Intermediate Reporting An ACEware Webinar1-2:30 pm, Thursday February 21st, 2008

And for those of you who are skipping lunch to join us ……..

Today’s Agenda•Complex expressions•Adding & Deleting Reporting Bands•Report Calculations•Print When•Report Management Renaming / Deactivating/ Importing

•Page Layout •Special Purpose Functions

Intermediate Report Writing:

Complex Report Expressions • Multiple Fields in One Expression Box

• Can combine with , (comma) ; (semi-colon) or + (plus) -- These are called concatenators

• expressions can be up to 255 characters in length (including spaces).

• If using a + as a cocatenator, fields in your expression must be the same type (eg: Character or Numeric)

• If using a , as a cocatenator, you CAN mix field types ( ie: Number and Character and Date )

• Text elements must be enclosed in quotations (“”) in report expressions.

• Can mix Functions with the above…

Pros and Cons of Combined Expressions( Where you have more than one item in an expression box)

• Can set Font globally

• Can set Print When’s on entire item (for conditional Printing)

• Unable to highlight items

• Harder to get column spacing even

Font Selection is KeyFixed vs

Proportional

Pros - Combined Cons

Complex Report Expressions

NMNAME1,NMNAME3

NMNAME1+NMNAME3

NAMER(nmid);nmaddr1;nmaddr2;cszr(nmid)

“First”+NMNAME1+”Last “+NMNAME3

Nicedate(cobegdate,coenddate)

Nmname3,”Balance Due: “,gtbal(rgcrse,rgid)

Complex Report Expressions

Chuck Havlicek

Chuck Havlicek

Chuck Havlicek

1828 Erickson

Manhattan KS 66503

FirstChuck Last Havlicek

February 21-27, 2008

Havlicek Balance Due: 75.95

NMNAME1,NMNAME3

NMNAME1+NMNAME3

NAMER(nmid);nmaddr1;nmaddr2;cszr(nmid)

“First”+NMNAME1+”Last “+NMNAME3

Nicedate(cobegdate,coenddate)

Nmname3,”Balance Due: “,gtbal(rgcrse,rgid)

Complex Report Expressions - Tips

• Case of Field name does NOT matter NMNAME1 = nmname1 = NmName1

• What is in “ “ is literal… ( WYSIWYG )• Concatenators

– , allows mixed fields, trims Character puts one space between fields

– + is literal.. Keeps trailing blanks, must use common denominator

– ; Will wrap fields, can combine mixed fields, Will close blank values ( ie no NMADDR2 )

• In use of +… Data Conversion Functions DTOC(cobegdate) = Date to Char

STR(RGCRSEFEE,7,2) = Number to Char SHOWTF(RGCANCEL) = Logical to Char

Print WhensDouble click the report object to open the Properties window  

Click the Print When button

Print Repeated Values – ‘Yes’ allows the value to print repeatedly; ‘No’ prints the value only once per group (within

the banding group)

Remove Line if Blank - if you have fields on one line and all the fields

have no values, the entire line will be removed--space and all.

Print When (continued)

Print only when Expression is True – enter a condition the field must meet to be

printed (e.g. only print if the field is not empty . . Or if a certain value exists in the

field ).  You may use report functions in the condition

Non-Printing Notes

Need a reminder/FYI note in the Report…..

but don’t want it to print on the report?

• Create the desired note with the text tool. • Double-click the text entry to open the

Properties window. • Click the Print When button.   • In the 'Print only when expression is true'

expression box, enter .f. (false).  

Report Bands• Purpose

– Specify print areas– Display grouped information

Title - information that appears at the beginning of the report

Page Header - information that is printed at the top of each

page in the report

Group Header - information that is printed at the beginning

of each data group

Detail - data and text printed once for each record generated

by the query

Group Footer - information printed at the end of each data group

(pairs with group header)

Page Footer* - information printed at the bottom of each page in the report (pairs with page header)

Summary - information printed at the end of the report

Page Header, Detail, and Page Footer are required on every report and cannot be removed.

Adding Title & Summary Bands

Title and Summary Bands are optional bands that can be added to your report

1. Select Report | Title/Summary. 2. Check the band you want to add to the

report

If you want title or summary band information to be

displayed on it's own page, select New Page.

Adding Grouping Bands

Click the Data Grouping icon on the Report Designer toolbar

Click into the Group box and enter the field/expression on which to group

Select the appropriate Group properties, then click the OK button

Report Sort Order and Banding

Field CalculationsResets the calculation on any group band, at

the end of each page, or at the end of the report.

• Double click the field to open the Report Expression window.

• Click the Calculate button to open the Calculation window and select the appropriate option.

Nothing - No calculations are made on this variable

Count - Counts the number of times a variable is printed per group,

page, column, or report

Sum - Sums the values for a group, page, column, or report

Average - Computes the arithmetic mean (average) of the variable

values within a group, page, column, or report

Lowest / Highest - Displays the lowest (highest) value that occurred

in that variable

Select the Reset option (point at which the variable is reset to its initial value, e.g. when the course number changes, at the end of the report, etc.).

Click the OK buttons to close the Calculations and Report Expression windows.

 

Page Layout • Change from Portrait to Landscape• Create Columns – Labels/Nametags• Change Report Template ( 8 ½ X 5 ½

)• Change Default Printer (on a

Network)

Report Management

Now you got all those reports… WTH do you DO with them??

– Rename– Move – Add Comment– Deactivate– Export– Import

Renaming a Report• Select Tools | Reports | Rename/Move

Reports. • Find the report you want to rename. • Double-click on the report to rename it.

• Enter the new report name. You may enter or edit the report memo.

• Click the Save button

Moving a Report

Why ???

• You may have a Format you like … but– Another report area may have a better query set– You may want to do some sorting with a JDI (and

the other report area may have a simpler file structure )

– You may need another field… and that field is NOT available in the present area

Moving a Report

CAUTION:Not all fields are available in all report areas.  If you move a report to another area, you may need to modify it to remove fields that are not available, or use a function to add them to the report

In other words, your report may not work as is!

( .. Some assembly may be required )

Moving a Report

Select the new area for the

report from the dropdown list

Check here if you want to keep a copy of the

original reportyou MUST click Save…

OK is NOT an automatic Save

Deactivating a Report( Lets you hide reports you don’t currently use)

Uncheck the active box

Tools / Reports / Activate/Deactivate Reports

Exporting a Report

• To export a report, select Tools | Reports | Export Master Report or Export User Defined Report.

• Select the report you want to export.

• Select a destination for the report files.  

• Click the Select button.  You should see a message in the upper-right of the Student Manager screen telling you the export was successful.

Exporting a Report (continued)

• The report files will be saved to the directory you choose.  

• There are two files:  one with a .dbf extension, and one with a .fpt extension (e.g. NAMEROSC.dbf and NAMEROSC.fpt).  

• You must send both files to the user with whom you are sharing the report.  

.dbf

.fpt

Importing a Report• Select Tools | Reports | Import Report.

• Navigate to the directory where the report files are saved (if the files were saved on a floppy disk, then select A: Drive).

• Select the report file (when you navigate to the directory, you'll only see the .dbf file--this is normal).

• Click the Import button.  You should see a message in the upper-right of the Student Manager screen telling you the import was successful.

Special Report Functions• Counting / Adding

– CountXXXX – countcod,countcx, countname,countreg, etc

– GT XXX - GTDUE/GTPAID GTCODUE/GTCOPAID

• Show Me stuff from another area.. – SHOW XXXX - showhdate, showclas, showwork,

showexp, liststud, clsteach, findinst

• Check if something is true– hasclas

• Show Query Information– Whazzis

Summary – Where we’ve been..

•Complex expressions•Adding & Deleting Reporting Bands•Report Calculations•Print When•Report Management Renaming / Deactivating/ Importing

•Page Layout •Special Purpose Functions

TIP: Practice by modifying

existing reports.. (and just hit abandon

when done)

Questions?

Course Construction - Coordinators February 26th 2 PM CSTExtreme Reporting February 28th 1 PM CST

Upcoming Webinars….