In the same fashion as we discussed regarding pages in Chapter 4, Pages - the Interactive Interface, when we want to create a new report of a type that we haven't done recently (or at all), it's a good idea to find another report that is similar in an important way and study it. We should also check if there is a NAV Pattern defined for an applicable category of report. At the minimum, in both of these investigations, we will learn how the developers of NAV solved a data flow, totaling, or filtering challenge. In the best case, we will find a model that we can follow closely, respectfully plagiarizing (copying) a working solution, thus saving ourselves much time and effort.

Often, it is useful to look at two or three of the standard NAV reports for similar functions to see how they are constructed. There is no sense in reinventing the design for a report of a particular type when someone else has already invented a version of it. Not only that, but they have provided us with the plans and given us the C/AL code as well as the complete structure of the existing report object.

When it comes to modifying a system such as NAV, plagiarism is a very effective research and design tool. In the case of reports, our search for a model may be based on any of the several key elements. We may be looking for a particular data flow approach and find that the NAV developers used the Integer table for some DataItems (as many reports do).

We may need a way to provide some creative filtering, similar to what is done in an area of the standard product. We might want to provide user options to print either detailed or a couple of different levels of totaling, with a layout that looks good no matter which choice the user makes. We may be dealing with all three of these design needs in the same report. In such a case, it is likely that we are using multiple NAV reports as our models, one for this feature, another for that feature, and so forth.

If we have a complicated, application-specific report to create, we may not be able to directly model our report on a model that already exists. However, often, we can still find ideas in standard reports that we can apply to our new design. We will almost always be better off using a model rather than inventing a totally new approach.

If our design concept is too big a leap from what was done previously, we should consider what we might change in our design so that we can build on the strengths of C/AL and existing NAV routines. Creating entirely new approaches may be very satisfying (when it works) but, too often, the extra costs exceed the incremental benefits.

For more NAV reporting information and ideas, please refer to Claus Lundstrom's blog at https://clauslblog.wordpress.com/.