Frequently asked questions

AL Report Creator builds Business Central reports directly in VS Code, including matching RDLC and Word layouts. The wizard produces a complete starting report rather than just an AL skeleton: DataItems, groups, totals and layout structure are configured together.

Your templates define the basic appearance. You can then extend the AL logic, edit the layouts with your usual tools, apply styles and inspect the result in the live data preview. Business Central renders the report using data from your development environment and displays the resulting preview directly in VS Code.

Yes. The preview is a VS Code document. Move it to a separate window and keep it on another monitor. It updates automatically when you save layout changes, without publishing the layout each time.

Yes. It can use your local format region. You can also select another supported region to check number, date and other regional formats.

Use the filter icon to open the report's request page. The selected filters and options are used when rendering, so you can test the conditions relevant to your case.

Live preview and Dataset Viewer require the Preview Service App in your Business Central development environment. AL Report Creator provides this companion app directly; it does not come from AppSource.

The installation wizard lets you choose the object number range. Install the app automatically or open its AL source as a workspace to inspect, modify and publish it yourself. If your project has several launch configurations, select the target environment and then the company.

Yes. AL Report Creator is not limited to Windows. Editing layouts externally still requires an appropriate designer for your operating system. Live preview and dataset retrieval require a connection to Business Central and the companion app.

Yes. The wizard generates RDLC, Word or both formats. Each format has its own templates and supported style operations.

RDLC is particularly suitable for tabular reports, grouping, totals and precise printed output. Word is useful for flowing text, end-user layout changes or further editing of the generated document. Available styles depend on the layout format.

Three tools help you narrow down the cause:

1. Live data preview: Inspect Business Central's rendered result in VS Code and immediately check saved layout changes.
2. RDLC compiler diagnostics: When Business Central only reports a vague RequestMinimum error, AL Report Creator can show the underlying compiler diagnostic, including error text and location or the affected control.
3. Dataset Viewer: Inspect the actual dataset as a flat result set, in its DataItem hierarchy or as XML. Check values, rows, joins and formatting information to distinguish AL dataset issues from layout issues.

Performance still depends on data volume, report structure and business logic. AL Report Creator applies known dataset and layout optimisations and provides tools for further targeted improvements.

Generated foreign-key read buffers are one example: a temporary table stores only the selected fields and serves repeated requests for the same key from its cache. The generated AL remains visible and editable. Check the actual effect with your data rather than relying on a blanket performance guarantee.

Many features are free, including generating the AL code for complete reports with complex, nested DataItem structures.

Creating or modifying layouts uses credits depending on the operation and report complexity. Your company's subscription provides a monthly credit allowance. A free subscription is available as well. The customer portal shows the available plans and the terms that apply to your account.

Choose a plan and use upgrades or downgrades as your needs change. The portal provides current prices and effective dates.

Important: Free registration must be completed only once per company — not once per developer.

Only register your company if it is not already registered with AL Report Creator. The company administrator then invites all other developers to the existing company account. Each invited developer receives their own API key to connect their extension.

If your company is already registered, do not register again. Ask your company administrator for an invitation instead. This lets your team share templates, styles, presets and design guidelines.

Registration includes a credit grant to try the features. Your customer portal shows the credits and features available to your company.

You do not need an additional runtime licence for AL Report Creator or the reports created and modified with it to run the generated reports. The files consist of standard AL, RDLC and Word and also have no runtime dependency on AL Report Creator.

Yes. You can:

• Start from an existing report: Load it into the wizard and generate a new report from it.
• Copy it: Copy selected layouts and translations, updating object ID, names and layout references together.
• Restyle layouts: Apply templates and styles, change orientation and dimensions, or standardise fonts, colours and formats.
• Structure AL: Group columns and triggers into regions to make the DataItem hierarchy easier to understand.
• Rename columns: Standardise dataset column names while updating their references in RDLC and Word layouts.
• Add carry-overs: Use a wizard to add subtotals and carry-overs to suitable RDLC tablixes, updating AL and layout together. This operation is intended for RDLC.

Styles operate on the layout currently selected in the preview. Analyse their scope first, then check the rendered result. Available operations vary by format:

• Apply template: Transfer selected template elements, including page settings, headers, filters and tablix formatting.
• Page layout: Change paper size, orientation, margins and dimensions; optionally scale content, normalise units and round measurements.
• Normalize layout: Standardise dimensions, spacing and formats using configurable and semantic rules.
• Add tablix header separator line: Add a separator and spacing rows to a tablix header, recognising existing additions.
• Tablix grouping columns: Insert or remove grouping columns in an existing tablix.
• Trailing comments: Protect RDLC expressions from unwanted changes when copying controls in a designer.
• Replace fonts: Match existing font families, sizes and styles before applying replacements.
• Replace colors: Replace static colours and colour literals inside expressions.
• Alternating row colors: Apply alternating detail-row backgrounds.
• Format text / Format text by value: Format selected controls or change their appearance according to the rendered value, such as red negative numbers.
• Blank numeric values: Hide selected numeric values using functions such as BlankZero and BlankPos.

Flexible filters restrict a style to controls, properties or semantic roles such as amount fields. Save multiple steps with their filters and order as a preset to reuse them on other reports. See the documentation for instructions, screenshots and videos.