What's New in R&R
Report Writer Version 9.0
In Version 9 we have
extended the ability in Report Designer to export reports to an e-mail
recipient. The Send via MAPI button in the Report Designer now includes a new
Mail Options button that allows you to divide a report based on group
definitions and then automatically send each section to a different e-mail
address that is specified in the database. Note that bursting is currently
available for HTML, RTF and Text export only.
Auto Send has also been
added as an option for our traditional MAPI support of sending the entire report
to a single recipient. You can now address the mail message prior to export
file creation and have it automatically sent to the mail system when the export
file is complete. No additional user intervention is needed. Auto send is
available for all MAPI exports.
As users become more
involved with R&R, the number of reports they create and manage increases
significantly. Modified versions of reports are saved, often in a variety of
locations, and finding the right report can be particularly difficult at times.
When the data sources
change, including the table and field names, updating reports can be a
substantial problem. Identifying the report contents across reports is a
frustrating search-and-locate process, making this one of the most costly
aspects of updating systems.
Report Librarian is a new
component of R&R that allows report users to coordinate and centralize the
storage and retrieval of report format information. The librarian automatically
keeps track of report changes and provides solid front-end access to a variety
of users to identify, load and run reports. It also lets administrators find all
the uses of a table, field etc. since one can view or report on the key contents
of reports. Report Librarian has been written in MS Visual FoxPro and uses DBF
files and CDX indexes. Since you can launch Report Designer from within Report
Librarian, Librarian becomes the natural port of entry to Report Designer since
it will add on the benefit of cataloging reports based on a specific user.
Quite often when a report
is executed, certain values in the report need to be modified at runtime. One
example is a date range selection that may change each time the report is run.
To address the need for a
more robust method of prompting, in Version 9 we have added a new field type
called a ParameteRR field. A ParameteRR field is a special kind of field
constant that allows you to define a default value/format mask and a validation
rule that will be applied at runtime both within the Report Designer and via the
runtime Report Viewer.
At report execution, a
single ParameteRR Value Entry screen is displayed that contains a selection list
of all available ParameteRR fields for that report. As you scroll through the
ParameteRR list you are presented with the instructions for entry to that field
and can change or accept the current value. Once the prompt selections are
made, pressing the OK button proceeds with the selected print/export/display of
the report.
Nearly any aspect of the
report may be controlled with ParameteRR fields. This allows for a very robust
set of options for building reporting applications without needing to add any
additional external programming.
FlexLink™ Indexing on the
Fly
In order to build table relations in a report you need to have an available
index key for the related table or you are limited to linking based on record
number. Version 9 has added the ability to build a custom index file with a
user defined index key expression. This feature allows you to now build a
relation to virtually any table. You are no longer dependent on an application
developer to provide those indexes for you. And you are not limited to the
world of Xbase.
This feature can be
combined with R&R’s ability to export a report to a DBF file so that you now
have the power to customize both your own tables and indexes. Users of the SQL
version of R&R can now extract data from their database server, save it to DBF
and then access this “SQL” data in Version 9 Xbase using the power of FlexLink.
The Rapid Runner™ utility
program to batch reports is now automatically included with product.
Rapid Runner Features:
-
Quickly create a report set with reports
from any libraries or report files.
-
Set timer to run reports after hours.
-
Easy access to settings of any report in the
set.
-
Run
reports without using an R&R license.
-
Change
settings and run reports without having to edit reports in R&R (and risk
damage).
-
Save time by creating sets of reports that
run together.
-
Copy specific settings to all reports in
set.
-
Change report settings for scope, queries,
export files, printer and more for all reports from one screen.
Rapid Runner has replaced
the Scheduler utility that was shipped with earlier R&R versions. There is not
a conversion utility to convert Scheduler events to Rapid Runner sets.
Colored Bands/Preview
Enabling this choice will
display color coding of the Band Area in the main Designer window and will also
display the same color coding at the left and right sides of the Print Preview
page within Report Designer.
Colored Totals/Groupings
Enabling this choice will
display color coding of the Reset level listing within the New/Edit/Auto Total
dialogs and will also display color coding within the Group order dialog.
Two new page related
functions have been added in Version 9. They are:
LASTPAGE()
Returns total number of
pages in a report. You can finally create Page X of Y reports!
REPORTPAGE()
Returns a sequential page
number as does the current PAGE() function. However, REPORTPAGE() will not
re-start numbering when Reset page is enabled at a group level. It will always
represent the sequential page number for the entire report.
The Database Relations
dialog has been redesigned with new graphic elements to simplify and direct the
process of linking tables. The options button has been removed so that all
relation options can now be selected from a single screen. Support for the new
FlexLink indexing has been added to this screen. There is now a checkbox to
select a FlexLink index for a related table and an Edit Key button that is
enabled when the FlexLink box is checked. The Edit Key button brings you to a
dialog where you can create the User Index Expression. The dialog contains a
drop down list of fields from the related table and a listing of available
functions that can be used within the FlexLink user index.
The Result Set Browser
Window now allows for immediate drill-down, sorting and grouping based on any
displayed field. You can right-click on a column heading to display a menu that
allows you to either sort or group on the selected column. The grouping option
allows you to contract your result set so that just one record per unique group
value is displayed. There is also a new button to revert the table back to its
original state. The Save button in the Result Set Browser allows you to export
your result set directly to a Microsoft Excel 5 workbook or an Xbase database.
Support has been added for
dBase7.5 tables for the following field types:
Character
Logical Double
Date
Memo Autoincrement
Numeric
Long Float
Note that dBase7.x tables
cannot be used with FlexLink indexing in the current release.
To facilitate common tasks,
new buttons have been added to the standard toolbar.
File->Export
Calculations->ParameteRR Field
We have also added an
additional button to the Formatting Toolbar.
View Field Names
At the request of many
users, we have included an R&R PDF printer driver with Version 9. With this
driver you can “print” the fully formatted output of your report to PDF file.
This PDF file can then be
read using any PDF viewing program such as the Abode Acrobat Reader (which is
also included with R&R in the PDFDOCS directory of the distribution CD.) The
R&R PDF driver is only available for use within R&R. Each time you run the
Report Designer, the driver is installed for internal use and then removed when
you exit the program.
To create a PDF file within
R&R, select File Print and then from the printer menu select R&R PDF Export.
Then check the Print to File checkbox and enter a file name with the extension
.PDF in the Print File text box. When you click ok, R&R will create the PDF
file.
The R&R PDF driver can also
be used within the Report Viewer by explicitly setting RI_WPTR to R&R PDF Export
and RI_OUTFILE to a filename.PDF. Note that you cannot prompt the user at
runtime to select the PDF driver by using an RI_PRINTER=? value.
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