Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Evaluated--Part 3

In this concluding assessment of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009, I focus on the Page Designer and the RDLC Reports. I end with an overview of the application's benefits.

The Page Designer

With Dynamics NAV 2009, two new designers were introduced. One of them is the Page Designer.

This designer is used to implement changes to the Role Tailored Interface. This designer is no longer WYSIWYG. It is an xML abstract that can be rendered in the new client but also used in Web Services. In the future releases you can expect it to maybe also render in SharePoint  or ASP.NET.

From an end user's perspective, it means that it's more difficult to use. The classic form designer was WYSIWYG and easy for end users to use. BUT, I have not had questions from end users to use it. It seems to have been replaced by the personalization layers. So from that perspective, it's an improvement.

Another improvement for end users is that the personalization is no longer destroyed when the objects are changed. In the classic client, the order of the columns and widths could be personalized but would be destroyed when one of the underlying objects were changed. On the other hand, an end user can remove the personalizations from one object.

The same can be said for the consultant. The less technically skilled will no longer use the designer, but rather go in the personalization layers, or request the developer to change it.

This has been a developer's wish for a long time. The everlasting conflict of the grey area where end users and consultants changed objects in the database in order to change the UI layer.

It makes ...