Test and troubleshoot reports

 

Applies To: Dynamics CRM 2015

After you have created a report, test it to see if it produces the results that you want.

Test a report

  1. Test the report in Microsoft Visual Studio within the Preview tab.

  2. If any errors are reported, correct the cause of the errors, and run the test again.

  3. When the report functions correctly, publish the report to the report server. To do this, in Microsoft Dynamics CRM choose Sales > Reports. Select New and then fill out the requested information.

  4. Run the published report from Microsoft Dynamics CRM to verify the report's operation.

Suggestions for testing a report

The following list of suggestions is provided as a guide for testing your reports:

  • SQL-based reports only: Verify that your reports access Microsoft Dynamics CRM data only through filtered views to follow Microsoft Dynamics CRM security restrictions.

  • SQL-based reports only: Check the number of SQL table joins. Reports might not run if there are too many table joins. After uploading your report, open the pre-filter section of your report and add some related entities, for example, accounts that have associated opportunities. Run the report with the related entities. If you have a max SQL joins error on execution, you may want to either simplify the report or remove some Advanced Find filterable entities.

  • Verify that report filters are specified for the correct entities. After uploading the report, open the report and check whether any entities aliased for Advanced Find filtering should be exposed for report pre-filtering.

  • If the report is querying a custom entity, validate that the entity can be correctly filtered. Validate that the report returns data based on user roles with user-level security on entities, custom security roles, and other roles.

  • Some reports are published as context-sensitive reports. Therefore, they can be run against selected records in a grid. For those types of reports, verify that the report can be run against system views, custom system views, user queries, and selected records.

  • Verify that snapshots of the report can be taken through the Scheduling Wizard in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web application.

  • Verify that you can save the report to a PDF file. Reports frequently print better with PDF formatting.

  • Verify that detailed sub-reports are hidden when you publish the report, so they are not executed directly by users.

Report drill-through fails in Visual Studio Report Viewer

Some parameters in the reports that are generated by the Report Wizard are marked internal (read-only). Therefore, when you upload the reports into Visual Studio, and try to drill through, the Visual Studio Report Viewer does not display the reports. To correct this, use Visual Studio Report Designer to change the parameters from internal to hidden. Clear the Internal check box, and make sure that the Hidden check box is checked for each of the following parameters:

  • CRM_Drillthrough

  • CRM_DrillthroughFilterBy

  • CRM_FilterText

  • CRM_URL

The parameters that are prefixed with CRM_Filtered, such as CRM_FilteredAccount or CRM_FilteredContact, also have to be marked as hidden and not internal.

Note

Your report may not contain all the parameters listed here.

See Also

Report writing with CRM 2015 for online and on-premises
Publish reports
Use parameters in reports
Create a new report using SQL Server Data Tools

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