One of the most requested feature has been a new Report Editor.  In production environments and during the application installation the management of printers can be a troubleshooter's nightmare.  With Window Reports these issues are addressed.  The Window Report Editor is completely new and is competitive with any of the stand-alone window report generators on the market.  With the ability to connect to external data sources, one will be able to create reports with data from other database products.  The Window Report Editor alone is worth the price of admission.

The Windows Report Editor is accessed only in the Database Module. The editor is accessed with the commands  Print -- Window-Report.  Please noted that the old editor is the option called Report. Both editors offer similar options.  Window-Report will offer the following options.

Create

Execute

Modify

Remove

Auto-Create

The Auto-Create option is perhaps the easiest method of becoming familiar with the editor.  The Windows Report Editor will be very easy to learn if you have designed reports.  The Windows Report Editor does use  its own set of report functions and does not use the old functions used my the older Report Editor.  Windows Report Editor also uses sections in laying out the report design.

The functions which are unique to the Windows Report Editor are:

REP_AVERAGE

REP_COUNT

REP_MAX

REP_MIN

REP_STD

REP_STDEV

REP_SUM

REP_SUMSQ

REP_VAR

These functions can be used in any of the sections of the report. 

The Windows Report Editor uses the following sections to help design the report.

Report Header

Page Header

Group Header

Detail

Group Footer

Page Footer

Report Footer

The Detail section is the section which will use the database data.  All the other sections could be used to calculate totals of the report.

In SPL code there may be situations in which you need to refer to a particular section of a report. Below is the value of each section.

The first step in creating a Windows Report may be to use the option called Auto-Create.  This option will ask the following five questions and generates a standard report from those inputs.  This report can be modified as desired. 

Select View

Select Name

Select Fields

Select Groups

Select Query or Type a Query

The following is the opening screen shot of Auto Create, in which six questions are answered and you have your first window report.

The ability to print to a file can be handled by printing to a PDF writer. This will create a PDF file.  Cute PDF and other third party solutions work in different situations between XP and MS 2000 systems. Adobe has their own PDF printer.

When the Windows Report Editor prints to the printer it will not present the option to select a printer to the end user. It will use the default printer. 

When the Windows Report Editor prints to the screen it will present the option to select a printer to the end user. The user can select a printer from the standard printer dialog. 

From the option Create there are a number of controls which can be created.  These controls are offered in both the Windows Report Editor and the Form Editor.  Many of these control many have relevance to only one of those editors.

Create Page-Break

By creating or editing a page break on the Definition window, you can define a control that starts a new page. After you add the page break to the window report, you can set properties of the box using the property sheet.

Create X-Line

By creating or editing a line on the Definition window, you can define a control for displaying a line. After you add the line to the form, you can set properties of the box using the property sheet.

The X in the control name X-Line is used for convenience as the “L” is used by the ListBox choice.

Create Group

By creating or editing a group on the Window Report Definition window, you can define a new grouping section on the report. After you add the group to the window report, two new sections will be added to the report: a group header and a group footer. You are prompted for the field you want to group on. The report will then be sorted on that field, and the group header section will be shown at the beginning of each unique value in that field, and the group footer will be shown at the end of each unique value in that field.

Create Box

By creating or editing a box on the Definition window, you can define rectangular areas on the form. After you add the box to the form, you can set properties of the box using the property sheet

Create Chart

By creating or editing a chart on the  Definition window, you can define a control for displaying charts and graphs. After you add the chart to the form, you can set properties of the box using the property sheet.

In the Chart Property Sheet Controls you have four choices:

Create Image/Picture

By creating or editing a image/picture on the Definition window, you can define a control for displaying pictures. After you add the image/picture to the form, you can set properties of the box using the property sheet.

The Image/Picture Properties include four additional controls:

Create Edit

By creating or editing an edit on the window report, you can define a text control for entering displaying data. After you add the edit to the form, you can set properties of the box using the property sheet.

Create Note

By creating or editing a note on the window report, you can define a control for displaying static information such as a field title. After you add the note to the form, you can set properties of the box using the property sheet.

Create Button

By creating or editing a button on the window report, you can define a control for displaying text on a button. After you add the button to the form, you can set properties of the box using the property sheet. Buttons on a report are only for display purposes.