Basic vs. Advanced Report Designer

Basic vs. Advanced Report Designer

When launched from the Advanced Designer option in RentalDesk, the Report Explorer offers the following additional options to the user:

Reports can be deleted. They are sent to a virtual Recycle Bin from where they can be retrieved using the Restore button on the Toolbar

Folders can be created, renamed, moved and deleted. In general it is advisable to use a certain amount of caution here and observe the protocol that a single report type and all its versions (Quote, for example) go in their own folder

Reports can be printed and previewed without opening them in the Designer, although in practice its usually more useful to have the Designer open when performing these operations. New reports can be launched as well.

The Report Configuration popup form has an Advanced tab, which allows the user to specify key information which tells RentalDesk how to install the report to its menus.

With the Advanced Report Designer you have access to every reporting facility available to the RentalDesk developers. The many additional facilities available will allow you to:

Create new reports from scratch, rather than having to design them from scratch

Create new folder in the Report Explorer and to delete unwanted reports

Link in more data tables to standard reports

Set selection criteria to finely tune which data is excluded by a report

Change or add the sorting / grouping criteria in a report

Add or remove report components (variables, labels, data fields etc) which have calculations associated with them

Have complete control over how every part of a report behaves attaching code to their "events" (before print, after print, etc) which fire as the report is processed

The Report Designer Data Tab

This is where you can make changes to underlying data retrieve design of a report or even design a new report from scratch. Key functions that you can perform here include:

Add tables to a report

Add fields to a report

Specify the sorting of data in a report

Specify data selection criteria for the report

Define summary calculations to be performed as the data is retrieved

Specify AutoSearch criteria that will prompt the user for inputs (a date range, for example) when a report is run.

The Report Designer Calc Tab

This is where you can really take control of your report and fine tune what it displays and when it displays it. The work area is quite complex at first glance but it is not quite as daunting as appears. You will typically need to use the Calc Tab to:

Perform calculations within the report

Display data in a new way after processing it with functions

Show or hide fields or groups depending on some criteria

Format (colouring, fonts, etc) any object in the depending on some criteria

The Report Designer Design Tab

The key difference when working within the Design Tab is that and field objects that have code or calculations associated with them can be deleted. In the Standard Report Designer this is prohibited because there no Calc Tab available to re-instate any code should you wish to at a later date.