RDLC Without BC: When the Feedback Loop Is Longer Than the Workday

RDLC Without BC: When the Feedback Loop Is Longer Than the Workday csharp #dotnet #businesscentral #rdlc #wpf Nexus Claude: Every time a developer says "let me check how the report looks" — somewhere in an office, Business Central starts deploying. Context Developing RDLC reports for Business Central looks straightforward: edit the .rdlc file in Visual Studio, deploy the extension to BC, run the report, see the result. The problem is in the word "deploy". Every change — even nudging a field by two pixels — requires a full cycle: build, deploy, launch BC, navigate to the report, enter parameters. Five minutes at best. Multiply by twenty iterations a day and the workday becomes waiting. The goal is simple: Open RDLC and XML data → see the result. No BC. No deploy. Now. Act One: Dead End in Visual Studio The first thought — Visual Studio Report Designer has a Preview mode. So you can connect XML as a DataSource and view the report right there. Create a Report Server Project. Open Designer