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Reportsfor fixed forms

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    Reportsfor fixed forms

    I am used to working with dBase-III, (no comments please) where you can specifically address the placement of text and variables on a page with code such as "@2,4 say variable_name" (which means at line 2, 4 characters over, place the variable). How do you do this in A5V10? Can you see and edit the report code? If so, how do you get to it?

    I am designing a report to be used with a fixed form (HCFA 1500). The top of the form, which is fixed, displays demographic info such as name, address, dob, ins. id., etc. The middle of the form allows up to 6 optional line entries for services provided, and the bottom of the form, at a fixed place on the form, displays provider information. My question is, how do you keep the information placed correctly when, say, you only have 1 entry for services. In other words, how do set up a fixed form? Specific code or examples would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

    #2
    Re: Reportsfor fixed forms

    Steven,

    Alpha Five reports are designed visually. The report specifications are not accessible to the programmer. Check the Chapter on Reports in the alpha Five User's Guide to learn more about using the report designer.

    If you need character by character control (as I think maybe you might) you may find yourself writing the code necessary to create and save a text file that could then be dumped to a printer. This approach does not use the built in Alpha Five report engine at all. Instead you build the text document one line at a time, then save it to disk, then print it. Check the help file topic "File Functions and Methods" to find the functions you'll need, including <file>.write_line().

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Reportsfor fixed forms

      Hi Steven,

      I think this is what you are looking for, see thumbnail.
      Regards
      Keith Hubert
      Alpha Guild Member
      London.
      KHDB Management Systems
      Skype = keith.hubert


      For your day-to-day Needs, you Need an Alpha Database!

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Reportsfor fixed forms

        Tom,
        That sounds like what I'm looking for. Is there a code example of a report written this way? I've check the help file. However, looking at individual functions, especially when I'm not that familiar with xbasic, is more frustrating than helpful. Any suggestions?

        Thanks.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Reportsfor fixed forms

          Keith,
          No thumbnail attached, or did I miss something?

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Reportsfor fixed forms

            Steven,

            Yes you missed something. I can see it.

            There is no code for it. Right mouse click on the bar Report Footer and the dialog box opens.
            Regards
            Keith Hubert
            Alpha Guild Member
            London.
            KHDB Management Systems
            Skype = keith.hubert


            For your day-to-day Needs, you Need an Alpha Database!

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Reportsfor fixed forms

              My question is, how do you keep the information placed correctly when, say, you only have 1 entry for services.
              Alpha's report writer will do what you want without having to worry about @ r, c, but the approach depends on your data layout.

              Normally, the 6 optional lines of HCFA service codes would be the "detail band" of a report (ie, the line item records). The provider info would be in a table linked to these line items in a set. That makes the report design more complicated.

              Since you only have 6 line items, consider designing your table where each record represents 1 HCFA form, and each record contains the provider information plus the 6 line items as:

              Service_1_HCFACode
              Service_1_Desc
              Service_1_Price
              Service_2_HCFACode
              Service_2_Desc
              ...

              That makes report layout a breeze, because you simply turn off the detail section of the report (Report->Properties->Band->Report Properties...uncheck Has detail section). That makes the entire page your workspace to precisely position each of the table fields.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Reportsfor fixed forms

                After thinking about this more, my first advice was backwards based on the table layout I described.

                What you really want to do is create a report that either:

                a) has only a detail section as shown in the attached image, where you expand the detail section to be your page height less your top and bottom margins; that way you end up with a blank "canvas" for each record, or

                b) has a tall detail section (as described above) plus a grouping, where the grouping is some field that changes record to record, such as a transaction ID; then you set each group to start on a new page.

                Comment

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