Lesson 3: Report Tutorial  Lesson 3: Report Tutorial

Create the basic report

Note

Now you create the basic report. To do this you select a report style and the data to be used for the report.

  1. Click the New button in the PowerBar.

    Shown is the Power Bar with the New button circled.

    The New dialog box displays.

  2. Select the Object tab if it is not already on top.

    The Object tab page contains the icon for creating any type of new form and icons for the various report presentation styles.

  3. Select the Tabular presentation style and click OK.

    Shown is the Object tab page of the New dialog box with labeled icons for Form, Composite, Cross tab, Free form, Graph, Grid, Group, Label, N Up, OLE 2 dot 0, Rich Text, and Tabular. Tabular is circeld.

    The wizard for creating tabular reports (also called DataWindows) starts up.

    NoteAbout report presentation styles A report presentation style is a predefined way of presenting information in a report.

  4. Select the Quick Select data source.

    Make sure the Retrieve on Preview check box is selected and click Next.

    Shown is a screen titled Choose Data Source for Tabular Data Window with labeled icons for Quick Select, which is highlighted, and then Sequel Select, Query, External, and Stored Porcedure. Below these, a Retrieve on Preview check box is selected.

    NoteAbout data sources Quick Select is simply for choosing columns and specifying selection criteria and sorting, which is what you want for this tutorial.

    SQL Select is for using other SQL options not available with Quick Select.

    Query is for specifying the name of a query that describes the data source. You define a query in the Query painter.

    External is for specifying data that comes from a source other than a database.

    Stored Procedure is for specifying data using a stored procedure.

    The Quick Select dialog box displays. In this dialog box you select the table to use and the columns you want to include in the report.

  5. Click contact.

    Shown is the Quick Select dialog box. At left is a scrollable display labeled Tables with a table named contact highlighted. At right is a display area for the Columns of a given table. At bottom is a display area for a grid with rows labeled column, sort, criteria, and or.

    The columns for the contact table display. For this report you select five columns.

    Shown is the Quick Select dialog box. At left is a scrollable display labeled Tables with a table named contact highlighted. At right is a display area showing the Columns for the selected table. At bottom is an area for displaying a grid. It has rows labeled column, sort, criteria, and or.

  6. Click last_name, first_name, and title.

    Use the scroll bar to scroll the list of columns.

    Click phone and fax.

    InfoMaker moves the selected columns to the grid at the bottom. You can use this grid for reordering columns and for providing sort and selection criteria. For this report you do not need selection criteria, and you specify sorting later.

    Shown is the Quick Select dialog box. At left is a scrollable display labeled Tables with a table named contact highlighted. At right is a display area showing the Columns for the selected table. The visible column names first _ name, title, phone, and fax are highlighted. At bottom is an area for displaying a grid. It has rows labeled column, sort, criteria, and or, and it now has columns labeled last name, first name, title, and so on.

  7. Click OK.

    The Select Color and Border Settings dialog box displays. You are going to accept the defaults.

    Shown is the Select Color and Border Settings dialog box. At top is a drop down labeled Background Color with the selection Window Background. Next is a Text group box with a Color drop down set to Window Text and a Border drop down set to No Border. A Columns group box at the bottom has Color and Border drop downs with the same settings. A Save as default check box is unchecked.

  8. Click Next.

    A dialog box summarizing all your specifications displays.

    Shown is a dialog box titled Ready to Create Tabular Report. It has a table listing Properties and their Values, such as Wrap Height in inches set to 0 and Text Color set to Black.

  9. Look over your specifications and then click Finish.

    Your report displays in several views in the Report painter. It uses the columns and report style you selected.

    Shown is the Report painter screen. At top are Header and Detail bands showing the selections for the report and a Preview view showing columns of data titled Last Name, First Name, and Job Role.

    The Design view is where you do much of your work perfecting the report. The text for the column headers comes from the extended attribute system tables. The names of the columns appear where the data values will be displayed.

    Shown is the Design view. The text for the column headers is displayed across the top in the Header band, including Last Name, First Name, and so on. Next is the Detail band, where the names of the columns appear in the positions where the data values will be displayed. Below this are unexpanded Summary and Footer bands.

    NoteThe extended attribute system tables The extended attribute system tables store information about data such as labels and display formats. When you create forms and reports, InfoMaker uses extended attribute information to create the basic form or report.

    You put information into the extended attribute system tables using the Database painter. For example, in the Table tutorial you define the label Job Role: for the title column. Then when you use the title column in a form or report, InfoMaker uses the label Job Role:.




Copyright © 2008. Sybase Inc. All rights reserved. Lesson 3: Report Tutorial

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