Chapter 8: About DataWindow Technology
Presentation styles and data sources
When you define a DataWindow object, you choose a presentation
style and a data source.
Presentation styles
A presentation style defines a typical style of report and
handles how rows are grouped on the page. You can customize the
way the data is displayed in each presentation style. Table 8-1 lists the presentation
styles available.
Table 8-1: DataWindow presentation styles
Presentation style
|
Description
|
|---|
Tabular
|
Data columns across the page and headers
above each column. Several rows are viewable at once.
|
Freeform
|
Data columns going down the page with
labels next to each column. One row displayed at a time.
|
Grid
|
Row-and-column format like a spreadsheet
with grid lines. Users can move borders and columns.
|
Group
|
A tabular style with rows grouped under
headings. Each group can have summary fields with computed statistics.
|
Graph
|
Graphical presentation of data.
|
For examples of the presentation styles, see the User’s
Guide.
Data sources
The data source specifies
where the data in the DataWindow comes from and what data items
are displayed. Data can come from tables in a database, or you can
import data from a file or specify the data in code. For databases,
the data specification is saved in a SQL statement. In all cases,
the DataWindow object saves the names of the data items to display,
as well as their data types.
Table 8-2: Data sources
you can use for a DataWindow
Data source
|
Description
|
|---|
Quick Select
|
The data comes from one or more tables
in a SQL database. The tables must be related through a foreign
key. You need to choose only columns, selection criteria, and sorting.
|
SQL Select
|
You want more control over the select
statement that is generated for the data source. You can specify
grouping, computed columns, and so on.
|
Query
|
The data has already been selected and
the SQL statement is saved in a query object that you have defined
in the Query painter. When you define the DataWindow object, the
query object is incorporated into the DataWindow and does not need to
be present when you run the application.
|
Stored Procedure
|
The data is defined in a database stored
procedure.
|
External
|
The data is not stored in a database,
but is imported from a file (such as a tab-separated or dBASE file)
or populated from code.
|
|
Copyright © 2004. Sybase Inc. All rights reserved.
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