The Report Options selector pane controls how the report will be output. The following options are available:
This outputs the report to a report viewer. By default, reports will be previewed to the standard Data-Basics Report viewer; you can page through the report, and then print all or part of it.
To output the report to HTML or Text, click the Preview Report option and the following fields will appear:
Preview Report As: DBReport HTML Text
By default, reports will be previewed to the standard DBReport viewer; you can page through the report, and then print all or part of it.
If you select HTML (by double-clicking on the adjacent radio button) and Report Anywhere is enabled, the report will display on your Internet Explorer Browser. To use this option, top, bottom and side margins should be set to .5" in the print option of your browser.
If you select Text (by double-clicking the adjacent button) the report will be displayed as text within a Workspace viewer. You can edit the report directly from the Workspace viewer, save it as a text file for use with your word processing software, or cut and copy all or part of it to the clipboard.
OK Cancel
Click OK to save your Preview selection and return to the Range listing. Click Cancel to return to the Range listing without changing the Preview selection.
This option sends the report directly to the printer without displaying the preview.
If ReportAnywhere is implemented on your system (and the Scheduled Report Manager service is running) you will be able to schedule your report to run automatically and be e-mailed to the recipients of your choice, output to a specific printer, or saved as an encrypted Data-Basics report for later review.
Relative Dates
One of the key concepts in report scheduling is that of the relative date, which we introduce here. Suppose that we want to run the AR Aging report at one in the morning on the 1st and 16th of each month, and email the report to all members of the user group Admin. The Aging Date that the report should use when it is run is yesterday (either the last day of the month or the 15th). Therefore, the Aging Date is relative to the date the report is actually run. Click Custom Date Strategies for detail information.
Related Records
When you use ReportAnywhere to schedule report distribution to users, the system will check the Email Address in the User record. If you will be distributing your reports via e-mail, a registry entry specifying your e-mail server must be made.
To schedule a report:
1. Access the Report Range screen of the report that you wish to schedule.
2. Complete any of the range and selection fields you wish to specify for the automatic report generation.
3. If you want the report generation to be repeated, right-click any Date settings to enter a relative date.
Click Custom Date Strategies for detailed information.
4. When the report is run, the system will set the Date relative to the date that it runs using the strategy that you select.
5. Click the Schedule Report option.
6. Enter the Run Date and Time as follows:
Description
This description will appear on the list of Scheduled Events and the Data-Basics Report viewer.
Run Date
Enter the date that the report is scheduled to run. Today's date will default. To change the date you can: Enter it in mmddyyyy format; Double-click to access the Calendar viewer; Press the + key on the numeric keypad to add a day (or days) to the date. If this is a repeating report, the Run Date should be the first execution date.
Run Time
Enter the time (in 24 hour/military format) the report is scheduled to run. For example, to run the report at 3:00am you would enter 0300. To run the report at 8:30pm, you would enter 2030. To clear the run time for a repeating report, enter all zeros.
7. Enter the Options (discussed below) as needed for this report. Note that the Repeat Event box must be checked for the report to be repeated.
8. When your Options have been entered correctly, click the OK button.
9. Finally, click the Go button. The system will display the Scheduled Event Id for this report. Click Yes to confirm.
Assess the scheduled report that you wish to change and select the Schedule Report option in the upper left-hand pane. The following new fields will be displayed:
Event Id:
Double-click on the Event Id. This field allows you to select from the list of existing Scheduled Events for this report. Select the Schedule Event for this report that you wish to change.
Process Type:
This field allows you to select what you want done to the selected Event when the OK button is pressed. The 3 choices are:
Create Only - this will create a new Scheduled Event; the currently selected Event will not be modified.
Create/Cancel - this will create a new Scheduled Event and remove the selected Schedule Event selected in the Event Id field.
Update - this option will update the selected Scheduled Event.
When OK is pressed on the Scheduled Report screen, the fields on the Scheduled Event screen will be validated and the Report Range screen displayed. Make any needed changes to any of the Range or other input field.
When the report options correctly configured for the new/revised event, click the GO button. Doing so will create/remove/update the scheduled event table based on the process type.
Email?
This box must be checked for e-mail distribution. See Registry Entry System Email for a discussion on setting your firm’s e-mail configuration.
Distribute as: Attachment Link
Typically, Attachment would be selected. Note, however, that if you elect to save your reports as text files, they will be incorporated in the body of the email instead of an attachment.
Email Address
This field is required and will default to your email address. You may enter the actual email addresses to distribute the report to, or an Email Group(s). When referencing an Email Group, you must surround the Email Group Id with brackets.
Example: Email Group
If you have created an Email Group with the Id sales, you would enter it in this field as [sales] to indicate that it is a token replacement and not, itself, an email address.
Emailing and sectionvalue Reports: Email Address Blank
If the report that you are running supports sectionvalues, it may be scheduled and emailed directly to the email address specified in the report. This type of report should be set up to run in the Scheduled Event viewer, not in the Report Options screen where the Email Address must be completed.
Email Subject
Specifies the Subject line of the e-mail.
User List
By default, this field will be set to your User Id. If you specify yourself or a list of additional User Id’s, the e-mail address will be taken from the Contact record referenced in each User record.
Example:
To distribute the report to users with the User Id’s TC, DS, and LS you would complete this field as follows: TC,DS,LS
User Group List
If you wish to distribute this report to all active members of one or more User Groups, enter a valid User Group Id or a comma delimited list of User Groups Id’s. When the report is run, the e-mail addresses will be taken from the Contact record referenced in each User record.
Important Note: for report scheduling purposes, the system only considers the primary (header) User Group Id referenced in the User record. The User record’s Additional Groups tab is NOT evaluated when compiling the Email Addresses for scheduling purposes.
Example:
To distribute the report to all active users with a primary User Group Id of admin or ar, you would complete this field as follows: admin,ar
This report would be distributed to all users with a primary (header) User Group Id of admin or ar in their User record. Users with a primary User Group Id of service, but with an Additional User Group Id of admin or ar would NOT receive the report.
Email From
The address that this e-mail comes from; this field defaults from the Contact Id reference in your User Group record. This should be a valid address that can be replied to.
Repeat Event
This box must be checked for a repeating report.
Repeat Until:
Enter the date the report should be repeated until in mmddyyyy format.
To turn off a repeating report, go to the Scheduled Event for the report, and set its Event Status to Cancelled.
Run Date
The day or days the report is scheduled to run.
To specify a day of the week:
m tu w th f sa su
To run the report more than once a week, separate the days with a comma. For example, to run the report on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays:
m,w,f
To specify a day of the month:
1 2 3 4 5(etc.)
first last
Note that last would be 28 (or 29) for February, 30 for April, etc.
Run Time
Enter the time (in 24 hour/military format) the report is scheduled to run.
For example, to run the report at 3:00am you would enter 0300. To run the report at 8:30pm, you would enter 2030.
To run the report more than once a day, enter the times separated by
commas: 0100,0900
To run the job multiple times, enter the first and last time to run as a range, followed by the @ sign and the increment in minutes.
For example, to run the report every half hour from 9:00 am to 5:00pm, enter the following: 0900_1700@30
To run the report every hour from 8:00 to 6:00, and then again at 11:00pm you would enter: 0800_1800@60,2300
Save Report File
If this box is checked, a copy of the report will be saved to disk.
Overwrite Existing?
If this box is checked, the report will overwrite an existing file of this name.
In version 6.2 and below, report file names are generated so that they include a date and time stamp, it is highly unlikely that any overwriting will occur.
In version 7.0 and above, the system no longer includes the date/time on the filename if Overwrite is selected.
Save Report as: PDF DBReport HTML Text CSV
Selects the format the report will be saved and sent in; by default, this field is set to PDF. Note that the intended user must be running Data-Basics in order to view a DBReport file.
If Text is selected, the report will be embedded in the body of the e-mail instead of being sent as attachment.
File Name
This field may be used to override the default file name generated by the system.
Directory Name
Specifies the directory that the report will be saved in (e.g., C:\archive\reports). This field defaults from the Registry Entry for Report Anywhere File Path .
Print Hard Copy?If you check this box, a hard copy of this report will be printed to the printer that you select when you click Go. The printing will be in addition to any other options (success as emailing or saving) that you selected. This functionality also supports the printing of the bitmap assorted with the report via registry.
Print Report as: DBReport Text Selects the format used to print the report. In most cases, DBReport should be selected.