To develop reports using AX 2012 and AX 2012 R2, you need access to the rich client with development permission, a Visual Studio installation for report development, and the reporting extensions for Dynamics AX must be installed.

The SQL reporting services must be installed and running. You must have the permission to deploy the reports to the reporting server and must be able to access the reporting manager that lists all the reports in the system.

You can create an auto design from a dataset, as follows:

Auto design is much easier to design and develop when compared to precision design. The default type of design (table, chart, and so on) for an auto design is defined in the property of the dataset. The default type determines what kind of control is added when the dataset is dragged-and-dropped into the auto design node.

The templates are responsible for printing the header, footer, and the company name on the report. They also manage the font and colors. Currently AX doesn't support printing the company image in the header through auto design.

The report preview accesses the default company in AX to show a report preview. So ensure the default company in AX has data; otherwise, you may not find data in the preview.