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Report Designer
Overview
EZScale's Report Designer provides unique ad-hoc capabilities that allow you to create custom reports or to customize existing reports. You can easily modify the report structure and its format by changing the data source, adding and removing fields, grouping and sorting the data, adding aggregate functions, and changing fonts, colors, spacing, formats, and so on.
This section explains how to use the Report Designer to create, format, and save report definitions. Click here for a tutorial using the Report Designer.
VRD Files
Reports designed and saved using the Report Designer are saved to files with a default extension of .VRD. VRD files may be saved anywhere, but we recommend that you save them in the \DATA directory under the EZScale installation directory. Because VRD files contain all the information necessary to generate a report, you can design a report on one computer and then copy the VRD file to another.
Interface
The Report Designer's user interface has three windows:
Window Description
Main Window This window contains the Report Designer's menu, toolbars, Design and Preview areas.
Layout Window This floating window allows the user to select a record source and to move available fields into or out of the Group and Detail lists.
Settings Window This tabbed dialog window allows the user to customize the report by setting properties for the entire report, for each field and for each style.
The Main Window contains the Report Designer's menu, toolbars, Design and Preview areas. From this window you may invoke the Layout and Settings windows.
This is how the Report Designer's Main Window looks with a sample report displayed.
Note that the Report Designer has it's own menu system that replaces EZScale's normal menu. The Report Designer's menus and tool bars change depending on whether you are in design mode or report mode.
Menus and Toolbars
This section describes the Report Designer's menus and toolbars.
Menu / Tool Description
File
New 
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Clears the existing report and prompts the user for a data source for creating
a new report.
Open 
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Opens a report definition file (VRD).
Save 
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Saves the current report. The default extension for Report Designer definition
files is .VRD
Save As· Saves the current report with a new name.
Open Database·· Opens a data source to use for creating a new report.
Printer Setup Shows a standard printer setup dialog.
Page Setup Shows a standard page setup dialog.
Print 
Prints the current report on the printer.
Exit Closes the Report Designer.
View
Designer Selects the Design tab. When the Design tab is selected, you may:
1) Double click on a field to bring up its style properties.
2) Double click on a field heading to bring up the field's properties.
Print Preview Selects the Preview tab. When the Design tab is selected, you may use the navigation bar at the bottom of the window to flip pages and adjust the zoom factor. This quick preview only displays the first 250 records from the database. The full report is generated only when you print the report or close the main window.
Toolbar Hides or shows the toolbar.
Layout 
Shows the Layout window. See details below.
Settings 
Shows the Settings window. See details below.
Options
Reload Database 
Regenerates the report with fresh data from the data source.
Fit to Page 
Adjusts field widths so the report fits the width of a page.
Save as Default 
Saves the current styles as the default for new reports.
The Layout Window defines the structure of the report. It allows you to select the record source from where the report data comes, by which fields to group the data, and which fields to include in the report body.
This is how the Report Designer's Layout Window looks with the Tickets Query table selected.
The pin at the upper left corner of the window allows you to stick this window to the top of the others. This is a toggle: Click once to pin the window to the top, and click again to unpin it.
The combo box at the top contains a list of all the record sources available (tables and queries defined in the data source). When you select a new record source from the list, the report is cleared and you may start designing a new one.
The Fields list contains all the fields available in the current record source. To create the report, drag fields from this list to the Groups or Details lists. This list is sorted alphabetically.
The Groups list contains the fields that will be used for grouping the data on the report. For example, to create a report showing sales by Region and by Product, you would drag these two fields into the Groups list. You may remove fields from this list by dragging them back into the Fields list. You may also reorder the fields by dragging them into the desired position (higher or lower in the list).
The Details list contains the fields that will appear on the body of the report. There must be at least one field on this list, or no report will be generated. You may remove fields from this list by dragging them back into the Fields list. You may also reorder the fields by dragging them into the desired position.
The Settings Window is a tabbed dialog with four tabs. The table below lists each tab by its title and function:
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Tab |
Description |
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Sets the text for the Report Title, headers, and footers. | |
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Sets properties for each field in the report. Field properties include a field title, format, alignment, sort order, and aggregate function. | |
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Sets properties for the entire report. Report properties include subtotal position, page borders, margins, orientation, number of columns, as well as line- and page-break settings. | |
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Set parameters that apply to the entire report such as page layout, borders, and subtotals. |
The list on the left allows you to select which element you want to define. You may select Report title, headers, or footers.
The Style >> button is a shortcut that switches to the Styles tab so you can set the font, color, and spacing for the text on which you are working.
The Special button allows you to insert special tags into the string being edited. When the report is generated, the tags are translated into report information. The table below lists the available tags:
Tag Meaning Example
<p> Page number
<n> Page count
<line> Line break
<db> Database name EZScale000.mdb
<rs> Record source Invoices
<rf> Report file INVOICES.VRD
<d> Short date 3/10/99
<dd> Medium date 10-Mar-99
<ddd> Long date Wednesday, March 10, 1999
<t> Short time 13:27
<tt> Medium time 01:27 PM
<ttt> Long time 01:27:32 PM
The list on the left allows you to select the field on which you want to work.
You may activate this dialog and automatically select a field by double-clicking the field headers displayed on the Design area.
Each field has the following properties:
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Property |
Description |
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Title |
The field title appears on the report above each block of data, and at the top of each page.
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Format |
Defines the numeric format for the field. Pick a setting from the drop-down list or type in your own. Use pound signs as placeholders for digits and a period to mark the position of the decimal point. For example, the format "#.###" would cause all values to be printed with three digits to the right of the decimal. |
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Alignment |
By default, numeric fields are right-aligned and other fields are left-aligned.
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Sorting |
By default, all fields are sorted in Ascending order. You may override the default by picking (none), Ascending, or Descending order from the drop-down list. When the report is generated, fields are sorted from left to right, according to the order specified. Set the Sorting property to (none) if you want the field to be ignored when sorting. |
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Total As |
This property defines an aggregate function for the field. The aggregate function is calculated for each grouping level and its value is displayed in the headings. Available settings are (none), Sum, Percent, Count, Average, Max, Min, and Standard Deviation. The aggregate is displayed using the same Format used to display the field data, described above. Use the "Subtotal Position" field on the General tab to select whether the aggregates are displayed at the top, bottom, or on both positions. |
The list on the left allows you to select the style on which you want to work. The number and names of the styles are the same for every report (although some reports may not use all styles).
You may activate this dialog and automatically select a style by double clicking the body of the report on the Design area.
Each field has the following properties:
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Property |
Description |
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Preview |
This area shows how the current settings look. |
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Font... |
Brings up a standard-font dialog that allows you to select the font name, size, effects, and color used by the style. |
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Back Color |
Brings up a standard-color dialog that allows you to select the background color. |
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Border Color |
These combo boxes allow you to select the amount of spacing to leave before and after each record displayed using the current style |
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Spacing |
These combo boxes allow you to select the amount of space between the printed lines of the report. |
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Borders |
These combo boxes allow you to select the thickness of the borders to be drawn above and below each record displayed using the current style. |
This tab allows you to set parameters that apply to the entire report.
There are three main groups of properties you may customize:
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Property |
Description |
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Subtotal Position |
This property determines whether aggregate functions (e.g. subtotals) are displayed above, below, or above
and below each group heading.
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Page/Printer |
Allows you to select the type of borders to be drawn around each page and the number of columns. It also has buttons that activate standard dialogs for selecting and configuring the page layout and the printer. |
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Line/Page Breaks |
Allows you to control whether the report should avoid widows and orphans (headings separated from detail
data by a page break), whether word wrapping is allowed, and a maximum row height.
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