must be placed in front of the cell reference.

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Description: Filter @@

Filter @@: The value “@@”& is placed in front of the filter argument to avoid an error when the argument value is empty or blank. Jet Professional does not allow filtering with an empty filter value. This syntax is also used for special characters such as parentheses or ampersands and allows the result in the cell to be interpreted as normal text. To search for blank values in the database, “@@” can be used for the filter value.

This prefix is very simple to add by clicking on the Allow Special Characters button:

The resulting NL function counts the number of records. In this case, the number of customers of the location code:

=NL("Count","Customer",,"Location Code","@@"&D4)

The What parameter has the value Count to count the number of records, which leaves the Field parameter empty, as it is not needed. Drag the field, Location Code, from the Browser to cell H3 (the Address bar will stay on Count) and type the text Number of locations in cell G3, and type Fit in cell G1. The resulting NL function will count the number of different locations:

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=NL("CountUnique",”Customer",”Location Code")

The What parameter contains the value CountUnique; and the Field parameter contains the field of the different values to be counted. After formatting the titles, click on the Report button and the first version of the report will appear:

Result Browser (first version in Report mode)

At Number of Locations the empty locations are also counted. The list is in alphabetical order, and the empty location is the first to appear in the report.

To avoid blank location codes, modify the replicator in cell D4 to exclude blank location codes by adding the filterfield and filter, location code, “<>@@”. To add a chart to the report, while in Design mode, select the area D3:E5. This is the complete table including the heading and the anchor row. Next, select Pie from the Insert ribbon. In Design mode, type Hide in cell A5 so the empty anchor row will not appear in the chart:

To assist Excel in correctly identifying each axis, add some dummy values in the anchor row while in Design mode. In the text series, add anchor; in the values series, add 0. Make sure to hide the anchor row so that it doesn’t appear in Report mode.

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Result Browser (Design mode with focus on chart)

One click on the Report button will generate the following result:


4.3 Report: Timeliness of Purchased Goods

The head of the purchasing department wants to have a report to review the timeliness of receiving goods as part of a reliable delivery.

Report request

The report will be based on the purchase lines which include the dates needed for the report. Only purchase lines with the received number of goods greater than 0 will be reported. The number of days will indicate whether the goods were received too early or too late. Each line will have the following fields: Buy-from Vendor No., Document No., Type, No., Description, Unit of Measure, Actual Receive Date, Expected Receipt Date and the difference between these two dates.

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The report must be sorted and filtered on Buy-from Vendor No. In case of insufficient timeliness, the vendor can be presented with the data to increase the timeliness of the vendor; or a more reliable vendor with a better timeliness can be found.

Report information

The problem can be analyzed by using the database, companies, tables and fields. Received goods can be found in our example under Purch. Rcpt. Headers. In the Purch. Recpt. Line table, the received goods associated with the header are found. The requested fields Type, No., Description, Quantity, Unit of Measure Code and Expected Receipt Date are available on the line as the fields Type, No., Description, Quantity, Unit of Measure Code and Expected Receipt Date The receipt date is the date when the product is actually received, or the posting date of the receipt: Posting Date in the header Purch. Rcpt. Header. The difference between the expected and the actual receipt dates will be calculated in the report. Data Source 1 and CRONUS USA, Inc. will be used as data source and company. Report information: Data source: Data Source 1 Company: CRONUS USA, Inc.

Table: Purch. Rcpt. Line Fields:

Buy-from Vendor No., Document No., Type, No, Description, Quantity, Unit of Measure and Expected Receipt Date

Table: Purch. Rcpt. Header Field: Posting Date

Table relation: Table: Purch. Rcpt. Line ↔ Purch. Rcpt. Header

Field: No. = Document No.

Mockup

This will be a simple report with a row of Purchase Receipt Line records without any grouping. The report will be sorted by the Buy-from Vendor No. There will be no grand total amount. A report filter for Buy-from Vendor No. will need to be created. Because this field is also available on the Purch. Rcpt. Header, it is more efficient to use this table. Next to this report filter, no extra report options will be used. A hard-coded filter for quantity <> 0 is needed. Mockup: Report from top to bottom with one row of Receipt posting lines-record. Grouping: none Sorting: Buy-from Vendor No. Totals: none

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Viewer filters: Buy-from Vendor No. Viewer options: none Hidden filters: Quantity <> 0

Report creation

Open a new Excel worksheet. On Sheet1, the Viewer filters will be defined, and the report will be created on Sheet2. Click on Snippets, and drag the Option Definition snippet created with 0

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Report: Item list by Gen. Prod. Posting Group to A1:E5 on Sheet1:

Report option definition

Change the option, title and lookup function: C5: Vendor No. E5: =NL("Lookup","Purch. Rcpt. Header","Buy-from Vendor No.")

Next, the fields of the Purch. Rcpt. Line table will be placed on Sheet2. Open Sheet2 and click on the Browser and define the Address bar as follows:

Select the Purch. Rcpt. Line table, and Document No. field. Drag this field to the cell where the NL function must be placed: D4. The NF function for the field No. will automatically be placed in the cell E4. Drag the fields, Buy-from Vendor No., Type, No., Description, Quantity, Unit of Measure and Expected Receipt Date, to the cells F4 up to L4. Now the field Posting Date from table Purch. Rcpt. Header will be added. Define the Browser Address bar as follows:

Select the Purch. Rcpt. Header table, and drag and drop the field Posting Date to cell M4:

M4: =NL("First","Purch. Rcpt. Header","Posting Date")

The resulting NL function will use First as the What parameter, and will display the first value of the Posting Date. Date fields will not automatically be displayed as a date but as a number (Julian Date format). Format the cell of the Expected Receipt Date and Posting Date cells to show the date. Link the NL function in cell M4 to document no. in cell E4 by adding a filter in the Jfx:

M4: =NL("First",”Purch. Rcpt. Header",”Posting Date","No.",E4) The Document No. in E4 for the posted purchase is the same as the field No. in the Purch. Rcpt. Header. There is only one Posting Date and Purch. Rcpt. Header record so using First in the What parameter is sufficient.

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The report will have the following appearance:

Preliminary result Browser (Design mode)

The column for the difference between the two dates still does not exist. Type the text, Difference, in cell N3 and type the following Excel function in cell N4: =$M4-$L4 The filter on Sheet1 has also not yet been created. Set up the following references on Sheet2 to show the title and filter value:

B2: =Sheet1!$C$5 C2: =Sheet1!$D$5

Next, the NL function in cell D4 needs to be updated with a filter for Vendor No. and with a + or – sign to define the sorting. Also, the filter on quantity <> 0 will be defined here.

D4: =NL("Rows","Purch. Rcpt. Line",,"+Buy-from Vendor No.",$C$2,"Quantity","<>0") As a last change we will place the keyword Fit where necessary and add the keyword +Values to the other keywords in cell A1:

Auto+Hide+Values The report in the Design mode (with a formatted header) will look like this:


Clicking on Report button will open the window, Report Options, which allows filtering on Vendor No. and then generate the report with the selected option.


Supplementary 1

The generated report shows that a grouping on Vendor is a logical next step. We will show you how to accomplish this. In Design mode, add a row between rows 3 and 4 and add two columns between columns C and D to Sheet2.

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Create the function for the primary list. Click on the Browser and define the Address bar as follows:

Select table Purch. Rcpt. Line and Buy-from Vendor No. field and drag this field to cell E4.

E4: =NL("Rows","Purch. Rcpt. Line","Buy-from Vendor No.")

Change this function by copying the filters from F5 so the relevant vendor number will be selected and the quantity <> 0:

E4: =NL("Rows=3","Purch. Inv. Line","Buy-from Vendor No.","+Buy-from Vendor No.",$C$2,"Quantity","<>0")

Insert the argument "Rows=3" in the What parameter so that the replicated region will now be 3 rows: rows 4, 5 and 6. Everything within this region will be replicated, including the NL function in row 5.

Definition: The Primary List

The NL function with the What parameter argument of Rows, Columns or Sheets will replicate the result. All rows in the primary list region will be replicated when the report is run. Depending on the What parameter argument, the replicated region will have the following result:

What parameter argument Replicating region Rows, First, Last, <empty>, n the row where the NL function is

positioned

Rows=n n linked rows from top to bottom starting with the NL function row

Columns the column where the NL function is positioned

Columns=n n linked columns from left to right starting with the column where the NL function is positioned

Sheets The sheet where the NL function is positioned

Create the cell references within the definition range as follows:

D4: =E4 D5: =D4 D6: =D5

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Cell reference workaround

Description: Cell reference workaround

A cell reference workaround is needed in any grouping report where the data functions in the Secondary List detail reference a cell from the Primary list or detail. For an NL(Rows=n) function, the top cell of the reference group will point to the source cell and the cells underneath will point to the cell directly above. For an NL(Columns=n) function, the most-left cell of the reference group will point to the source cell and the cells right will point to the cell directly left.

Change the function in F5 to refer to the Buy-from Vendor No. cell reference in cell D5 (the explicit sorting using the + sign is cancelled):

F5: =NL("Rows","Purch. Rcpt. Line",,"Buy-from Vendor No.",$D5,"Quantity","<>0") By arranging the report in this way, the data from the Purch. Rcpt. Line table will be grouped by Buy-from Vendor No.

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Description: Grouping

Grouping will only be applied if a secondary list is defined within a primary list. Examples:

Excel sheet per customer posting group on each Excel sheet: o Customer report by Customer Posting Group;

Range of 4 rows of product posting group with a range: o Items by Product posting group;

Range of 2 columns per quarter year with a range: o Months by quarter per year;

Range of 7 rows per purchaser with a range: o Range of 4 rows Vendor purchaser with a range:

Purchase orders by Vendor and purchaser.

The number of groups is only limited by the number of useful groups and the limitations of Excel.

Last actions: delete column H with function =NF($F5,"Buy-from Vendor No."), hide column D and redesign the layout. The report in Design mode will have the following appearance:

Result Browser with addition (Design mode)

One mouse click on Report and the report will be generated:


Supplementary 2

The search window within Report Options only shows the Vendor numbers without any other information about the Vendor. By using the field cache within the NL(Lookup) function for the parameter Field, the search window from the window Report Options will give extra columns to include a description.

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Description: Field cache

Through a field cache, a set of values will be specified that will be applied in one parameter. A field cache can be applied in the following two ways:

1. Multiple field names in the Field parameter: {"No.",”Description",”Stock"}

2. Cell reference where the values are entered e.g. $B$3:$D$3 Change the search function in cell E5 of worksheet Sheet1:

E5: =NL("Lookup","Vendor",{"No.","Name"}) The Lookup window will display two columns; one column with the Vendor number and the second with the Vendor name:

Lookup window with extra column

By changing the table used in the Lookup function, instead of showing the Vendors that have delivered supplies, all Vendors are displayed.

After selection in the Lookup window the value of the left column will be used as the value in the Report Options window.

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4.4 Report: Due Account Receivables by month

The manager of the Customer Service department wants to receive an up-to-date report on overdue account receivables by customer by month.

Report request

The report must show all overdue accounts sorted by customer and month. The report must be in a matrix report by showing the customer information from top to bottom, and the month across columns. The overdue amount for the customer and month must be shown. There will be no grouping. On every customer line the customer number and name must be shown. In each month column, the name of the month and the start date must be shown. Provide totals for each customer, and by month. The Viewer will need to be able to select start and end dates to limit the period of the report. No other filters are required. The report will show a current and detailed view of the overdue accounts that may lead a manager to take action to provide a better cash flow position for the company.

Report information

In order to see customer transaction by date, the Customer Ledger Entry table will be used. You can create a column with the name of the month, start date and a date filter. The report request indicates the Viewer must be able to select the start and end dates. This is possible by using the Date table. Description: Dynamics NAV/GP and the Date Table

With a NAV data source, there is a Date table. If installed with the GP data source, there is a view called Jet Date that can be used for dates. The Date/Jet Date table has all the possible dates with the following fields:

Period Type Possible values: Date, Week, Month, Quarter and Year Start Date Start Date of the period End Date End Date of the period Period No. No. indication of the period

The Date table can be used to present (replicate) period data: =NL("Columns","Date","Period Start","Period Type","Month","Period Start","1/1/2015..12/31/2015")

As the requested report will use the Viewer options for the start and end dates, the Date table will be used to replicate the periods with the fields, Start Date and End Date. Each column will be built with a date filter with the fields, Start Date and End Date, and the fields will be presented with the Start Date. By using Excel functionality, there will also be a column that displays the period in written text. We will use Data Source 1 and CRONUS USA, Inc. as data source and company.

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Report information: Data source: Data Source 1 Company: CRONUS USA, Inc.

Table: Customers Fields:

No., Name Table: Cust. Ledger Entries

Fields: Amount, Customer No., Due Date

Table: Date Fields:

Start Date, End Date, Period Type Table relation:

Table: Customers ↔ Cust. Ledger Entry Field: No. = Customer No.

Mockup

The report will be a matrix with values from the Customer table presented from top to bottom and information from the Date table from left to right. On every Customer-Date intersect, the total amount due of the associated Customer-Date record will be shown. The due amount will be the sum of the field Balance of the Cust. Ledger Entry table (See Image Customer Ledger Entries) by filtering on Customer No., which is linked to field, No., of the associated Customer record, and Due Date, which is situated between Start Date and End Date from the associated Date record. We will use the standard sorting of NAV; no extra sorting will be used for this report. There will be a total for each customer across the months and a total for each month at the bottom of the column. It must be possible to enter a start and end date as a Viewer option. With this datefilter, the Date table will be filtered on the field Start Date. A hidden filter is necessary to filter the table for Period Type = Month. Mockup: Overview matrix from top to bottom with one row per Customer record and columns with date

records. On the matrix cross-section the amount of the field Amount of the Cust. Ledger Entry table will be placed.

Grouping: none Sorting: none Totals: Amount by Customer record, Amount by date Viewer filters: none Viewer options: Start Date, End Date Hidden filters: Period Type (filter value Month)

Report creation

Open a new Excel worksheet. On Sheet1 the Viewer definition and options will be defined. The report will be developed on Sheet2. Click on the Snippets button and drag the snippet named Option definition created in Section 2.2 Report: Active Report by Product Posting Group to position A1:E5 on Sheet1. Remove the keyword Lookup from cell E1 and the lookup function in cell E5, and change the options below:

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C5: Start Date D5: 1/1/2016

Create another option line with the option title End Date on row 6: A6: Option C6: End Date

D6: 12/31/2016 C7: Due Date In cell D7, create the NP(Datefilter) function with the NP Jfx button, with cell references for Start Date and End Date:

=NP("DateFilter",$D$5,$D$6)

The completed report option definition:

Report option definition

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One click on the Report button will show the window, Report Options:

Report Options

Click on the Cancel button to return to Design mode. Continue now on Sheet2 to define the report. Open Sheet2, click on the Browser and define the Address bar as follows:

Select the Customer table, and drag in the following order:

field No. to cell D10 (the NF function will automatically be placed in cell E10): D10: =NL("Rows","Customer") E10: =NF($D10,"No.")

field Name to cell F10: F10: =NF($D10,"Name")

In Report mode the result is as follows (without the report options and formatting):

Result in Report mode (1)

Go back to Design mode and define the Address bar in the Browser window as follows:

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Select the Date table and drag in the following order:

field, Period No., to cell G4 (the NF function is then placed in cell G5): G4: =NL("Columns","Date") G5: =NF(G$4,"Period No.")

field, Period Start, to cell G6: G6: =NF(G$4,"Period Start")

field, Period End to cell G7: G7: =NF(G$4,"Period End")

Change the cell properties of cells G6 and G7 to format the date. In cell G8 click the NP Jfx button to create the NP(Datefilter) with the values of the Start and End Date in column G:

G8: =NP("DateFilter",G$6,G$7)

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The following Excel formulas can be used to convert these values into period names:

Where cell B2 = 1

Period Type Formula Output

Date =TEXT(B2+1,"dddd") Monday

Month =TEXT(DATE(2014,B2,1),"mmmm") January

The Viewer filters and options as defined on Sheet1 have not yet been created on Sheet2:

Show filters: Show filter values: B1: Fit C1: Fit B2: =Sheet1!$C$5 C2: =Sheet1!$D$5 B3: =Sheet1!$C$6 C3: =Sheet1!$D$6 B4: =Sheet1!$C$7 C4: = Sheet1!$D$7

To show the correct date, change the cell properties of the cells C2 and C3. The NL function in cell G4 will use the date in cell C4 as a filter value on the filter field, Start Date and Period Type = Month:

G4: =NL("Columns","Date",,"Period Start",$C$4,"Period Type","Month") Place the keyword, Hide, in cells A6, A7, A8 and the result of the Report mode is as follows:

Result in Report mode (1)

Go back to Design mode and define the Address bar in the Browser window as follows:

Select the Cust. Ledger Entry table and drag and drop field, Amount (LCY), in cell G10, next to Customer Name and below Date, and add the correct filters. This creates a Sum function for the Customer No. with the Due date as filtered date:

G10: =NL("Sum","Cust. Ledger Entry","Amount (LCY)","Customer No.",$E10,"Due Date",G$8) Delete the text, Sum of Amount, in cell G9.

Keep track of the cell references:

for the filter on Customer No. the reference for the column is absolute and for the row it is relative (the column is fixed);

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for the filter on Due Date the reference for the column is relative and for the row it is absolute (the row is fixed).

Place a row total in cell I10; this is a customer total. The Excel SUM function will be used, but keep the anchor column H in mind:

I10: =SUM(G10:H10)

Place a column total using the Excel SUM function in cells G12 and I12 a function; this is a month total and report total:

G12: =SUM(G10:G11) I12: =SUM(I10:I11)

After redefining the layout the report is ready. In Design mode it will look as follows:


Click on the Report button to show the Report Options window (with Start Date 1/1/2015 and End Date 12/31/2015), and click Run to generate the report. The report in Report mode is as follows:


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Appendix Jet Ribbon

Jet Professional introduces an extra ribbon in Excel called Jet:

Appendix - Jet-ribbon

Only the buttons of the ribbon that are within the scope of this book will be described. The name of the ribbon section is placed in the lower part of the ribbon. By placing the mouse pointer over the button a small description window will appear with a short explanation.

The product Jet Express only has a small subset of functions available. The ribbon section, Modes, has general buttons:

The Design button activates the Design mode in which reports can be designed. This option is only available for individuals with Jet Designer licenses. Referred to as Designers.

The Report button activates the Report mode and generates the report from the data in cache if available; otherwise it will extract the data from the database. This button is available for the Viewer and the Designer.

The Refresh button activates the Report mode and generates a report on the basis of data in the database. This button is available for the Viewer and the Designer.

The Upload button uploads a copy of a report to the Web Portal. The button is available only for Designers.

When the Report button is clicked, Jet Professional will use the cached information from the last time you ran the report from your current Excel session. This means that the information will be returned quickly, but will not reflect any newly entered data.

The data in cache memory will not automatically be synchronized with the data in the database. A change in the database will only be visible in the report after clicking on the Refresh button. Refresh will get the data directly from the database.

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For the Designer it is preferable to use Report because the run-time is shorter. For a Viewer it is preferable to use Refresh because they will always receive up-to-date data. The ribbon section, Design Tools, offers buttons for developing reports only for the Designer:

The Jfx buttons open a window that will support the input of a Jet Professional function and is comparable to the standard Excel button, Insert function

The Report Wizard button develops a new report using a single table.

The Table Builder button will start a step-by-step process to create a report using one or more tables. The resulting report will generate an Excel table that can be used with PivotTable creation.

The Browser button will open a window with an alphabetically sorted list of the tables and fields of the selected data source. A report can be created with “drag and drop” actions from this window.

The Snippets button opens the Snippets window. Snippets are permanent fixed clipboard items of reusable report parts and can be shared with other Jet Professional users.

The ribbon section, Report Tools, will provide some extra tools:

The underlying data from the tables used in the Jet Professional function will be displayed either in the Jet Data Grid or Microsoft Dynamics NAV, where applicable.

If a Jet function is invalid or contains an error, the active cell will return #VALUE! Clicking the Check Error button will display the cause of the error.

The Schedule button starts a structured interaction that will manage the Jet tasks to automatically start reports, and distribute the results via email.

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The ribbon section, Settings, includes the buttons to manage and show the default data source and company:

This button displays the name of the default data source. Clicking the arrow will display a list of other defined data sources from which a new default data source can be chosen.

This button displays the name of the default company and is only visible when connected to a Microsoft Dynamics NAV or GP data source. Clicking the arrow will display a list of other defined companies from the default data source from which a new default company can be chosen.

The data source used in this book is always Data Source 1 with CRONUS USA, Inc. as the company.

The ribbon section, Information, groups the buttons that apply to Jet Professional:

The Help button activates the following button list:

Activate Jet License Activate a new or reactivate an existing license

Help Center Opens the Jet Professional Help Center pages within the Jet Reports website.

Give Feedback Have thoughts or ideas for Jet? Provide feature requests or feedback on current functionality.

About Opens a window with information of the Jet Professional version currently installed. This information is needed when submitting a Support ticket.

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Descriptions of Functions

A description of the Jet functions and the parameters that are within the scope of this book are discussed.

NL

The NL function will fetch a single value or key, or multiple values or keys from the data source. The NL function has the following parameters:

Parameter Argument option Description

What First Returns the first value or key.

<empty> Returns the first value or key.

Last Returns the last value or key.

N Returns the nth value or key.

Rows Returns a list of values or keys in rows. The entire region (row) will be replicated down.

Rows=n The same as in Rows, but instead of a single row, the definition of n where the number is the number of rows. For example the current row and the next two rows use “Rows=3”.

Columns Returns a list of values or keys in columns. The entire region (column) will be replicated across.

Columns=n The same as in Columns, but instead of a single column, the definition of n where the number is the number of columns. For example the current column and the next two columns use “Columns=3”.

Sheets Creates a copy of the current worksheet for each value in the Field parameter. The name of the sheet is set to the value returned.

Sum Returns the accumulated value of the Field parameter.

Count Returns the count of all records.

CountUnique Returns the number of unique values of the given Field.

Lookup Creates a formula that will perform the database lookup for Report Options. This function must be used with the Option keyword in column A and the Lookup keyword in row 1.

Table Returns an Excel table (see Description NL(Table) in Chapter 3).

Table Table name of the table where the report will originate from.

Field <empty> If the Field parameter is blank, then the NL function will return a record key.

Field name Refers to a field of the selected table. The NL function will return one or more unique values from this field.

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FilterFieldn The name of the field by which to filter. A combination with the argument Filtern. (max. 10 argument combinations for Filter field and Filter when using the Jfx)

Field definition of the field that will be filtered.

Keyword. See Appendix Keyword.

Filtern This argument must not be empty if the parameter FilterFieldn is filled.

Filter value that will be used for this field.

Keyword value that will be used.

See Appendix Keyword.

A table definition consists of table caption, table name, table number or a combination of table number and caption or a table number and name separated by a space. A field definition consists of field caption, field name, field number or a combination of field caption and field number or field name and field number separated by a space. A caption is the defined language of the translated title of the table or field, in most cases the system name will be the English name.

NF

NF functions are only used in combination with NL functions that produce a record key. The NF function returns the field value from a given field of the parameter Field. The NF function has the following parameters:


Key Record key This references a record key provided by an NL function.

Field Field description of the reported field.

Name of the field to return.

FlowFilterFieldn* Field description of a

flow filter field that will be filtered.

Defines a combination with the parameter Flow filtern. (max. 10 filled parameter combinations for Flow filter field and Flow filter) Flow filters cannot be used in a universal data source environment.

Flowfiltern* Filter value that will be

used for this field. This parameter must not be empty if parameter FlowFilterFieldn is used.

*Parameters FlowFilterFieldn and Flowfiltern are not part of this book and only are applicable with a Microsoft Dynamics NAV data source.

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NP

The NP function has the following parameters (based on the scope of this book):


What DateFilter Creates a date filter using the start date and end date specified in the parameters.

Only applies to DateFilter.

Start Date <Empty> Resulting range doesn’t have a starting date.

Date First date in the range.

Only applies to DateFilter.

End Date <Empty> Resulting range doesn’t have an end date

Date Last date in the date range.

GL

The GL function is only selectable when connected to a Microsoft Dynamics NAV or GP data source and returns balance, budget, credits, debits or net change of the General Ledger of a given company based on filters. This function is outside of the scope of this training and will not be covered.

Example functions

Examples of the above mentioned NL and NF functions are included in this section. Also examples of filters will be shown using the Jfx. Examples of the NP functions will be described in Example of NP(DateFilter). Every example will show the result in Report mode, and each function will have a DrillDown button.

Single value

Description of the first Item

The three shown functions will give the same result:

=NL("First","Item","Description")

=NL(,"Item","Description")

=NL(1,"Item","Description") Result: 10.2 GB ATA-66 IDE

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To show the data of the first selected record, the What parameter can be left blank or filled with the argument First or 1.

Description of the last Item

=NL("Last","Item","Description")

Result: Wooden Door Description of the 30th Item

=NL(30,"Item","Description") Result: ATHENS Mobile Pedestal

Total stock of Items with the Inventory Posting Group RESALE

=NL("Sum","Item","Inventory","Inventory Posting Group","RESALE") Result: 10,380

Notice when the What parameter is Sum, the third argument, normally named Field, becomes a Numeric Field. The filter is entered as: Inventory Posting Group=RESALE The number of Items of Vendor 10000

=NL("Count","Item",,"Vendor No.","10000") Result: 16

In this case the third parameter is left empty, as you can see from the two commas together in the formula.

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The number of different Costing Methods of Items of Vendor 10000

=NL("CountUnique","Item","Costing Method","Vendor No.","10000") Result: 2

List with unique values

Rows of unique FA-locations (FA = Fixed Assets)

=NL("Rows","Fixed Asset","FA Location Code")

Result:

Appendix - Result: row of Location-FA

Rows=n with unique FA Location Code

=NL("Rows=3","Fixed Asset","FA Location Code")

Result:

Appendix - Result: 3 rows per Location-FA

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Columns of unique FA Location Codes for FA Subclass CAR

=NL("Columns","Fixed Asset","FA Location Code","FA Subclass Code","CAR")

Result:

Appendix - Result: column with FA-subcategory

Columns=n of unique FA Location Codes for FA Subclass CAR

=NL("Columns=2","Fixed Asset","FA Location Code","FA Subclass Code","CAR")

Result:

Appendix - Result: 2 columns with FA-subcategory

Sheets with unique Responsible Employee for FA Subclass not equal to MACHINERY

=NL("Sheets","Fixed Asset","Responsible Employee","FA Subclass Code","<>MACHINERY")

Result:

Appendix - Result: Excel sheet by Responsible Employee

Single record

The first customer

In addition to the 3 functions in the section Single Value, the following function will also show the first record: E4: =NF($D4,"No.") The parameter key in the above NF function points to the NL argument that is entered in cell D4. The same NF argument is used for every shown field (in the example above it is field No.). The same applies to the NF formula of the following examples. Result:

Appendix - Result: row Customer 10000

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One row is shown with the key (gray) followed by the needed fields. In this and the following results, the text in the column with the NL formula will be gray with the keyword Hide in Row 1. This column will not be shown in the end result.

Example: Record Key

Because of this example, the contents of cell D4 will be shown: "Data Source 1","CRONUS USA, Inc.","18","1","10000"

Here the following items are shown:

data source - Data Source 1

company - CRONUS USA, Inc.

table number or name - 18 (table Customer)

field number, or name or field cache of the key value - 1 (field No.)

key value - 10000 If a key is composed of different fields, then more combinations for field number and key values will be shown. For example: the following NL formula for table 36 (Sales Header) will produce a key with two key field combinations the - field 1 (Document type) with the value Order and field 3 (No.) with value 1003:

Formula: =NL(,"Sales Header") Key: "Data Source 1","CRONUS USA, Inc.","36","1","Order","3","1003"

The third customer with post code starting with a 3

=NL(3,"Customer",,"Post Code","3*")

Result:

Appendix - Result: row Customer 10000

The last customer of location Yellow

=NL("Last","Customer",,"Location Code","YELLOW")

Result:

Appendix - Result: row for Customer 47586954

When using the NL(Last) function you will need to add a sort to your function. You could obtain the same result by using the NL(First) function and sorting the records in the opposite order.

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List of records

Rows with campaigns

D4: =NL("Rows","Campaign")

E4: =NF($D4,"No.")

In the argument for the record key ($D4) the reference to the row is relative, because with replication, the row number is variable. The column reference in this case is absolute, but may also be relative. Rows=n with Campaign

D4: =NL("Rows=3","Campaign")

E4: =NF($D4,"No.")

Result:

Appendix - Result: 3 rows for each Campaign

Columns with campaigns up to status 5-START

D4: =NL("Columns","Campaign",,"Status Code","5-START")

D5: =NF($D4,"No.")

In the argument for Key (D$4) the reference to the column is relative because with replication the column number is variable. The reference to the row is absolute and may also be relative. Result:

Appendix - Result: column by Campaign

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Columns=n with campaigns up to status 5-START

D4: =NL("Columns=2","Campaign",,"Status Code","5-START")

D5: =NF($D4,"No.")

Result:

Appendix - Result: 2 columns by Campaign

Table Business Relation, complete

=NL("Table","Business Relation")

Result:

Appendix - Result: Table Business Relation

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When using NL(Table), numeric columns will contain a total at the bottom of the column. Table Items, with selected fields, for Vendor 10000 =NL("Table","Item",{"No.","Description","Inventory"}, "Vendor No.",10000, "TableName=","10000_Items", "Headers=",{"Vend. No.","Description","Inv. Qty."}, "HideTotals=","False") Result:

Appendix - Result: Selection of fields and records from table Items

The fields selected have been defined in the parameter, Fields, through the field cache notation. The table name has been specified as “10000_Items” and totals will be shown.

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Keywords

Below you will find the keywords that were used in this book. They are divided into Basic Keywords and Report Options.

Basic Keywords

In general, the following keywords will be placed in Column A and Row 1. Hide: Hides the row and/or column in the Report mode. Fit: The width and/or height of the accompanying row or column will be adjusted to

the maximum width or height needed. Cell A1 plays a central role and has specific keywords that will format the worksheet:

Auto: Implies that rows, columns and sheets will be generated automatically. Hide: The rows or columns will be automatically hidden in Report mode. Lock: The worksheet is locked for changes in Report mode. Values: The worksheet is not locked in Report mode, and the Viewer will be able to

change the layout or add rows and columns. Changes in values in the fields with Jet formulas may be lost if you run the report again.

HideSheet: Hides a complete worksheet in Report mode. Cell A1 must contain at least one of the following combinations of keywords for the report to be usable by the Viewer:

Auto+Hide+Lock

Auto+Hide+Values If cell A1 has no value, click on Design or Report to automatically place the value Auto+Hide.

If a Viewer runs a report with only the value Auto+Hide in cell A1, the following error message will appear: “You are not allowed to design reports. …”.

It is not possible to see Jet formulas in Report mode. A Viewer is able to use Excel functionality to make the hidden rows and columns visible; the keys and keywords will also become visible.

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Keywords for Report Options

To define a Report Option window, specific keywords are needed. They will be described in this section. Keywords in row 1:

Title: This keyword must appear in Excel Row 1. The intersection of the Options row and the Title column creates the Title for the option.

Value: This keyword must appear in Excel row 1. The intersection of the Options row

and the Value column includes the Value for the option. When the Report Options window appears the user can specify a new value. This value is then stored in cell C3 and can be referenced in other cells as a filter value.

Lookup: This allows users to select a value or set of values from a drop-down list. The

values in the drop-down list may be directly from a database or from Excel. The NL(Lookup) function is used to define the values shown in the drop-down list. This optional tag must appear in Excel row 1.

Keywords for column A:

Option: This keyword must appear in column A. Each row that has Option in column A becomes a user-selectable option in the Report Options window.

For instance, the definition in Image Report option definition will result in the report options.

Appendix - Report option definition

Appendix - Report options

Definition: Keyword and Value

Keywords will be applied in NL formulas where the FilterFieldn parameter has “=” as a suffix. The associated FilterField will then contain the code value of the given keyword. Keyword:

Special values allowed as FilterField arguments. Value:

The entered value of the associated keyword.

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The following keywords will be supported in the Jfx search window for filterfields and filter values:

Appendix – Keywords

The keywords below are included in this book. Datasource= Defines the data source for the NL function; as value the Jet data source name will

be specified. Company= Defines the company for the NL function; as value the NAV company name will be

specified. Limit= Limits the number of resulting rows or columns to the specified value.

If a report runs too long in the development phase it can be useful to limit the results.

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Jet Professional Settings

To work with the examples in this book it is necessary that the data source (in this book, Data Source 1) is set up in Data Source Settings, as displayed below:

The language code must be correctly selected. In this book 000 is displayed as no language module was selected;

For the DrillDown option, Use Jet Data Grid, must be selected under Drilldown;

At the bottom left, the text “You are licensed as a Designer” must be displayed.

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Publishing to the Web Portal

The Jet Professional provides the ability to publish your reports to the Jet Web Portal and can be

published by Viewers and Designers.

In order for both the Excel add-in and the Jet Web Portal to access your data source (NAV, GP, Jet

Enterprise Cubes, Jet Data Warehouse, or a Universal connection), the settings for that data source must

be defined in the Jet Administration Console and the Jet Professional Excel add-in must be configured to

use the Jet Service Tier for accessing those settings.

Once the report has been designed with Jet Professional and is ready to share with other users, it is

ready to publish. There are two options when uploading reports to the Jet Web Portal.

Publishing Reports from Excel

Open a report and click the Upload button. You will be presented with dialog box asking for a name for

the report. This can be different than the file name. It will also ask for where to place the report. If

folders are used within your Web Portal, you may navigate to a specific folder.

Appendix – Publish Report Location

Once all the information on this screen is correct, click the Upload button. If a naming conflict is

discovered, the Web Portal will ask if you wish to overwrite or create a new report. If you wish to create

a new report, you must provide a new report name.

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Publishing Reports from the Jet Web Portal

Open the Jet Web Portal from any browser. Once logged in, you will have the option from the action

pane at the bottom of the browser to upload reports. Select “Upload Reports” which opens a Windows

Explorer pane.

Appendix – Upload Report

Navigate to your report from within Windows. You can select one or many reports by holding down

CTRL as you highlight reports, then hit Open.

Appendix – File Selection

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An status pane will display the status of the upload process.

Appendix – Upload Progress

Reports can now be run, viewed, downloaded or shared with other users.

Running Jet Professional Web Portal Reports

Once a report has been published, that report will then appear in the online Reports List in the Web

Portal.

To run a report, select the report and select the Run option from the action list shown at the bottom of

the window.

The status icon for that report will show that the report is being run. Once complete, the status icon will

update, again.

At this point, the user can select "Download" to download a copy of the report (in Report mode) and

then open it in Excel to view. Jet Professional Designers will be able to select "Edit" to download the

report in Design mode.

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One of the most powerful features of the Jet Web Portal is that it allows you to run and view the report

without needing to have the Jet add-in - or even Excel - installed.

If you have access to Excel 365 Online, you can simply select the Open option, and view the report

directly in your web browser.

END OF BOOK

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