Bc Report Selection Generator

Business Central Report Selection Category Generator

Overview

Generates all AL objects required to extend the Business Central Report Selection framework with one or more new Usage values and integrate them into the standard printing workflow.

The output follows Microsoft's own patterns used by codeunit 77 "Report Selections" and pages such as Report Selection - Sales (9657), Report Selection - Purchase (9657), and Report Selection - Service (9657 range). Report IDs are never hardcoded in business logic — they are read from table 77 "Report Selections" at runtime.

Quick Start

Example requests:

• "Extend Report Selection Usage with a new value for my Delivery Note"
• "Add a custom Print action to the Statistical Account Card that uses Report Selections"
• "Create a Report Selections setup page for my Statistical Account Statement report"
• "Hook my report into the standard Sales Report Selection page"
• "Seed the default report on install for my new usage value"

Prerequisites

• Available object IDs from app.json → idRanges
• Project affix from app.json → affixes
• The target Report object already exists (or is being generated in the same task)
• If a custom Print action is required: the target page and the source record must be known (or elicited via the interview below)

Interview — Mandatory Questions

Before generating any code the skill MUST ask the user the following questions using vscode_askQuestions. Do NOT proceed until every answer is collected. Questions marked conditional only fire when the earlier answer leaves them relevant.

Question 1 — Target enum

Which Report Selection Usage enum should the new value(s) extend?

Important: Extending the global enum does NOT automatically add the value to the Sales / Purchase / Service / Bank Report Selections pages. If the user needs the value to appear on one of those existing pages, they must extend the corresponding area-specific enum, not the global one.

Question 2 — Setup surface (own page vs existing page)

Should the new Usage value(s) have their own Report Selections setup page, or reuse an existing Report Selections page?

Question 3 — Print action target (conditional)

Fire ONLY if the user has not clearly stated where the new report should be triggered from. If Question 1 selected an area-specific enum AND the print flow is the standard one, this question can be skipped because the standard page action already invokes Report Selections.

Which page should host the "Print Document" action, and what source record should be passed to the report?

Ask both parts explicitly:

• Page — Card, List, Document, or both. Ask the exact page name (or the entity so the skill can derive the standard page name).
• Source record — the record type that will be filtered and passed to Report.RunModal(..., Rec). Usually this is the same as the page source table, but for header/lines pages the header is typical.

If the user is still uncertain, offer the safe default: add the action to the Card page and pass Rec (the current header/master record) as the source.

Question 4 — Default Report ID seeding

Should the extension seed a default Report ID for the new Usage value(s) so the customer has a working setup out of the box?

Rule: The generated code MUST NOT overwrite an existing Report Selections record. Insertion happens only when the filtered Report Selections recordset is empty for the target Usage.

Question 5 — Number of new Usage values

How many Usage values should be added to the enum in this task?

Most cases require a single value. If more than one, ask for each value's name and caption before generating.

Code Generation Steps

Step 1 — Read project metadata

1. Read app.json to obtain idRanges, affixes, name, publisher.
2. Determine the affix (e.g. BCS).
3. Allocate object IDs for: EnumExtension, Report Selections setup Page (if any), Report Selection Management Codeunit, Install Codeunit and Upgrade Codeunit (if seeding), Upgrade Tag Definitions Codeunit (if upgrade seeding), PageExtension(s) or Page action(s) that host the print action.

Step 2 — Determine naming

Derive names from the entity / usage name and project affix:

Step 3 — Determine folder structure

Place generated files under the appropriate feature folder, following the workspace convention already in use:

<feature-folder>/
├── Enum Extension/
│   └── <Affix><ShortPascal>RepSelUsage.EnumExt.al
├── Page/                                       (only if own setup page)
│   └── <Affix><ShortPascal>ReportSelection.Page.al
├── Codeunit/
│   ├── <Affix><ShortPascal>ReportSelMgmt.Codeunit.al
│   ├── <Affix><ShortPascal>Install.Codeunit.al       (if seeding)
│   ├── <Affix><ShortPascal>Upgrade.Codeunit.al       (if upgrade seeding)
│   └── <Affix><ShortPascal>UpgTagDef.Codeunit.al     (if upgrade seeding)
└── Page Extension/                             (if a new Print action is added)
    └── <Affix><Entity>Card.PageExt.al

Existing install / upgrade / upgrade tag codeunits in the project MUST be reused instead of duplicated. If they exist, extend them rather than generate new ones.

Step 4 — Generate the Enum Extension

Extend the enum chosen in Question 1. Use the project ID range and allocate one value ID per new Usage (numbers must lie inside the project's idRanges).

See: references/enum-extension-template.md

Rule: Never renumber and never delete published enum values. Values are additive only.

Step 5 — Generate the Report Selections setup page (conditional)

Only when Question 2 = "Own setup page".

Key patterns (copied from Report Selection - Sales in the base app):

• SourceTable = "Report Selections"
• SourceTableView = sorting(Usage, Sequence) where(Usage = const("<new usage>"))
• PageType = List and UsageCategory = Administration
• OnOpenPage uses Rec.FilterGroup(2) to lock the Usage filter so users cannot remove it and edit unrelated selections
• OnNewRecord pre-fills Rec.Usage with the new value
• Show fields: Sequence, Report ID, Report Caption (flowfield), Use for Email Body, Use for Email Attachment, Email Body Layout Description, Report Layout — mirror the standard page columns

See: references/report-selection-page-template.md

Step 6 — Generate the Report Selection Management Codeunit

This codeunit is the only place that names the standard table 77 "Report Selections" in business code. It exposes at least:

1. PrintReport(<SourceRecord>: Record ...) — request page shown
2. PrintReportModal(<SourceRecord>: Record ...) — silent
3. Optional SaveAsPdf(<SourceRecord>: Record ...; var TempBlob: Codeunit "Temp Blob")

Algorithm:

ReportSelection.Reset();
ReportSelection.SetRange(Usage, "Report Selection Usage"::"<new value>");
ReportSelection.SetFilter("Report ID", '<>0');
ReportSelection.SetCurrentKey(Sequence);
if ReportSelection.FindSet() then
    repeat
        Report.RunModal(
            ReportSelection."Report ID", true, false, SourceRec);
    until ReportSelection.Next() = 0
else
    Error(NoReportSelectedErr);

Rules:

1. Never call Report.RunModal(Report::"<Hardcoded>", …) in the business action. The codeunit is the only integration point.
2. SetCurrentKey(Sequence) is required so multiple configured reports run in the configured order.
3. Missing setup MUST raise an error label (NoReportSelectedErr) — do NOT silently fall back to a hardcoded default.
4. Convert the source record to a RecordRef if the source table must be inferred from Report Selections."Report ID" — for single-usage codeunits the strongly typed SourceRec variant above is preferred.

See: references/report-sel-mgmt-codeunit-template.md

Step 7 — Generate the page action (conditional)

Only when Question 3 identified a target page.

• If the target is a custom page you own → add the action directly to the page.
• If the target is a standard page → add the action via a pageextension.

Action pattern:

action(<Affix>PrintDocument)
{
    ApplicationArea = All;
    Caption = 'Print';
    Image = Print;
    Promoted = true;
    PromotedCategory = Process;
    PromotedIsBig = true;
    ToolTip = 'Print the document using the configured Report Selection.';

    trigger OnAction()
    var
        ReportSelMgmt: Codeunit "<Affix> <Short> Report Sel. Mgmt.";
    begin
        ReportSelMgmt.PrintReport(Rec);
    end;
}

Rules:

1. The action ONLY delegates to the management codeunit — never inline Report.RunModal.
2. The source record passed is exactly what was elicited in Question 3.
3. Reuse an existing PageExtension in the target folder if one already exists — do NOT create a second PageExtension against the same base page.

See: references/page-action-template.md

Step 8 — Generate Install / Upgrade seeding (conditional)

Only when Question 4 = Yes.

Install codeunit (Subtype = Install):

• Trigger OnInstallAppPerCompany
• Detect first install via NavApp.GetCurrentModuleInfo + Version.Create(0,0,0,0)
• Call InsertDefaultReportSelection only on first install
• The helper checks SetRange(Usage, ...) + IsEmpty() before inserting to avoid overwriting customer configuration

Upgrade codeunit (Subtype = Upgrade) — only if Question 4 = "install and upgrade":

• Trigger OnUpgradePerCompany
• Guard with UpgradeTag.HasUpgradeTag(UpgradeTagDef.GetSeedTag())
• After running seeding call UpgradeTag.SetUpgradeTag(...)
• Register the tag for new companies via OnGetPerCompanyUpgradeTags

Both codeunits call a shared helper:

local procedure InsertDefaultReportSelection()
var
    ReportSelection: Record "Report Selections";
begin
    ReportSelection.SetRange(
        Usage, "Report Selection Usage"::"<new value>");
    if not ReportSelection.IsEmpty() then
        exit;

    ReportSelection.Init();
    ReportSelection.Usage :=
        "Report Selection Usage"::"<new value>";
    ReportSelection.Sequence := '1';
    ReportSelection.Validate(
        "Report ID", Report::"<Default Report>");
    ReportSelection.Insert(true);
end;

Rules:

1. Insert only when the filtered recordset is empty.
2. Use Validate on "Report ID" to trigger BC's own report-object validation.
3. Sequence must be a Code[10], not an integer — use '1'.
4. Upgrade seeding MUST be tag-guarded (HasUpgradeTag / SetUpgradeTag).

See: references/install-codeunit-template.md, references/upgrade-codeunit-template.md, references/upgrade-tag-def-template.md

Step 9 — Summary and next steps

After generating all files, present a summary:

Report Selection Category Generated for: [Usage caption]

Objects created / modified:
- EnumExtension [ID] "[Name]" — [file path]
- Page [ID] "[Name]" — [file path]                (if own setup page)
- Codeunit [ID] "[Name] Report Sel. Mgmt." — [file path]
- Codeunit [ID] "[Name] Install" — [file path]    (if seeding)
- Codeunit [ID] "[Name] Upgrade" — [file path]    (if upgrade seeding)
- Codeunit [ID] "[Name] Upg. Tag Def." — [file path]
- PageExtension [ID] "[Name] Card" — [file path]  (if print action)

Post-publish setup:
1. Publish the extension.
2. Navigate to the new "[Setup page]" (or the existing area page).
3. Verify the default Report ID (if seeded) or set one manually.
4. Test the "Print" action on [target page] with a sample record.

Base-application patterns to follow (verified)

The generated code must mirror these patterns present in the base application. Cite them in comments when appropriate.

Rules

1. Always use the project affix for all object and field names.
2. Enum values must be additive. Never renumber or delete a published value. Obsolete instead.
3. Enum captions must NOT contain commas (AppSourceCop AS0087).
4. Business logic MUST NOT hardcode Report::"…". All report invocations must come from Report Selections.
5. Reading Report Selections must always apply SetCurrentKey(Sequence) and iterate with FindSet + repeat.
6. When no report is configured, raise a descriptive error — never fall back to a hidden default.
7. Install/Upgrade seeding may only insert when the filtered recordset for the target Usage is empty.
8. Upgrade seeding must be guarded by an Upgrade Tag registered via OnGetPerCompanyUpgradeTags (or OnGetPerDatabaseUpgradeTags).
9. Extending the global enum does not add the value to the Sales / Purchase / Service / Bank Report Selections pages — pick the area-specific enum when standard integration is required.
10. Setup pages filtered by Usage MUST use FilterGroup(2) + OnNewRecord so users cannot accidentally edit unrelated Report Selections.
11. Print actions must delegate to the Report Selection Management codeunit — never call Report.RunModal directly from the trigger.
12. Follow the instruction files under .github/instructions/ for naming, code style, and performance.

Anti-patterns to reject

Reject and rewrite any code the user proposes that matches these:

• Report.RunModal(Report::"My Report", true, false, Rec); in a page action (bypasses Report Selections entirely).
• Deleting or renumbering an already-published enum value.
• Overwriting Report Selections on install or upgrade (Modify(true) / unconditional Insert).
• Setup pages on Report Selections without FilterGroup(2) — the user can remove the filter and corrupt unrelated categories.
• Silent fallback to a hardcoded Report ID when the setup is empty.
• Extending the global enum expecting the value to appear on the standard area Report Selections page.