Differences and Limitations When Developing Pages for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Tablet Client

Developing for Microsoft Dynamics NAV Tablet client is not much different from developing for Microsoft Dynamics NAV Windows client, or Microsoft Dynamics NAV Web client. There are, however, some natural limitations on a tablet, such as not having a physical keyboard and mouse, as well as a smaller screen. In addition to this, there are some differences and limitations in developing pages for Microsoft Dynamics NAV Tablet client. The differences and limitations listed are additional to the differences and limitations that exist on the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Windows client and Microsoft Dynamics NAV Web client. For more information, see Feature Limitations of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Web Client and Browser Limitations with the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Web Client.

Page Differences and Limitations

In the following section, you will find a description of what to expect when displaying pages on Microsoft Dynamics NAV Tablet client. For more information about specific Role Center behavior, see Role Center Behaviors.

Concept Difference/Limitation Example Recommendation

Activity Buttons

Only the content of the Home activity button is shown. You cannot activate other activity buttons.

Home, Departments, and Posted Documents on the Sales Order Processor Role Center.

Design pages to expose the workflows needed by the user. For example, configure the profile to show the important list pages under the Home activity button. Alternatively, consider designing a new Role Center if the activities for the activity button greatly vary from activities in other activity buttons.

Selecting multiple records in Lists

Not available.

Ctrl+A or Ctrl+Click on rows in a list using Microsoft Dynamics NAV Windows client.

Avoid scenarios requiring selecting multiple rows on a list. Also, try to minimize actions on lists.

Ribbon Actions

Only Promoted actions are shown.

On the Small Business Role Center.

Use the development environment to promote actions. Alternatively, configure the profile and add actions to the Home ribbon tab.

FactBoxes

Not shown on List pages or Worksheet pages.

Customer list on the Small Business Role Center.

Make sure the same information is visible on the corresponding card page of the given record.

Advanced Filters

No column-specific filtering is available.

On the Customer list page.

Send data to Excel and do the complex filtering there.

Page Search

Not available.

On Microsoft Dynamics NAV Windows client or Microsoft Dynamics NAV Web client.

Design pages to expose the workflows needed by the user. For example via list places, tiles or actions.

Horizontal Scrolling on Lists

The number of tiles that are shown is based on the size of the screen, no possibility to scroll. For more information, see Designing for Different Screen Sizes on a Tablet.

On Items list for the Sales Order Processor profile.

Cue and Action Tiles

The number of tiles that are shown is based on the size of the screen, no possibility to scroll.

On most Role Center pages.

Design List pages to avoid having important columns on the far right of the column list. Assume you have no control over how many columns are displayed and consider that only the first few columns will be made visible.

Field Groups

Field groups on list pages are not shown. Only the repeater control is shown in the content area of the page.

On Opportunity list page (5123).

Design Role Center pages to avoid having important tiles at the area end. Assume you have no control over how many tiles are displayed and consider that only the first few tiles will be made visible.

Links and Notes

Not available.

On Sales Orders.

Similar to Factboxes, make sure the same information in the field group is visible on the corresponding card page of the given record.

Select from full list

Not available on lookups. Users are not able to run actions on a lookup page, and they cannot access the full set of records.

On the Item Card when selecting the Base Units of Measure.

Make sure the appropriate columns are visible on the lookup. The user is still able to filter, scroll, and search through the lookup.

Date picker in grids

Not available.

On Sales Invoices.

Enter dates in grids manually.

Search across List columns

Partly supported. Search will not include FlowFields.

Customer list.

GETURL

It is not possible to generate URLs to the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Tablet client using the GETURL AL function.

See example in codeunit 440.

Report Viewer and CurrReport.PREVIEW

There is no Preview functionality available on the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Tablet client. CurrReport.PREVIEW cannot be reliably used to identify whether a report was run as a draft or as a final printed document.

See example in report 280.

Matrix Controls

Not supported.

See example in G/L Budget.

File download

Cannot download multiple files at the same time.

Trial Balance report in the Print to Excel check box.

Number of columns displayed in a repeater control.

Because of the form factor on tablets, you might experience that not all important columns are displayed.

Use the Width field property to control the size of the column and thereby make room for more columns displayed. For more information, see Width Property.

See Also

Concepts

Developing for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Tablet Client