Reporting in HTML

You can share your iBase reports using your organization’s intranet, or the internet. To do this, you need to have your data in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) format.

You can specify some limited formatting of the report data using the options available in the report definition.

If your report includes pictures, they are associated with the report using links; to make the report viewable on other computers (portable) you need to save the report using Internet Explorer, while iBase is still open, to establish the links correctly.
Note: To take full advantage of the features of HTML, you will need to understand how to work with HTML using a specialist HTML editor or a text editor such as Notepad.

Creating a Report for the Web

  1. On the first page of the report wizard, enter the details of the report in the usual way.
  2. Click Next to display the second page and, in the Output to area, select Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and then specify a file name and location.
  3. Click Finish.
  4. Click Close to close the Report Viewer, and Close to close the wizard. Do not close iBase at this stage.

You have created an HTML file containing an iBase report, and any icons and pictures have also been saved as separate graphic files. Using a text editor, or any specialist HTML editor, you can now add text and formatting using all the options that are available in HTML.

Note: To view any icons in the report, you must view the report on a machine on which iBase is installed. You cannot view any pictures. To establish links between the HTML file, the icons, and the pictures follow the steps below.

Making sure that icons and pictures remain linked to the HTML file

If you want to make your HTML file portable, such that links are established to the icons and pictures referenced in the HTML file, you need to save the file in your browser before you exit from iBase. Continuing from the previous steps:
  1. Find the HTML file and open it using a web browser.
  2. Select File > Save As and specify a new path - you must save the file in a different folder in order to resolve the links.
  3. Close your web browser.
  4. You may now close iBase if you wish.
You have created a file with all the linked graphics in a separate folder (named after the name of the HTML file). To move or copy the file, you must also move or copy the folder containing the graphics.