Report Properties
When a new report is created, decisions are made on how the information is selected, presented, and sorted. The Report Wizard assist with these decisions during the initial report creation process. Report settings can later be modified in the Main Report Properties window, accessed by selecting View > Report Properties from the main menu.
If there are sub reports located in the main report, a Reports window is displayed first so you can identify whether to adjust properties for the main report or for the sub report.
General
The General tab shows basic information about the report including the report title, the Information Category from which the data contained in the report is drawn, and the report description. To change the information category, select a new category from the Information Category drop-down menu.
Grid settings specify the number of grid lines per inch. This setting allows you greater control over the design and layout of the final report.
To drill down to stored images in any drill downs, enable this feature by placing a check mark in the "Enable drill down to images" box.
Sort
The Sort tab allows you to select data elements on which you want data in the report to be sorted. Available data elements are displayed in a tree structure in the Fields window. Using the Add and Remove arrow keys, select the fields on which you want to base sorting of data in the report. Once you have selected the data elements you want, the order of these elements is determined using the sort order buttons. Elements can be raised in the sort order, lowered in the sort order, or removed from the list of items.
Design Layout
The Design Layout tab allows you to rearrange the design areas that compose the report. You may change the order in which regions appear and print.
Regions have a level property (such as Detail or Group Footer) and they may not be moved out of the level to which they were added. You can arrange areas within their level. For example, if you have two detail regions in a report and you would like to add a third and have that appear first, you would follow these steps:
- Create the region.
- Open Report Properties and select the Design Layout tab.
- Expand Begin Main Report.
- Select the newly added region and use the Up arrow button to move the new region to the top of the detail list.
- Click OK.
Selection Criteria
The Selection Criteria tab allows you to specify criteria selections for the report. This is one of two ways to enter selection criteria. To add selection criteria to the report, click Add to open the Report Item window. You have the option of viewing the selection criteria information in short or verbose format.
Dynamic Criteria
The Dynamic Criteria tab allows items from the information category to be added to the criteria list by double-clicking the items or using the arrows. Item properties can then be edited by double-clicking the items in the list on the right side.
Drill
The Drill tab allows you to force items from the elected database to be included in any drill downs you create for a particular region of the report. You can specify that a given item should be made available for drill down criteria even if this item is not shown on the report. Items not marked for inclusion in this manor are disregarded when drill downs are performed.
Report Prompts
On the Report Prompts tab, you can specify which system fields require prompts at the time the report is run. One or more of the system fields can be selected for prompting. Date Prompts and Prompt messages can be entered.
Prompt Order
Prompts that are defined in the Report Prompts tab can be arranged in the desired order in the Prompt Order tab. Select the prompt and use the arrow keys in the upper right corner of the tab to establish the order of the prompts.
Script Reference
The Script Reference tab shows available scriptlets from the macros of a report. The Script Reference page will only be shown if the report is using Active Macros.
Performance
On the Performance tab, you can specify security implementation methods, optimization, redundancies, or force EOF (i.e., break report pages correctly if there is overflow).