Creating a Report type form (Design Mode)

Note: This topic is for the creation of Report-type forms in Design Mode (Windows client). For the procedure to create these forms in the Web Designer, see Creating a Report type form (Web Designer).
The Report type of form is designed to make it possible for you to create your own custom report-template forms that you can then use to generate your custom reports. Create the report form using the New Form Wizard.
Note: In addition to this form, you should plan to create a second form, called a report criteria form, to allow a user to select report options for, preview, and print the report itself.

To create a report-template type form:

  1. In Design Mode (or the Web Designer), launch the New Form Wizard.
  2. On the first page of the wizard, select the Create a new form option and then click Next.
  3. On the next page, complete these required fields:
    • In the Name field, perform one of these actions:
      • From the drop-down list, select the name of an existing form to use as the basis for the new form.
      • Type a unique name for the new form.
      Note: Because the basic purpose of this form type is to serve as the template for the actual custom report, we recommend that you use a naming convention in which you append the word "Template" to the end of the form name; for example: MyReportReportTemplate, where MyReport is the actual name of the report that will be output.

      Later, then, you should create the report criteria form for users to use and generate the custom report.

    • From the Form Type drop-down list, select Report.
    • From the Data Source drop-down list, select an IDO to use as the primary collection.
  4. Optionally, specify a default Device Type and any comments.

    Comments are stored with the form definition and do not appear anywhere on the actual form.

    Note: The Form Layout setting has no effect on a Report type form.
  5. Click Next.
  6. In the next page of the wizard (Select Properties), specify the properties of the IDO that are to be used in the report generated by the new form.
  7. Optionally, in the next page of the wizard (Properties), specify:
    • The order in which the properties are to be displayed
    • The captions for properties/components
    • What component class, if any, is to be applied to each property/component, along with any parameters to be passed
  8. Click Next.

    The Windows client displays the Select Regions page of the wizard.

  9. In the Select Regions section, select which "boilerplate" regions to include in the report-template form.
  10. Optionally, in the Create Background Task section, create a background task to allow the report to print:
    1. In the Task Name field, provide a descriptive and unique name for the background task.
    2. Optionally, from the Paper Size drop-down list, select the size for the Report-type form.
      Note: The Paper Size field is only enabled when you enter a name in the Task Name field.
  11. In the Set Orientation section, specify whether to use a Portrait orientation or a Landscape orientation for the report form and its published output.
  12. Optionally, in the Select Group Properties section, select which properties to use to group returns.

    For example, suppose you want to group a report on quarterly sales by salesperson. You would select the Salesperson property in this section, and the system would then group the sales figures by salesperson.

    You can select multiple properties to group by. If you do, the system processes the data in the order in which you list them here. To change the order, use the up and down arrows.

    As with other property selection sections, the right panel indicates which properties are to be included.

  13. Click Next.
  14. Optionally, to create a template from the new form, select the Save Template option.
  15. Click Finish.
    The Windows client then creates the form and displays a rough-draft version.
  16. Use Design Mode (or the Web Designer) to finish crafting your report form.
    Note: If you are using the Orientation option Fill: To make it easier to select the FlexLayout component or the contained component, you can right-click the area, select Set Current Selection from the context menu, and then select the desired component from the submenu.

    Whether or not you are using the Fill option, the selected component--whether it is the FlexLayout component or a contained component--is highlighted when it is selected.

You can now modify and customize all regions of your report, replace the corporate logo image with one of your own, and so on. Because the Report type of form is based on the FlexLayout component type, you should be familiar with that component type before attempting to modify your report form.

In addition, you can employ secondary collections and set the hierarchies between them (and the primary collection). To set those hierarchies, use the Parent Collection property on the Collections property sheet.

Note: Once you finish designing your report template, you should create an accompanying report criteria form. Once that form is created, come back to the template form and set up the required associations between the two forms.
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