The following screenshot shows the properties of a report DataItem:
The following are descriptions of frequently used report DataItems properties:
- Indentation: This shows the position of the referenced DataItem in the hierarchical structure of the report. A value of 0 (zero) indicates that this DataItem is at the top of the hierarchy. Any other value indicates the subject DataItem is subordinate to (that is nested within) the preceding DataItem.
- DataItemTable: This is the name of the NAV table assigned to this DataItem.
- DataItemTableView: This is the definition of the fixed limits to be applied to the DataItem (the key, ascending or descending sequence, and what filters to apply to this field).
If we don't define a key in the DataItemTableView, then the users can choose a key to control the data sequence to be used during processing. If we do define a key in the DataItem properties and, in the ReqFilterFields property, we do not specify any Filter Fieldnames to be displayed; this DataItem will not have a FastTab displayed as part of the Request Page. This will stop the user from filtering this DataItem, unless we provide the capability in C/AL code.
- DataItemLinkReference: This names the parent DataItem to which this one is linked.
- DataItemLink: This identifies the field-to-field linkage between this DataItem and its parent DataItem. That linkage acts as a filter because only those records in this table will be processed that have a value that matches with the linked field in the parent data item. If no field linkage filter is defined, all the records in the child table will be processed for each record processed in its parent table.
- ReqFilterFields: This property allows us to choose certain fields to be named in the Report Request Page to make it easier for the user to access them as filter fields. So long as the Report Request Page is activated for a DataItem, the user can choose any available field in the table to filter, regardless of what is specified here.
- CalcFields: This names the FlowFields that are to be calculated for each record processed. Because FlowFields do not contain data, they have to be calculated to be used. When a FlowField is displayed on a page, NAV automatically does the calculation. When a FlowField is to be used in a report, we must instigate the calculation. This can either be done here in this property or explicitly within C/AL code.
- MaxIteration: This can be used to limit the number of iterations the report will make through this DataItem. For example, we would set this to 7 to make the virtual Date table process one week's data.
- PrintOnlyIfDetail: This should only be used if this DataItem has a child DataItem, that is, one indented/nested below it. If PrintOnlyIfDetail is Yes, then controls associated with this DataItem will only print when data is processed for the child DataItem.
- Temporary: This specifies that a temporary table is supplying the dataset to populate the columns for this DataItem.