Changing report criteria & headings on the fly

[Les]

I have a report which is used in several ways, i.e. inventory as of the date it is run, as of a prior date, with or without certain accounts included.

Currently, I have these versions hard coded but I would like to be able to do the following:

Have the user change the date or account filter as needed, filter by those criteria and change the report heading to show what this report's criteria are. I don't want to show the criteria as an SQL statement but rather in a plain language format like "as of Feb 2009".

Is there a way to do this?

[MikeC]

Re: Changing report criteria & headings on the fly

Yes.


The way to do so depends upon how and where you are calling the report.

From a form, a browse, a script. From what event if any.

Generically, you would use variables that are set prior and then use them in the report filter parameters.

[Les]

Re: Changing report criteria & headings on the fly

Mike,

These reports are called from buttons on a form. The button opens a menu which calls the appropriate report.

I have gotten some of what I need to work but I can't figure out how to get headings to change. I do pass some parameters to the reports via the menus so I have gotten started but I can't seem to find a way to do the headings.

Les

[MikeC]

Re: Changing report criteria & headings on the fly

Les,
A sample with instructions please. A heading can mean more than one thing....But regardless, a global variable set on the form that has the button that calls the report can be set to the Heading value you want and when this global variable is placed on a report as your heading its value will be whatever you set it to be.....

[John Gamble]

Re: Changing report criteria & headings on the fly

Les

You might try opening an x-dialog just prior to printing. Use the same button as present, preceded by the x-dialog.

In my system, I Initialize all the variables at startup, then load them using x-dialog. The subequent reports are then governed by the users selections.

See attached pict.

John

[MikeC]

Re: Changing report criteria & headings on the fly

As John says all can be done prior to opening up the report via xdialog or even just a form such as this screenshot. In the report shown is what I deem a report's header and this is based upon a global variable set within the autoexec script for the database which gets its values for the concatenation from a Preferences table I have that a user can modify.

[Les]

Re: Changing report criteria & headings on the fly

I do the following: There are two buttons, Inventory and Inventory by Period (these could be just one button).
When pressed, each plays a script which shows a selection menu for the report desired.
Depending on the choice, another script is called which includes additional parameter entry and the appropriate filter for that selection.

The scripts at button press time are Xbasic and the second level were all done with Action Scripting.

This is the Inventory button script:
menu = <<%str%
Active Accounts
Selected Accounts|All
Selected Accounts|Closed
Selected Accounts|Members
Selected Accounts|-
%str%

result = ui_popup_menu(menu)

if result = "Active Accounts" then
script_play("print_inventory_active")
else if result = "All" then
report.preview("Inventory")
else if result = "Closed" then
script_play("print_inventory_closed")
else if result = "Members" then
script_play("print_inventory_members")
end if

Print_inventory_active, print_inventory_closed and print_inventory_members are Action Scripts. In the case of "All" the report is called directly. Here is the Xbasic generated by print_inventory_active:

'Preview inventory report for active accounts

query.filter = " (Closed = .f. ) .AND. (Silent_key = .f. ) .AND. (Member = .f. )"

query.order = "Suffix+Prefix"



'Prompt user whether to print, or preview the layout. Set default to Preview
prompt_result = ui_get_print_or_preview("Preview ")
If prompt_result = "Print" then

:Report.Print("Inventory",query.filter,query.order)

Else if prompt_result = "Preview" then
:Report.Preview("Inventory",query.filter,query.order)
End if

These report variations need some refinement but generally seem to work.

Now the problem is getting some text into the report page headings detailing what this report is showing.

Les

[Keith Hubert]

Re: Changing report criteria &amp; headings on the fly

Hi Les,

In the report Header have a Conditional object. Each layer can have the text you want according to the value of the variable called Result.

This is the variable as in "if result = "Active Accounts" then".

Set this up as global, once it is run it will be available in design mode.

[MikeC]

Re: Changing report criteria &amp; headings on the fly

Les,
Keith brings yet another way to use global variables ....you need to decide which you want to do and proceed or ask questions regarding the chosen method. I think Keith has figured out what you are referring to in regard to your term "Header", but other guesses could be correct as well! :)