Creating a Report Design File Using the Report Wizard
When a System file is open, you can use the Report Wizard to quickly and easily create a Report Design file. While you can also manually create a Report Design file in the Report Designer, the Report Wizard automatically selects all fields shown in the active pane in the System file for inclusion in the report.
1. In the System file, select the pane having the majority of fields to include in the report.
2. Select > . The Report Wizard starts and, if more than one module is in use, it displays the Select Product Module page. If only one module is in use, go to step 4.
If the Select Product Module page appears, the default is the module associated with the active pane in the System file. While this should be the appropriate module, you can select from any module currently in use.
3. On the Select Product Module page, select the appropriate module and click Next. The Select Data Fields page appears.
If you did not change the module chosen on Select Product Module page, the Selected fields list includes all of the fields in the table associated with the active pane. The Available fields list includes all fields in this table that can also be included in the report.
If you changed the module chosen on the Select Product Module page, the Selected fields list is empty because the fields in the active pane in the System file are no longer valid for the newly selected module. In this case, the Available fields list includes all fields for the selected table. By default, this is the first table, in alphabetical order, for the changed module.
The following table describes the options on the Select Data Fields page.
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Option
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Description
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Table type
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The table from which to select the data fields to include in the report.
• If you did not change the module on Select Product Module page, the default is the table for the active pane in the System file.
• If you did change the module selection on this page, the default is the first table listed for this newly selected module.
When it is possible to insert fields from a related table, selecting a related table type make its fields available for selection.
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Available fields
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Lists all of the fields available for insertion in the report from those in the selected table. Fields already selected for inclusion are not listed.
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Selected fields
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Lists the fields that have been selected for inclusion in the report. The table from which a field is selected appears in parentheses after the field name because the table type can be changed and fields can be inserted from other related tables. You can use the standard Windows drag-and-drop technique to reorder the fields in this list. The first field in this list is the first field placed on the report, the second field in this list is the second field placed on the report, and so on.
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When clicked, the field selected in the Available fields list is moved to the Selected fields list. You can also double-click a field in the Available fields list to move it to the Selected fields list.
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When clicked, the field selected in the Selected fields list is moved to the Available fields list. You can also double-click a field in the Selected fields list to move it to the Available fields list.
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Show all data fields
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Indicates which fields to display in the Available fields list. When the checkbox is cleared (default), only the fields used in the table or the forms for this table type are shown. When the checkbox is selected, all fields that can possibly be placed in the table or its forms are shown. If selecting or clearing this checkbox would result in the loss of field selections that have already been made, a window opens, indicating this. You must click Yes to continue or No to cancel.
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4. From the selected table type, select the fields to include in the report. To select fields from a related table, select the related table as the table type to make its fields available for selection. To reorder the fields in the Selected fields list, use the standard Windows drag-and-drop technique.
If you select fields from table types that are not related, when you click Next, a window indicates that the report cannot be generated as designed because the data in the selected tables cannot be merged together in one report. When you click OK to close this window, you can change your field selections.
5. Once you have finished selecting the fields for the report, click Next. The Select Filter page appears. If a filter is applied to the data type selected prior to starting the Report Wizard, it is selected for Filter. Otherwise, --No Filter-- is selected.
6. Select or change the filter and click Next. The Specify Data Grouping page appears, displaying the fields in the initially selected table in the Available fields list.
7. Select and order the fields that are to group the report data in the same way you selected and ordered the fields to include in the report. No limit exists on the number of fields by which you can group report data. When finished, click Next. The Specify Sort page appears.
8. Select up to four fields by which to sort the report data. If fewer than four fields are available for sorting, the options for selecting fields are limited accordingly.
By default, the sort order is ascending, which means values are listed from A to Z or 0 to 9. To sort in descending order, which means values are listed from Z to A or 9 to 0, select Ascending to clear the checkbox. When finished, click Next. The Select Layout page appears.
9. For Layout, specify the way in which the selected fields are to be inserted into the Details section of the report. Choices are:
◦ Horizontal — The fields are spaced across the Details section. If all the fields do not fit on one line, they are placed in additional lines in a horizontal format.
◦ Vertical — The fields are stacked in the Details section so that they are left-aligned, with one field per line. The width of the labels is the width of the largest label. The fields are left-aligned directly to the right of the corresponding label.
10. For Orientation, specify the manner in which to lay out the report. Choices are:
◦ Portrait — The report is vertically oriented.
◦ Landscape — The report is horizontally oriented.
11. Click Next. The Report Style page appears. The options on the left specify different properties for the objects in the various report sections. The area on the right displays a sample of the formatting to apply if that option is selected.
12. Select the style to apply and click Next. The Report Title page appears. The default is the table type selected prior to starting the Report Wizard.
13. For Title, enter the name for the report and click Next. The Wizard Complete page appears.
14. Click Finish. During file generation, the Generating Report window opens.
Once the Report Design file is generated, it opens it in the Preview window. The Print Preview toolbar, which appears in the upper left corner of the window by default, provides one-click access to several previewing commands.
When you close the Preview window, regardless as to whether or not you print the report, the Report Design file remains open. You can modify this file. If you do not select > to save your changes prior to closing the file, a window opens, asking whether you want to save changes. The default name, (Report Wizard Generated Report), indicates that the current Report Design file is a temporary file generated by the Report Wizard.
You must click Yes to save the temporary file to a Report Design file. Otherwise, it is deleted. When you click Yes, the Save File As window opens. In this window, you specify a file name and click OK. For more information, see Save File As Window.
Each Report Design file is associated with a particular module. In the Report to Print or Report to Preview window, the newly saved report is listed under the heading for the module selected on the Select Product Module page of the Report Wizard.