Producing reports

You can produce a report on entities and links in the database. Before you can produce a report, you might need to define its contents and appearance in a report definition.

About this task

When you produce the report, you specify the scope of the report and how the report is output. You can also define sets or queries first if you want to report on specific records, rather than on all records in the database. The available output formats for reports are:

Standard Report

Produces the report as a PDF document that opens in your PDF viewer.

Note: The PDF is a temporary file, it has no specified save location.

Microsoft Access

The report is saved in a Microsoft™ Access database.

Using this format, you can create reports for several different entity types, and then combine them in Access. Each iBase report creates a new table in Access; you need to use some of the facilities in Access to make your report more usable.

  • Update existing databases

    Turn on Update existing database to update an existing Microsoft Access report (.mdb) file rather than create a new database. Browse for the existing database file. If you select this option, when you click Finish you can either:

    • Refresh the data in the selected Microsoft Access report database with that generated by the report

      The selected report database must contain all the necessary fields and tables for the report definition.

    • Extend the Microsoft Access report database to include the report data

      This option adds tables to the selected report database to generate reports that contain different but related data in a single report database.

Microsoft Word

The report is saved in a Microsoft Word document. The following options are applicable:

  • Open report when complete

    Turn on to direct the document to open as soon as it is generated.

  • Use Styles in this template

    To use the styles in a Microsoft Word document rather than the fonts defined in the report definition, turn on Use Styles in this template, and select a document from the list. When this checkbox is turned off, the report uses the formatting that is specified in the report definition.

  • Use template content to define report style

    If you specify a Microsoft Word document or template, you can also turn on Use template content to define report style to apply the sections and table layouts in the template to the report.

Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)

The report is saved as an HTML file (.htm file) and can be viewed in a web browser. It is also displayed in the iBase report viewer (but the viewer displays the path to the graphics file instead of the actual picture).

Rich Text Format (RTF)

The report is saved as a rich text format file (.rtf file). It can be displayed in the iBase report viewer, where you can print it or copy pages.

Note: This format includes icons but not pictures.

Procedure

  1. Open the Report wizard:

    • In the toolbar, click Create Report.

    • In the Database Explorer, right-click an entity type, and from the menu, select Report.

    • In a record list, right-click a record, and from the menu, select Create Report.

  2. Select the report definition and the data:

    • Select a report definition from the list. Some details of the report definition are displayed below the list:

      • The name of the main entity type, the subject of the report (you can only report on one entity type at a time)

      • Whether this is the default report definition for the main entity type

      • The number of link types included in the report definition (if any)

    • In the Source area, specify which main entity records you want to report on:

      • All records to report on all records for the main entity type.

      • Single Record to report on a single record

      • Query to report on the results of a selected query. You can apply query conditions and then filter the linked items. For example, your query links Accounts to People with an "Account Holder" link. Set a condition on the query that Person First Name starts with J. When you run the report with Filter linked items using query checked, only links that meet the condition are reported. You can uncheck the option to report any links associated with the main entity type.

        Note: You can only select from queries that output records of the main entity type.

      • Set to report on the records that are contained by a set, which you select. If you turn on Only linked items contained within the set, then those items are reported. Other items linked to the main entity type are not reported, unless they have already been added to the set. For example, if your set contains 5 people and you are reporting on people linked to accounts, the accounts are not reported unless they are part of the set.

        Note: You can only select from sets that contain records for the main entity type.

    • Click Next to continue.

  3. Specify the title and output format:

    • The Report Title displays the default title as defined in the report definition.

    • Select the output format and enter a path and file name.

  4. Click Finish to generate the report.