Learning MS Dynamics AX 2012 Programming by Mohammed Rasheed, Erlend Dalen

Learning MS Dynamics AX 2012 Programming by Mohammed Rasheed, Erlend Dalen

Develop and customize your very own Microsoft Dynamics AX solution quickly and efficiently!

Buy at:

https://www.packtpub.com/application-development/learning-ms-dynamics-ax-2012-programming

Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.Framework.Tools.DMF.PreviewGrid, Version=6.3.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.Framework.Tools.DMF.PreviewGrid, Version=6.3.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Error:

Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.Framework.Tools.DMF.PreviewGrid, Version=6.3.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Error Screen Shot:

AX: AX 2012 R3, CU8
OS: Windows Server 2012
SQL: SQL 2014

Solution:


We had Two AOS, On 1st AOS it was working but on other, it was now, So as a module it was installed but we need to install additional component as well to use DIXF.

In this case, we need to install DIXF client services from installation media.



Install DIXF client services from AX setup and restart the AOS services.

Happy AX Infra! 
Thanks & Regards,

Umesh Pandit

Microsoft Dynamics AX

http://msdynamicsaxtips.blogspot.in/

Mail ID: pandit.umesh@hotmail.com

Skype ID: pandit.umesh

How to Reset production order status as created in AX 2012

How to Reset production order status as created in AX :

Here you go!:

void resetStatusToCreated(ProdTable _prodTable)
{
ProdMultiStatusDecrease  prodMultiStatusDecrease;
ProdParmStatusDecrease   prodParmStatusDecrease;
Args                     args = new Args();
;

if(_prodTable.ProdStatus > prodStatus::Created)
{
args.record(_prodTable);

select prodParmStatusDecrease where prodParmStatusDecrease.ProdId == _prodTable.ProdId;

if(!prodParmStatusDecrease.RecId)
{
prodParmStatusDecrease.clear();
prodParmStatusDecrease.initFromProdTable(_prodTable);
prodParmStatusDecrease.WantedStatus = ProdStatus::Created;
prodParmStatusDecrease.ParmId = NumberSeq::newGetNum(CompanyInfo::numRefParmId()).num();
prodParmStatusDecrease.insert();
}

prodMultiStatusDecrease = prodMultiStatusDecrease::construct(args);
prodMultiStatusDecrease.initParmBuffer(prodParmStatusDecrease);
prodMultiStatusDecrease.parmId(prodParmStatusDecrease.ParmId);
prodMultiStatusDecrease.run();
}

}

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 CU8

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 cumulative update 8 

http://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/dn762135.aspx

Prerequisites for Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 System Requirements

Prerequisites for Dynamics AX 2012 R3

Main Requirements for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 System are:

Supported server operating systems

Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Edition or
Datacenter Edition

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition

Supported SQL:

Microsoft SQL Server 2014, Standard Edition,
SQL Server 2008 R2, Standard Edition SP2

Find details at:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=11094

Error during installation of Enterprise Portal for AX 2012 R3 with SharePoint 2013

Error during installation of Enterprise Portal for AX 2012 R3 with  SharePoint 2013


Error:

"Microsoft SharePoint 2010 is not installed or running. Please run the prerequisite utility for more information. Operation is not valid due to the current state of the object."

Solution:

Check the log file, "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\Setup Logs\".

Setup did not found right site it was in the log was the default one, "SharePoint - 80".

Check IIS and Remove or edit the Web Site causing Setup to fail.

and Rerun the setup again. Now you can select the Enterprise Portal Web Application and continue setup.

What's the difference between importing Model Store and Model file?

What's the difference between importing Model Store versus Model file?

A model file is just a part of the whole model store. Normally we often want to install just one model, not everything.

We normally Export and Import the model file via Windows PowerShell (The best tool!) check for more details at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh352314.aspx

Import of Model Files are followed by Compile>Sync and Full-CIL.

For Model Store we just backup the Model DB and restore it to destination.

Restore Model DB is normally followed by Sync and Full-CIL.


Please refer to documentation for the full understanding: Deploying Customization's Across Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Environments. (Link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh292604.aspx)

Note that if you create a new application by installing a module (instead of just moving the application), you have to compile the new application.

What is Model Store in AX 2012 R2?

In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, label files, or ALD files, are part of models. A label file must be added to a model before the model can be installed. After a model has been installed, ALD files are pulled from the model store to the local of Application Object Server (AOS) instance when the AOS is started. When the AOS is shut down, the ALD files are pushed back to the model store.

ALD files from earlier versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX are not part of a model file. However, you can import these files into the model store from the Label Files section of the AOT. Use the Create from file shortcut command.

What is Model File in AX 2012 R2?

A model is a set of elements in a given layer. Each layer consists of one or more models. Each layer contains one system-generated model that is specific to that layer. Every element in a layer belongs to only one model. In other words, no element can belong to two models in the same layer, and every element must belong to a model.
A default model owned by Microsoft exists in each layer. Default models cannot be modified.

A model is permanently associated with the layer that the model was created in. If you need to move one of your models from one layer to another, you must create a project from the model in the Application Object Tree (AOT), export the project as an xpo file, create a target model in the desired layer, delete the original model to avoid having to resolve layer conflicts, and import the xpo file to the target model. If you are moving elements between models in the same layer, you can use the Move to model command in the AOT.

Models are stored in the model store. The model store is a database in which all application elements for Microsoft Dynamics AX are stored. Customizations are also stored in the model store. The model store replaces the Application Object Data (AOD) files that were used in earlier versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX. Models that have been installed in the model store are used at run time.

Models can be exported to files that have the .axmodel extension. These files are called model files. Model files are deployment artifacts. Model files can be signed with strong name signing and Microsoft Authenticode signing.

For more info check this link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh335184.aspx

Microsoft Dynamics AX 7

Microsoft Dynamics AX '7' on track as a major "technology release"

Though the next major release of Microsoft Dynamics AX has been out of public view, progress continues on AX ‘7', a.k.a. "Rainier", according to Microsoft Dynamics AX R&D general manager Dan Brown.

"We've been quiet on AX ‘7'," acknowledged Brown today at AXUG Summit. But the team has been working toward delivering the next major release in 2015, he said. They have also been working to deliver new cumulative updates for AX 2012 R3 on an ongoing six month cadence.

AX ‘7' will be primarily a technology release, according to Brown, with two primary focus areas. The first goal is the updated user experience that is browser based and that supports mobile clients across many device platforms. The second goal is to support AX in production on Azure to be managed by partners.

How to Show User Name in startup message

How to Show User Name in startup message

1. Go to the Info class AOT-> Classes-> Info.

2. Expand info class and find startup method under that and write below code

UserInfo userinfo;

Select name from userinfo where userinfo.id==curUserId;

Box::info(‘Welcome’+userinfo.name);

3. Close your client and reopen it.

How to Shutdown AX Client

How to Shutdown AX Client ?

To Shutdown axapta AX, Check this code:

public static void shutdownAxapta()
{
SysGlobalCache cache = appl.globalCache();
info info;
;
cache.set(classstr(info), identifierstr(Autologoff), true);
info=new info();
info.shutDown(true);
}

Try this code as well:

static Void DASShutDownAxapta()
{
SysGlobalCache cache = appl.globalCache();
info info;
;

cache.set(classstr(info), identifierstr(Autologoff), true);

info = new info();
info.shutDown(true);
}

instead You can use infolog.shutdown(true); directly

Get Your 15 Percent MCP Exam Discount Code

Get Your 15 Percent MCP Exam Discount Code

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There's no voucher to buy. No extra promotion page to visit. Just use one of these discount codes when you schedule your exam!

• Student (academic): STU15OFF
• Everyone else: 15OFF

Visit https://www.microsoft.com/learning/exam now to take advantage of this limited time offer. You can choose between Pearson VUE or Prometric testing centers.

Questions? Please review the full terms and conditions below. Good luck on your next exam!

 

Terms and Conditions

• Offer available from September 25, 2014 to December 31, 2014 or while supplies last.
• Individuals must register for and take a Microsoft Certified Professional exam between September 25, 2014 and December 31, 2014 at an authorized Pearson VUE testing center, or between October 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014 at authorized Prometric testing centers.
• Promotional code may only be used for exams taken by December 31, 2014.
• You must enter the promotional code 15OFF or STU15OFF when registering to take an exam to receive discount.  Discount will be taken off the cost of the exam at payment. 
• This promotion is limited to Microsoft Certified Professional exams Commercial (070) and Direct to Student (072, 073) exams only.
• Promotional code may be redeemed only in country from which they were received.
• Promotional code may not be applied to exams previously taken or prior registrations.
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• To register to take an exam, visit https://www.microsoft.com/learning/exam.
• There is a rescheduling fee for individuals who reschedule or cancel their appointment to take an exam 15 or fewer days before the scheduled date.
• There are no refunds for individuals that cancel or reschedule their appointment to take an exam seventy-two hours or less from the scheduled time.
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• Due to government gift and ethics laws, government employees (including military and employees of public education institutions) are not eligible to participate.

Difference between Hotfixes, Cumulative Update and Service Pack for AX 2012

Difference between Hotfixes, Cumulative Update and Service Pack for AX 2012

Hotfix:
A hotfix is code (sometimes called a patch) that fixes a bug in a product. Users of the products may be notified by e-mail or obtain information about current hotfixes at a software vendor's Web site and download the hotfixes they wish to apply. Hotfixes are sometimes packaged as a set of fixes called a combined hotfix or a service pack.

Service Pack:
It’s an update or combination of previous updates helps to make our product more reliable. It includes new fixes, functionality additions and all fixed that released previously (means Previous Service packs, Cumulative updates). That means if MS people released a service pack recently means that contains all the list of features up to date.

Service packs will not be multilingual. We have to download and install separate service packs for each installed language. We must install service packs for specific product as soon as possible. Microsoft provides all the latest fixes and updates in Service pack. There are no prerequisites for Service pack installations because each service pack includes all the recent updates from product release. Service Packs will not release frequently.

Cumulative Update (CU):
Cumulative update is collection of all the hot-fixes up to date. Generally hot fixes are released for every two months in a package. It includes fixes for all the issues collected from hot-fix accepted criteria that related to customer impact or reproducible.

Cumulative update also includes critical on-demand hot fixes and security updates. It includes all the previous cumulative updates and public updates from previous service pack release. Cumulative updates are multilingual. It includes fixes for all languages. To install CU in our machine,we have to install recent service pack related to that product (If released).

Generally cumulative updates are not mandatory to install. We can install them to fix any issue. While downloading CU itself we can see the applicable scenarios in KB article page. There is lot of chances to affect the system. So we have to check before installation or advised by Microsoft people support to install. Cumulative updates releases frequently for a second month like (Feb, April, June, Aug, Oct, Dec)

What Infrastructure does Microsoft Dynamics AX need

Unable to accommodate the continued growth, Planning to have ERP? Consider Microsoft Dynamics AX, What Infrastructure does AX need?

We have shortlisted Microsoft Dynamics AX for our ERP solution, but we are not sure of Microsoft Dynamics AX Infrastructure.

Things to consider for Microsoft Dynamics AX  Infrastructure
With the updated versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX, the application platform is growing rapidly into the market for global wide enterprises, and as a consequence the requirements for the Microsoft  Dynamics AX infrastructure is growing in complexity and size.

The Microsoft Dynamics AX platform is no longer an application that can be installed onto a single server or a few servers in network/AD.
There are a number of dependent applications (Database,SSRS,SSAS,MR,EP,RFSmart)and services that must be considered when scaling, planning and building a reliable, secure and supportable Dynamics AX infrastructure.

In a core Dynamics AX installation you must consider and plan for:

1. Microsoft Dynamics AX Object Server (AOS)
2. Database Server (SQL DB)
3. Reporting Services for standard and customize reporting needs (SSRS)
4. Transactions Per hour/Minutes
5. Online Users 
6. Analysis Services for business intelligence needs (SSAS and Cubes)
7. Web server for the Enterprise Portal (EP)
8. Web server for the Application Integration Framework (AIF)
9. Help server
10. Search crawler
11. Backup and restore strategies
12. Custom Integrations
13. Retail Transactions
14. .NET Interop
15. .NET Business Connector
16. Web services hosted on IIS
17. Synchronization service for Microsoft Project Server
18. Synchronization proxy for Microsoft Project Server
19. VSS Server
20. TFS Server

Additionally, many companies are rarely capable of utilizing Dynamics AX without custom modifications or third party vendor modules so plan accordingly for development/TEST/UAT/PROD Environment/Instances. 

For running a development environment for Dynamics AX you must also consider:

1. Development servers
2. TEST Servers
3. User Acceptance Test servers (UAT)
4. Source control (TFS, Team Foundation Server)
5. Build and 
6. Deployment servers

How to install AX client in multiple systems/clients

How to install AX client in multiple systems/clients or How to install AX client in multiple computers in same network or 
Deploy the AX client by using Group Policy

Group Policy provides an infrastructure that lets you centrally manage the configuration of operating systems and applications. This topic describes the processes and procedures that you must use to deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX clients by using Group Policy.

When you publish the Microsoft Dynamics AX client by using Group Policy, the program becomes available from the Install a program from the network option in the Programs and Features Control Panel. Users can install the Microsoft Dynamics AX client by using the settings that you specify.

For more information about Group Policy, see the Group Policy Planning and Deployment Guide on TechNet.

Overview of the deployment process

You must perform the following procedures to deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX clients by using Group Policy.

1. Create a distribution point – Create the location from which the software is installed.
2. Create a transform for the ClientOba.msi file – Modify the Microsoft Windows Installer package, or .msi file, for the Microsoft Dynamics AX client to enable the client to be deployed by using Group Policy. There are two versions of the .msi file: ClientOba.msi, which is for 32-bit systems, and ClientOba64.msi, which is for 64-bit systems.
3. Create a Group Policy object – Create a Group Policy object and publish it to the domain.
4. (Optional) Update Group Policy settings on client computers – Run the Gpupdate utility if you want the changes to be applied to a client computer immediately. If you do not use Gpupdate, you must wait the default update interval or restart the computer.

Create a distribution point

To publish the Microsoft Dynamics AX installation by using Group Policy, you must first create a distribution point on the publishing server.

1. Log on to the server computer as an administrator.
2. Create a shared network folder where you can put the .msi file for the Microsoft Dynamics AX client components.
3. Set permissions on the shared network folder to allow access to the distribution package. Make sure that all users who must install Microsoft Dynamics AX have Read access to this directory.
4. Install the package to the distribution point. From the folder where you saved the Microsoft Dynamics AX DVD image, run the msiexec tool. In the command, include the /a parameter, and specify the location of the distribution point. For example, you might use the following command to install the 64-bit Microsoft Dynamics AX client components to the distribution point:
   msiexec /a ClientOba64.msi TARGETDIR=\\<Server>\<Directory>\<SharedFolder>)
   Note: The msiexec tool lets you install, modify, and perform operations on

   Windows Installer files from the command line.

   For more information about how to use msiexec,

   see Msiexec (command-line options) on TechNet.

Create a transform for the ClientOba.msi file

The .msi file for the Microsoft Dynamics AX client components must be modified before it can be published by using Group Policy. You can use the Orca database editor to modify .msi files. For more information about how to install and use Orca, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article How to use the Orca database editor to edit Windows Installer files.

1. Open ClientOba.msi or ClientOba64.msi by using the Orca editor.
2. Click Transform > New Transform.
3. Select the features that you want to install. In the left pane, select the Feature table. In the right pane, use the Level column to specify whether features are installed on client computers. The following table shows the possible values.

   Level	Description
   0	The feature is not available for installation.
   <150	The feature is installed on the local hard disk.
   >150	The feature is available for installation, but it is not installed by default.

   Note: If you do not want a feature to be installed automatically on
   client computers, set the level to 0.  If a parent feature has a level of 0,
   all child features are also unavailable.
4. Set information about the connection to Application Object Server (AOS). In the left pane, select the Property table. In the right pane, double-click to add a line for each property and value. The following table describes the properties that you can set.
5. Property	Value
   AOS2	(Required) Enter the name of the AOS instance that clients connect to.
   ClientAOSServer	(Required) Enter the name of the AOS instance that clients connect to.
   AOSPort	Enter the TCP/IP port for the AOS. By default, the AOS uses port 2712.
   AOSWSDLPort	Enter the WSDL port for the AOS. By default, the AOS uses port 8101.
   InstallDir	(Required) Specify the location where program files for Microsoft
   	Dynamics AX are installed. By default,
   	the path is <Drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics AX\60.
   InstallDir32	(Required for 64-bit operating systems)
   	Specify the location where 32-bit versions of program files for
   	Microsoft Dynamics AX are installed.
   	You cannot specify the same path for both 64-bit files and 32-bit files.
   DIRECTEXECUTE	(Required) Enter 1 to enable the .msi file to be run directly.

6. Click Transform > Generate Transform. Enter a name and location for the .mst file.

Create a Group Policy object

An Active Directory–based Group Policy object (GPO) is a virtual collection of policy settings. Active Directory–based GPOs can be linked to a domain, site, or organizational unit. The settings in GPOs can be applied to users or computers. GPOs are stored in a domain and replicated to all the domain controllers for the domain.

Use the following procedure to create a GPO that installs the Microsoft Dynamics AX client components.

1. On the domain controller, click Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management to open the Group Policy Management console.
2. Under the domain for which you want to create a GPO, right-click Group Policy Objects and then click New.
3. Specify a name for the GPO and then click OK.
4. Select the new GPO and then click the Settings tab.
5. Under User Configuration, right-click, and then select Edit to open the Group Policy Management Editor.
6. Expand User Configuration > Policies > Software Settings.
7. Right-click Software Installation, and then select New Package.
8. Browse to the distribution point that you set up.
9. Click Advanced.
   • On the Deployment tab, select a deployment type of Published.
   • On the Modification tab, select the .mst file that you created.
10. Click OK to finish configuring the GPO.

(Optional) Update Group Policy settings on client computers

Typically, after you modify group policy settings, you must wait a default update interval or restart the computer. The default update interval is 90 minutes on domain members and 5 minutes on domain controllers. However, if you want the changes to be applied immediately, you can run the Gpupdate utility at a command prompt.

For more information about how to use the Gpupdate utility, see Gpupdate on TechNet.

How to generate a welcome message while opening the AX 2012

How to generate a welcome message while opening the AX 2012


Easy! 

Set a startup message

1. Open the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Configuration utility. In Windows, click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Configuration.
2. Click Manage > Create Configuration.
3. Enter a name for the configuration and then click Active configuration.
4. On the General tab, in the Startup message box, type the message you want to be displayed, and then click OK.
   When the client is started, the text is displayed as a message that includes an OK button.

Or 

 Open AX Client Configuration

Open As Administrator 

and then you can input your massage as needed in right highlighted box as show in the screen shot:

The Growing ERP: Microsoft Dynamics AX

Microsoft Dynamics AX is a modular integrated management solution (ERP) specially adapted to the needs of medium sized companies and subsidiaries of large companies. Rich with a wide-spread functional perimeter, Microsoft Dynamics AX responds to the challenges of production, distribution detailed sales, service and public sector activities.

Microsoft Dynamics AX is an international, upgradeable and flexible management solution (ERP) that presents several technological and business advantages, among which:

• a greater facility of use by all actors of a company thanks to an ergonomic system similar to the one found in Microsoft Office products
• an upgradability and adaptability linked to the integration of the dedicated development tool that allows the user to manage his or her own business rules
• a comfort in simplicity and maintenance once the implementation has been realized: client teams are autonomous in order to maintain and evolve the solution
• the entirety of Microsoft technological standards on which _ relies and which guarantee the continuity of the investment and the existence of competencies on the market
• the combination of functionalities of a generic management solution (ERP) with that of a business oriented solution

Thanks to its design and adaptability, Microsoft Dynamics AX responds to the requirements of simple organizations (one company with one site) as well as more complex organizations (several companies with several sites in several countries), in environments able to unite several thousand users.

From fabrication to financial and business management, Microsoft Dynamics AX gives a company’s collaborators a plethora of functionalities and analysis tools which allow for the optimization of daily processes.

Relying on the known technological standards and adapted business functionalities, Microsoft Dynamics AX reduces the implementation of an integration project and receives rapid returns on investment.

Post Link: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140822122207-21591781-the-growing-erp-microsoft-dynamics-ax

Invalid class error in SQL SSRS AX 20012

SQL Server Reporting Services Configuration Manager error: Invalid class

Today I Restored PROD DB to TEST DB for AX 2012 Feature Pack, After Which I Imported the System parameters which i have already Exported from Original TEST DB.

After which I started the servers of AOS. 

When i tested the SSRS, It showed error. I checked for SSRS Reporting Server, I showed an error "Invalid class". I tested rest of the Server like AXDEV, or AX PROD was on list drop down.

For "Invalid class" check below things:

Open AX check any report is working or not.

SQL Server 2008 R2 and launched Reporting Services Configuration Manager to see if SSRS was configured.

If the SSRS report does not display and Reporting Services Configuration Manager also does not connect, Then solution is you need to start or stop or restart the services of SQL Server Reporting Services and SQL Server Browser.

How do you setup visual studio SSRS Report to point it to production server

Open Windows PowerShell and view a list of reports

Complete the following procedure to open Windows PowerShell and view a list of the reports that are included with Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Open Windows PowerShell as an administrator by following these steps:
Click Start > Administrative Tools.
Right-click the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Management Shell option.
Click Run as administrator.

To deploy all reports, enter the following command:
Windows PowerShell
Publish-AXReport –Id SSRSConfigID –ReportName *

The user or group name 'BUILTIN\Administrators' is not recognized error in SSRS AX 2012 R3 (rsUnknownUserName)

The user or group name 'BUILTIN\Administrators' is not recognized. (rsUnknownUserName) Error in SSRS AX 2012 R3

Solution:  Check or Configure the Business Connector proxy account

Click System administration > Setup > System > System service accounts. –or– Open the System service accounts form from the initialization checklist or the upgrade checklist.

Use the System service accounts form to configure the accounts used to run Microsoft Dynamics AX services. Service accounts include the Business Connector proxy account, the workflow execution account, the Microsoft Project Server synchronization service account, and the Bing Maps account.

Configure the Business Connector proxy account

In the Alias (Like: umeshp) and Network domain fields(like: AX2012R3.local), enter the username and domain for the Business Connector proxy account.

The Business Connector proxy account is used for communication between Microsoft Dynamics AX and other applications.

For more information about the requirements for this account, see Specify the .NET Business Connector proxy account.


The user or group name 'umeshp\AX2012R3.local' is not recognized while publishing the report via powershell. Same error and the solution is same as above.

To deploy all reports, enter the following command: in Windows PowerShell
Publish-AXReport –ReportName *

How to open Windows PowerShell for deploying the default reports of SSRS in AX 2012 R3:

Open Windows PowerShell as an administrator by following these steps:
Click Start > Administrative Tools.
Right-click the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Management Shell option.
Click Run as administrator.

SSRS Subscriptions Setups for Email

Setting up Email Subscriptions in SSRS

One of many things that I liked very much for SSRS over Crystal Reports is “Report Subscription”. At work we use Crystal Reports as our primary reporting system. And to provide scheduled report deliveries via email we have designed our own little .NET application that allows users to create schedule and manage automated report deliveries via email. But if it was SSRS that whole thing can be just removed and we will not need to worry about that application anymore (and this was one of my WIIFM presentation when I was showing why we should at least consider working with SSRS) in addition to better management of reports. I think both Crystal Reports and SSRS have pros and cons, but I am not going to discuss them here because I use both and I am OK with both of them.

This post is about Configuring SSRS to setup email subscription for Reports. This will allow uses (or DBAs) to schedule automated report delivery via email. Before anyone ask, let me say that for this demo I've used SQL Server 2012 dev edition but this feature is not changed from previous versions.

First step to configure SSRS to use SMTP server. And just like almost all MSFT products you cant use basic authentication for SMTP. Which simply means you can’t use external SMTP servers (say Gmail or Yahoo). But fear not … you can use IIS and create Virtual SMTP server for the purpose.

So once you have SMTP server address, all you need is to feed it into “Email Settings” section of “Reporting Services Configuration Manager”. In my case I had a VM as SMTP Server called “SMTPServer”, alternatively you can feed IP address as well.

Next step is to setup report subscription using Report Manager for SSRS. For those who are not familiar with it, Report Manager is an ASP.NET application for managing and administering SSRS. To create subscription for any report just select any report. For this post, I choose a report I had previously created. Once “subscribe” option is selected it will open up a page showing “Report Deliver Options”.

In this page if you don't see “Email” option in delivery method then it means that you have not setup configured SMTP in Reporting Service Configuration Manager. Once “Email” option is selected it will show more options for adding usual items like To, CC, BCC, Subject, Body etc. In Subject you can select in which format you want report to be delivered (if Include Report checkbox is selected) say in PDF, DOC, TIFF etc. You can also choose to include link for report as well.

Next option is to set up schedule. If you have setup any schedule task in SQL Server Agent then you will see that this schedule setup is more like ASP.NET avatar of same scheduler. For this test I set it up to run at every morning 7A.M.

Once that is done you should see that, report gets delivered at 7AM in the morning. But what if you want to manually run that report at some different time ? (what ? you thought that I waited till 7 to make sure that my report get delivered at time ?) There is no direct way to run those reports “on demand” from SSRS administration interface, but you can actually run them from SQL Server Management Studio !! Actually when we create a report delivery schedule it creates a scheduled task in SQL Server Agent and yes, as you can guess timely execution of report is handled by SQL Agent (and one of the reason why we don’t have this feature in SQL Server Express, because it doesn't have SQL Agent). Anyways, if you log to SQL Server instance which holds report server database, and expand SQL Server Agent jobs you will see a job (or jobs) with cryptic GUID names, these are the ones created by report manager for report subscription. Unfortunately there is no visual indication of which job is for which subscription so you will have kind of go through each job and try to guess that job based on its schedule. In my case it was just a one job so it was easy to find Smile. Then, right click on that job and click on “start job at step” to run the job and you should see that report delivered to your mailbox.

SSRS Subscriptions cannot be created because the credentials used to run the report are not stored, or if a linked report, the link is no longer valid.

SSRS Subscriptions cannot be created because the credentials used to run the report are not stored, or if a linked report, the link is no longer valid.

Work Around:

In SSRS subscription, it is requires a Login to connect to the datasource to process the report when subscription will be occurring at its scheduled time.

Please refer to the steps below to solve the issue:
1. In report manager, click the arrow after the report, select Manage.
2. Click Data Sources in the left pane.
3. Select “A custom data source” option. And click option Credentials stored securely in the report server and provide credential information.
4. Then, select Use a Windows credentials when connecting to the data source.
5. Click on apply button.

We also can use the shared data source which is having credential saved into report server.

There is an article about Subscriptions and Delivery, you can refer to it.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms159762.aspx