What’s New in R&R Version 8.1
 

New Functions

NOW()

The NOW() function was added to return the date and time the report was started.  This provides the date and time in a single field of type date-time making it easier to manipulate.

PERCOMP()

The PERCOMP(expression) function was added to help correctly evaluate calculations in some multiple-scan reports.  The problem occurs when a report includes a query and has an “unbalanced multiple-scan tree” situation (e.g., master file A scans B, C, and D and scanned file D itself scans file E).  In such a situation, a query expression involving fields from files B, C, and E might not be evaluated as frequently as necessary.  If you need to evaluate the expression once per composite record, you can create a calculated field that passes the expression to the PERCOMP() function.

Charting Enhancements

Various enhancements make it easier to customize the appearance of a chart including:

The font type can be set for the chart title, axis titles, labels and legends.

The size of each font is also adjustable.

Pie chart labels can now: 

-    Be set to a percent of the whole. 
-    Have color changes applied.
-    Have lines removed from the pie slice to the label. 
-    Have labels omitted from the pie chart.

Grid lines are retained correctly and the legend is updated in the dialog example when selected or deselected.   

Notes:

R&R Report Writer Version 8.0 will not read reports created with Version 8.1 if they contain charts.

There is more control over font type and size but the charting feature will continue to omit titles and labels when the chart is too full and/or the window is too small to allow them.

The charting feature only accepts non-symbol TrueType fonts.  The list of fonts available to a chart is therefore a subset of fonts on the client machine.

Result Set Browser

A new option on the Database menu, View Result Set, provides a way to view the source of all the data presented and used in the report.   This feature will help troubleshoot complex relations, sorting, calculations and totals.  A button on the toolbar provides a shortcut to this feature.  The new Export Result Set feature enables you to save the result set to a DBF file for further use.

Designer Enhancements

Two new buttons have been added to the tool bar to toggle the “Suppress Record Lines” and “Compress Record/Group Lines” record layout options.  This makes it easier to turn hide/show detail information.

Bands are now color coded to provide a visual aid during report development.  The Preferences option on the Options menu provides a checkbox for turning on/off this feature.  In future versions, color coding will be extended to print preview and result set browser to reduce the learning curve.

The right margin is now reflected in the report layout by shading the area to the right of the margin, similar to other Windows applications.  This makes it easier to place objects near the right margin.

Scrolling speed has been throttled to make it easier to move and size fields.

Blank Reports now include 5 page header lines, 1 record line, and 2 page footer lines.  In addition, predefined fields for master table name, date, time, page number, record number, query expression and report name are included.  This option increases productivity when creating new reports.

Instant reports now include pre-defined fields for query expression and report name.  They are not inserted onto the report, but are available if you want to insert them.

Export Enhancements

A new Export format, Result Set, will export the entire result set, as in the new Database View Result Set feature, but into a named file for permanent storage.  This can be useful for creating subsequent reports on the data used to construct a report, or for supporting remote end-users.

All export dialogs now have a browse button (labeled “…”) that opens a common file dialog to aid in the selection of a destination directory and file.