Dataset Analysis
On the Report Layouts and Document Creator User-Defined Report Layouts pages a Dataset action group is available that contains a set of useful actions that can be used to analyze which columns are used and unused by layouts in the environment.
View Columns Action¶
The View Columns action can be used to view the columns of a report object and whether the selected layout uses its columns.
On the page that opens when invoking the action, the following fields are available:
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Data Item Name
Specifies the name of the (parent) data item that a column belongs to.
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Data Item Table Caption
Specifies the caption of the (parent) data item's table.
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Column Name
Specifies the (unique) name of the column.
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Custom
Specifies if the column (or data item) is added via a Dataset Extension.
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Used by Any Report Layout
Specifies whether the column is used by any Document Creator report layout that exists for the report object.
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Used by Selected Report Layout
Specifies whether the column is used by the selected Document Creator report layout.
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Used by Filter Set Filters
Specifies whether the column is used by any filter set filters for dataset extensions for the report object.
It is possible to drill-down on this field to view the filter sets in which the column is referenced in the corresponding filters.
Additionally, the Column Name will displayed in Red if it concerns a report column that is not used by any report layout (nor by any filters for custom columns) in the current Business Central environment.
Also, if it concerns a Custom Column then it will be displayed in Bold + Red if it concerns a custom column that is not used by any report layout (nor by any filters for other custom columns) in the current Business Central environment. These are columns that are likely candidates to be removed from the report object.
View Data Items Action¶
The View Data Items action can be used to view the data items of a report object.
On the page that opens when invoking the action, the following fields are available:
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Data Item Name
Specifies the name of the data item.
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Data Item Table Caption
Specifies the caption of the data item's table.
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Custom
Specifies if the data item is added via a Dataset Extension.
Export Original Dataset Action¶
The Export Original Dataset action opens the report request page of the report object (of the selected layout) and exports the original dataset generated by Business Central (N.B. without any Dataset Extensions or other transformations applied to it).
Export Customized Dataset Action¶
The Export Customized Dataset Action opens the report request page of the report object (of the selected layout) and exports the dataset with dataset extensions/transformations applied.
Export Compressed Dataset Action¶
The Export Compressed Dataset action opens the report request page of the report object (of the selected layout) and exports a compressed version of the dataset with all unused columns removed.
