Creating a report form using the Report Builder wizard

Use the Report Builder wizard to create a runnable report-type form, along with a criteria form you can use to generate the report.

On the toolbar, click the Runtime Builder icon.
In the Runtime Builder Selection form, select these options:

Category

Select FormBuilder.

Runtime Builder

Select Report.
Click OK.
On the first page of the Report Builder wizard (Form), make these settings:

Enter a name for this form

(Required) Enter the name for your report form, or select the name of an existing report form from the drop-down list.
This form name is used only in the Web Designer or Design Mode and does not display on the form itself. You must use standard form naming conventions.

Enter a caption for this report

(Required) Provide the caption that is to display in the title bar of the form.
When you exit the previous field, the wizard automatically populates this field with a proposed caption based on the form name. You can modify this proposed caption to suit your needs.

Select an IDO to use with this form

(Required) Select the IDO that contains the data to use for your report.

Enter a name for the criteria form

(Required) Enter the name for the criteria form that will be used to filter data and generate the report.
When you exit the form name field, the wizard automatically populates this field with a proposed name for the criteria form, based on the form name. You can modify this proposed name to suit your needs.
This form name is used only in the Web Designer or Design Mode and does not display on the criteria form itself. You must use standard form naming conventions.

Enter a caption for the criteria form

(Required) Provide the caption that is to display in the title bar of the criteria form.
When you exit the form name field, the wizard automatically populates this field with a proposed caption for the criteria form, based on the form name. You can modify this proposed caption to suit your needs.

Set Orientation

(Required) Specify whether the report is to use a Portrait orientation or a Landscape orientation.

Paper Size

(Optional) Select the size of the paper that is to be used to print the report.
If you do not select a paper size, the wizard uses the default paper size from the Report Options form.

Select Regions

(Optional) Set the regions to include in the generated report. Clear all others.
Click Next.
On the next page of the wizard (Properties), select the properties to include in the primary collection.
The wizard initially displays the internally used properties of the IDO in the Properties list (on the left) and other properties in the Primary Collection list (on the right). Depending on your need, you might want to clear the entire Primary Collection list and then then select only the properties you actually want to use. Alternatively, simply deselect the properties you do not want to use from the Primary Collection list.
To filter for specific properties, you can use the search field above the list of Properties. The wizard searches for any values you enter whenever you tab out of the field or click the magnifying glass icon.
Note: Do not worry on this page about the order of the properties in the Primary Collection list. That will be done on the next page.
Click Next.
On the next page of the wizard (Organization), use the up and down arrow icons to set the order in which properties are to be presented on the form.
Optionally, you can also set these attributes for each property:
Caption

In cases where a translatable string is already assigned to a property, the wizard populates this field with that value. If no value is pre-populated, enter the caption as you want it to appear in the criteria form.

Criteria Type
The wizard offers two ways to filter criteria data: using single values or using ranges of values.
- Use the Range option to display Starting and Ending fields that are used to define the starting and ending values of the data to return and present in the report.
  Use these options to return data that are a subset of all values. The Starting field acts as a >= operator, and the Ending field acts as a <= operator. These operators work with both numeric and alphabetic values.
- Use the Single Value option to display a single edit field for that property, in which you can enter a value to search for and present in the report.
  Note: You cannot use wild cards when filtering for data from a Single Value field. The field must contain the exact value of a record for that property.
Summary Type
The wizard provides a number of options to provide and display aggregate values for data that is returned for a property. Aggregate values are displayed both for groups (when defined) and for all records.
The wizard can display these types of aggregate values:
- Summation: Adds the values of all records retrieved for that property. This option works only with numeric data types.
- Minimum: Shows the minimum value returned for that property. If the value is a string or text value, standard alphanumeric valuation is used.
- Maximum: Shows the maximum value returned for that property. If the value is a string or text value, standard alphanumeric valuation is used.
- Average: Displays the mean average of the values retrieved for that property. This option works only for numeric data types.
- Count: Shows a count of the records where the value of the property is non-null/non-blank. If a property is selected that has a value in every record, this is the same as the record count. But, if the property column contains nulls/blanks, this can be less than the record count.
Click Next.
Optionally, select one or more properties from the Select Group Properties list to group on the report.
When a group is selected, the report output is sorted into subsets of data in which records share a common property value. For example, if you are creating a sales report, and you want to have the data gouped together according to which salesperson made each sale, you might select a property named SalesPersonID.
If you select multiple properties on this page, the data is grouped according the order the properties are arranged on the Organization (previous) page of the wizard. For example, if you selected CustomerName as a second property group, each salesperson's data would be further grouped by customers.
Click Finish.

The wizard creates the runnable report-type form, the criteria form for the report, and the background task for processing and printing the report according to system and report printer settings. When these are done being created, the wizard displays a confirmation message and launches the criteria form. To run the report, enter the desired filter criteria and then click either the Preview icon or the Print icon.