Report Definitions
Completing the Report Viewer tab

Use the Report Viewer tab to set general options for controlling the appearance of the report in the Report Viewer, such as the title, header, and group heading sections. Also, manage how users interact with this report in the Report Viewer, including

• Whether the Report Viewer includes an Actions menu, and which commands are available
• Whether and how users can modify report filters
• Whether users can access the column header command menu to delete and reformat column values
• Whether and how users can drill down to detailed information in summarized reports

Report header

You can customize the way the header for all of the reports for your application displays by overriding the pyReportEditorHeader section, an extension point. Save a copy of this section to your application's ruleset, and edit the information, images, and layout of the section. Each of the reports automatically use the updated section as the header.

• Report Title - Enter the title of the report. The title displays at the top of the Report Viewer.
• Header Display - Optional. Available for list reports only. Select an option to control what information displays in column headings:
  • Column headings only (default)
  • Column headings and summary/sort options
  • Summary/sort options only
  • Hide column headings

If you select Hide Column Headings, the column command menu is not available.

• Do not scroll header - Optional. Select the check box to keep the column headings in view as the user scrolls through a long report page.
• Display filters using custom section - Optional. Select this check box to replace the default Filters display with a custom section. The custom section can include basic controls, and the controls can only provide values for the filter functions set in the Edit filters section of the Query tab.
  
  When the check box is selected, the following fields display:
  • Class Name: Provide the Applies To class of the custom section.
  • Name: Select the section using SmartPrompt, or click the edit icon to the right of the field to name and configure a new section.
  • Prefix: Provide a unique text string to identify properties in the section. Use the same string to create a unique clipboard page to hold the submitted values on the Pages & Classes tab.
• Display custom section inline - If you select the previous option, this option is available. Select the check box to include the custom filter section at the top of the tab displaying the report. If this option is not selected, the default behavior opens the custom section in a pop-up window when you click the Filters link.

Report body

• Display actual data while editing report- Optional. Select to display actual, rather than simulated, data for the report when the report opens in the Report Editor. The Report Editor provides the option to edit a report while viewing either actual or simulated data. This option is useful to avoid repeated queries of the database while the report is being edited, and also for development environments in which there is limited data for the class on which the report is defined.
• Display rows using custom section - Optional. Available only for list reports. Select to replace the default display for each row of a report with a custom section. A field opens where you can select the section. Select the edit icon to create a new custom section.
  
  Sections used for this purpose can have simple controls such as text fields, but cannot use complex controls such as grids or trees.
  
  Test any custom sections you that use for displaying rows. You might get unexpected results as the report definition tries to populate a section that does not account for all the properties it displays.
  
  Nested sections might not render properly when used as custom sections. When a window is resized, the width of the custom section does not automatically resize. Design the custom section to fit into the smallest display size that is possible.

Grouping

• Do not display group headings - Optional. Only available for summarized reports. Select to not show group headings in the report display. This results in a spreadsheet-style display with no subtotals, subaverages, or similar values.
  
  When you select this option, the user can sort the report in any way. When group headings are shown, there are restrictions on how results can be sorted. The first n-1 GROUP BY columns in a summarized report must also be the first columns in the sort order.
• Group results and display values in sort columns 1- N as group headings - Optional. Only available for list reports. Select this check box to group report data by one or more of the sort columns for the report (that is, those columns that have sort order values in the Edit columns section of the Query tab). When you select this option, you are prompted for which of the sort columns to display in the group headings. You can select 1 through N of these (where N is the number of sort columns in the report). Groups always consist of the values in the selected columns, in sort order.
• Group results when exporting to Excel - Optional. This check box is available only when you select the previous check box. When this option is selected, the grouping you select in the Report Viewer also displays in the report when it is exported to Excel.
  
  Using this option disables filtering in Excel for this report. Do not use this option if you need to filter data in the report after it is exported to Excel.
• Display groups using custom section - Optional. Available only for list reports in which the Group results option is selected.
  
  Select to replace the default display for each group with a custom section. A field displays where you can select the section. Select the edit icon to create a custom section.
  
  Sections used for this purpose can have simple controls such as text fields, but cannot use complex controls such as grids or trees.
  
  Test the custom sections that you use for displaying groups. You might get unexpected results as the report definition tries to populate a section that does not account for all the properties it displays.
  
  Nested sections might not render properly when used as custom sections. When a window is resized, the width of the custom section does not automatically resize. Design the custom section to fit into the smallest display size that is possible.

User actions

• Display in Report Browser - Optional. Select to have a shortcut to this report created and listed in the Report Browser. When this check box is selected, a field displays where you specify the Category for the report shortcut.
  
  This check box operates as a one-way control:
  • If the check box is selected and a category is selected when you save the rule, the system creates a report shortcut in that category, if one does not already exist.
  • If you later clear the check box and save the rule again, the system does not remove the report shortcut in the Report Browser.
  • If you change the category selection and save the rule, the system creates a report shortcut in the newly selected category, without removing the report shortcut from the previously selected category.

  To remove a report shortcut from the Report Browser, open the Report Browser, right-click the report shortcut, and click the Delete button.

• Prompt for filter changes before displaying report - Optional. Select this check box to have the system prompt the user running a report for changes to the filters before the report displays. The options that are available depend on how the report filters were configured in the Report Viewer optionsfield on the Query tab.
  • Filters configured as Filter not visible in viewer are not displayed.
  • Filters configured as Read only, allow no changes cannot be changed or deleted.
  • Filters configured as Allow changes to values only can be changed.
  • Filters configured as Allow any changes can be changed or deleted.
• Display report filters - Selected by default. Clear this selection to hide report filters.
• Enable filter changes - Optional. This check box is displayed when Display report filters is selected. Select this check box to allow users running the report to change those filter conditions for which changes are allowed in the Edit filters section of the Query tab. When this is not selected, the user cannot change any filters on the report in the Report Viewer.
• Enable column command menu - Optional. Select this check box to allow users to make changes to a report in the Report Viewer by using one of the commands that in the column header menu to delete, relabel, or reformat the data values in the column.
• Enable actions - Optional. Select this check box to include an Actions menu in the Report Viewer. Click the Options button to enable or disable specific commands:
  • Summarize
  • List
  • Print
  • Export to Excel
  • Export to PDF
  • Save
  • Save As
• Disable drill down - Optional. Available only for summarized reports. Select this check box to disable users from clicking on any row or cell to drill down to a detailed list of the instances included in the row or cell.
  
  When this option is not selected, the report used for displaying the drill-down results displays in the Custom drilldown report field. You can change the entry to a report of your choice, or click the icon beside the field to create a new report. The default report used for displaying drill down results is the pyDefaultReport template for list reports for the Applies To class of the report.
• Note: If the report you select for drill down is in a ruleset that is higher in the ruleset stack for the application than the ruleset of the main report, the selected subreport is not available to the main report. In this case, the main report would use pyDefaultReport.
  
  When drill-down results are shown, the filter conditions in the summarized report (together with conditions that represent the row or cell clicked on) override those in the custom drill down report, and no parameter values are passed to the drill down report.
• Enable paging - Optional. Available only for list reports. Select this check box to display report results as a series of pages, each containing a fixed number of rows. If not selected, all results display on a single page.
  
  Paging is enabled by default, because a list report might contain many rows of data, which can cause poor performance when trying to display the entire result set at once.
  
  As a best practice, enable paging for worklists and for other lists that users need to scan only until they find a row of interest. However, for maximum user productivity, design filter conditions to eliminate the need for user paging, or to present as few pages as possible when paging is unavoidable.
  
  Paging causes the system to retrieve only enough data at a time to populate the number of rows entered for the Page Size property, improving response time and reducing the size of the clipboard. At run time, users might see the busy indicator while waiting for a paging operation to complete.
  
  When paging is enabled, click the Options button to enter settings that control how paging operates:
  • Page size: The number of rows displayed on each page.
  • Page mode: Controls how pages are selected.
    • Numeric — A set of numeric links appears. (This is the default mode.)
    • Next/Previous — Next and Previous buttons appear and the user can click them to move from a page to the next or previous page, in order.
    • Drop-Down — A drop-down list of page numbers appears, enabling the user to select any page to move to at any time.
  • Page navigation alignment: Controls whether the controls to navigate pages, described in the Page mode option above, appear on the left, center, or right of the paging bar.
  • Paging bar position: Controls whether the paging bar containing the controls to navigate pages, described in the Page mode option above,appears above or below the report, or both above and below it.
• Enable SmartInfo - Optional. Available only for list reports. Select this check box to add a SmartInfo icon to each row of the report that displays additional information about that row.
  
  When this option is selected, click the Options button to enter settings that control how SmartInfo operates:
  • Header: Enter the header to display for the SmartInfo pop-up window.
  • Content: Select the appropriate activity for the enabled SmartInfo, or click the edit icon to create a new activity. This activity must take one parameter, the pzInsKey of the selected row, and return the output of a section.

Property Security rules

You can create a property security rule, which requires operators to have a privilege to view, create, or receive a report that references secured properties. You specify the class of the secured property, the property name, and the privilege required. The Report Browser enforces the privilege requirement at the class specified.

Related Information

Open topic with navigation