Creating a report in Designer

  1. Select Global Navigation Menu > Designer.

    A blank report is displayed.

  2. Create a report by adding entities or select an existing report by selecting the Report icon and selecting Open.
  3. Select the band to add your entity to and click the +Add Entity icon.
  4. Select from the list of entity types.
  5. Each entity has unique behaviors. For example, when you select Add Column, you select the column from a subject area.
  6. Use the Search bar to add columns to your report.
  7. After the entity is added, make additional changes from the left menu panel.
  8. To edit column properties, select the Column Properties icon.

    From the Column Properties menu, you can set data formatting, group aggregation, aggregation, data type, and time series types.

    Note: Selecting the expression type and pivot options have been moved out of column properties into their own sections.
  9. To format items on the report, click the item and use the toolbar to make formatting changes to color, alignment, size, position, font family, font size, and style.

    To wrap the text on a label, click the Wrap Text icon. This option is toggled on or off for the label.

  10. To Undo or Redo any action while creating your report, use the Undo and Redo icons.
  11. To select multiple entities, press the Ctrl or Cmd key. The settings for the most recently selected entity are displayed on the toolbar. You can move selected entities as a group and make adjustments to formatting.
  12. To determine the layering placement for the report entities, use the Entity Ordering option. If an entity on a Designer report is completely covered by another entity, a stacked icon is displayed. Hover over the tooltip on the topmost entity to show information for all entities that are hidden behind it.
    • Use Bring Forward to move the entity forward one layer on the report. For example, if three entities on the report overlap and the back-most item is selected, the selected entity now exists between the other two entities.
    • Use Bring To Front to move the entity to the top-most layer of the report. For example, if three entities on the report overlap, the selected entity now exists in front of the other two entities.
    • Use Send Backward to move the entity back one layer on the report. For example, if three entities on the report overlap and the topmost item is selected, the selected item now exists between the other two entities.
    • Use Send To Back to move the selected item to the back-most layer of the report. For example, if three entities on the report overlap, the selected entity now exists behind the other two entities.
  13. Use these actions to copy entities. If multiple entities are selected, then each selected entity is copied.
    • For Windows users, press the Ctrl button, left-click, and drag the entity to copy.
    • For Mac Users, press the Cmd button, click, and drag the entity to copy.
  14. When multiple entities are selected, use the Increase or Decrease Font Size button to proportionally change the font size on the report. Each entity is increased or decreased by one font size. For example, if your column labels are size 9 and your column details are size 7, you can select all elements and use Increase Font Size to change the font size of the labels to 10 and the font size of the column details to 8.
  15. After selecting multiple entities, use Alignment to align items. The way alignments work depends on the position of the selected elements.
    • Select Align top edges to align the elements vertically to the top-most selected element. If elements are selected across bands, then the top alignment brings all elements to the height of the top most element within the respective band.
    • Select Align right edges to align the elements horizontally to the right-most selected element. If elements are across bands, then a right alignment brings all elements to the co-ordinate of the right-most element within the respective band.
    • Select Align bottom edges to align the elements vertically to the bottom-most selected element. If elements are selected across bands, bottom alignment brings all elements to the height of the bottom-most element within the respective band.
    • Select Align left edges to align the elements horizontally to the left-most selected element. If elements are across bands, left alignment brings all elements to the co-ordinate of the left most element within the respective band.
    • Select Line up Horizontally to line up the elements side-by-side horizontally with no gaps or spaces in between the elements.
    • Select Line up Vertically to line up the elements vertically with no gaps or spaces in between.
  16. To view the rendered report, click the Results button. To return to layout mode, select Layout.
  17. To save a report, select the Report icon and select Save to update the existing report or Save As to create a new version of the report.
    Note: Only the Save As option is available for Designer reports created in Flash.