About the Report Builder wizard

The Report Builder wizard is used to create a runnable report-type form and associated criteria filter form in Runtime Mode. This allows authorized users to generate these reports without the need to use the Web Designer (in the web client) or Design Mode (in the Windows client).

The Report Builder wizard is a Runtime Builder form. This means that, to use it, you must be authorized to use Runtime Builder forms.

When run, the Report Builder wizard first prompts you for basic information about the form names/captions, layout, and source of data. Next, the wizard prompts you for the properties to be used in the report output. On the third page, the wizard prompts you to define the order in which those properties are displayed, the captions to be used as labels for those properties, and how the criteria form should select the data for the report. Finally, the wizard provides the opportunity to optionally select one or more properties by which to group the data in the report output.

When you click Finish to create the report-type form and the criteria form, the wizard creates the forms and displays the criteria form. You can now use that form to provide filter criteria and process the report.

If you want, you can also preview the report output before actually processing it, by clicking the Preview icon at the far right side of the criteria form title bar. To actually print the report, then, click the Print icon next to the Preview icon.

When you actually process and print the report, you typically do not see the actual report-type form until the report is actually processed and printed. That is because the report-type form is basically just a template used to filter the data and generate the actual report.

However, if you want, you can use the Web Designer/Design Mode to further modify or refine your report-type form (template), as well as the criteria form.