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Reporting

Copyright Table of Contents Reporting Overview Creating a report Report Design Interface Report Design Environment Generate Report Scheduled Report Settings SQL Reporting Wizard Report Tools

Alignment Toolbar Field Explorer Toolbox Format Toolbar menubar Report Explorer Toolbox SQL Interface Standard Toolbar Toolbox Toolbar

Tips and Techniques Report Properties Properties box Pre-Defined Reports

Pre-Defined Reports Reports - Administrator Audit Reports - Hardware Inventory Reports - Miscellaneous Reports - Profile Objects Reports - Software Inventory Reports - Software Management Reports - USB-Port Security Reports - User Activity

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Creating a report

Creating a simple report

The following steps show how to create a simple report. Review the Tips and Techniques to learn about advanced reporting concepts.

Create a New Report

Select the Reporting object in the Navigation pane of the Manager. Select the User-Defined Reports category in the Report tree. Once selected, create a new report by right-clicking in the report list area. From the popup menu, select New. The Reporting Tool will open with a blank Report Design Surface. All new reports consist of a Page Header, Detail, and Page Footer.

A new report can also be created by using the Report Wizard. From the User-Defined Reports menu, click the Report Wizard button. The wizard will automatically populate selected fields to the report layout and generate the necessary SQL statement including sorting and filtering the data. No need to know SQL, the wizard will write it all for you!

Create an SQL statement

If not using the Report Wizard, the next step is to define an SQL statement that will connect the report to the data. Desktop Authority provides several default SQL statements to help jump start a report. Select a pre-defined SQL statement from the Change Data Source drop list or click the SQL button and enter your own SQL statement.

A data dictionary of all tables available has been provided to aid in the process of SQL statement creation. This Data Dictionary can be downloaded from the Quest web site.

Creating Groups

A report can consist of single or multiple nested groups, with each group having its own header and footer sections. The header section is inserted and printed immediately before the Detail section. The footer section is inserted and printed immediately after the Detail section. Up to 32 nested groups are allowed in a single report.

To achieve the desired results, the data needs to be ordered by the field that is to be grouped on. The data must be sorted in the necessary grouping order using the ORDER BY clause on the SQL statement.

Right-click in the Detail section of the report design surface, select Insert > Insert Group Header/Footer. This will insert a new group header/footer section into your report around the existing detail section.
Set the group by field in the Properties window for the group header. Change the DataField property to the field on which the data is to be grouped.
Change the name of the group header to reflect the data that is being grouped. For example, "ghMachineName" could be the name of the group header with the DataField property of "MachineName".

Adding data to the report

To add a data field to the report, simply select the field from the Fields toolbox and drag it onto the report design surface. Drop it into the proper report section, i.e. Page Header/Footer, Group Header/Footer, or Detail. Grouped data fields should be placed into either the Group Header or Footer areas. Most often a grouped data field is placed into the Group Header, leaving the Footer area available for sums or counts on the group data.

Another way to add data to the report is to select a control from the Toolbox. Click on the tool and then click on the area in the report's design surface where the control will be displayed. Before letting go, drag the mouse to size the control. Once the mouse button is released the control will appear.

Once a data field has been added to the report design surface, it may need to be sized and/or properties may need to be set. When the data field is placed on the design surface, it will be given a default name. It is recommended that the (Name) property be changed to reflect a user friendly and recognizable name. This is the name the data field will be referenced as throughout the report. If the control will hold static text, set the Text property to the actual text value.

There are many other properties that may be set. Refer to the Properties box reference to read about other properties.

Generate the Report

To execute the report while in design mode, click the Generate tab on the top of the report design surface.

If the report uses runtime parameters, before execution, the user will be prompted to enter the values for the parameters.

Save Report

Click

on the Menu bar to complete and save the report. If the report has not been previously saved in the User Defined report repository, provide a name for the report when prompted. The report will be saved to the User Defined report repository. Reports can not be saved to the Pre-Defined report repository.

Report Design Interface

The report design surface is made up of a Report Header, Page Header, Detail, Page Footer and Report Footer. Report Headers/Footers and Page Headers/Footers are optional sections of a report. All reports must contain (at the minimum), a single detail section. A Group Header/Footer combination can also be optionally added.

Report sections

Report Header

A report can have one report header section that prints at the beginning of the report. This section generally is used to print a report title, a summary table, a chart or any information that needs only to appear once at the report's start.

Page Header

A report can have one page header section that prints at the top of each page. It is the first section that prints on the page except when the page contains a report header section. The page header section is used to print column headers, page numbers, a page title or any information that needs to appear at the top of each page in the report.

Note: Data bound controls (i.e. textboxes tied to data from a database table) are not supported in the Page Header/Footer sections. They get rendered when the page is started (before the data is read), not when the data is being read for the page. Is a data bound control is placed into the page header/footer, it will appear on the second and subsequent pages, not the first.

Details

This section is the body of the report that prints once for each record in the data source. The bulk of the report data generally appears in this section.

Report Footer

A report can have one report footer section that prints at the end of the report. This section is used to print a summary of the report, grand totals or any information that needs to print once at the report's end.

Page Footer

A report can have one page footer section that prints at the bottom of each page. It is used to print page totals, page numbers or any other information that needs to appear at the bottom of each page.

Note: Data bound controls (i.e. datafield textboxes) are not supported in the Page Header/Footer sections. They get rendered when the page is started (before the data is read), not when the data is being read for the page. Is a data bound control is placed into the page header/footer, it will appear on the second and subsequent pages, not the first.

Group Header/Footer

A report can consist of single or multiple nested groups, with each group having its own header and footer sections. The header section is inserted and printed immediately before the detail section. The footer section is inserted and printed immediately after the detail section.

A group header section typically holds the group name field, and can be used to display charts that include data specific to the group. It is printed once at the beginning of a group when the data for the group changes.

A group footer section generally holds a group summary value, if any, and can be used to display charts or cross-tabs. It is printed once at the end of a group when the data for the group changes.

When a group, summary, or subtotal is added, the Group Header area appears directly above the Details area and the Group Footer area appears directly below the Details area.

As additional groups are added, the group areas are added between the Details area and the existing Group Header and Group Footer area(s).

Modifying section layout

Insert

To add or remove report sections, simply right-click anywhere in the report design surface and select Insert from the shortcut menu. From the submenu select either Insert Report Header/Footer, Insert Page Header/Footer, or Insert Group Header/Footer.

Delete

To remove a report section right-click in the header or any empty area of the section to be deleted and select Delete from the shortcut menu.

Reorder

When one or more Group Header/Footer sections are part of a report the groups may be reordered after they have been added to the report. Right-click on any header or any empty area of a section and select Reorder from the shortcut menu. The Group Order dialog will be displayed.

Simply drag a group and drop it on the group that it will be evaluated before.

Section properties

When selecting a report section from the Report Contents toolbox (or from the report design surface), the Properties toolbox will automatically display the available properties for that section.

Refer to the Properties Toolbox for details on all properties available.

Controls

Controls are data placeholders which can hold the value of a data field, manually entered text, pictures, and charts, among several other items.

Types of controls

The Reporting tool makes use of several different types of controls. The available controls consist of Label, Textbox, Checkbox, Picture, Shape, Line, Rich Textbox, Subreport, Page Break, Barcode, and Chart. All controls are available for placement on the report from the Toolbox toolbar. For a description of each control type, refer to the Toolbox toolbar topic.

Adding controls to report

All controls types are available for placement on the report from the Toolbox toolbar. Simply click on a control type in the Toolbox. Move the cursor into the Report Design Surface. The cursor will turn into a crosshair (+) cursor. Click in the report section where the control will be placed. Drag the mouse to size the new control.

Control properties

When selecting a control on the report design surface, the Properties toolbox will automatically display the available properties for that section.

Refer to the Properties Toolbox for details on all properties available for each control

Moving controls

Controls may be moved within the report section that it currently exists in. To move a control, simply click on and drag the control to the new area within the same section. To move a control to another section, it must be cut from the existing section and then pasted into the new section.

Reorder controls

Controls placed on the report design surface may be layered (placed on top of each other) to produce a specific effect. For example, a textbox may be placed on top of a picture control or shape control as a label on the image or shape. There may be times when the layering order of controls must be changed. This is possible using the Bring to Front and Send to Back menu selections.

To reorder a control, right-click on a control and select either Bring to Front or Send to Back menu item from the shortcut menu.

Bring to front

Brings the selected control in front of all other controls within the report section. If there are no layered controls, this menu selection will have no visible effect on the controls in the report section.

Send to back

Sends the selected control to the back of all other controls within the report section. If there are no layered controls, this menu selection will have no visible effect on the controls in the report section.

Control border

Controls placed on the report design surface may have a border painted around the outside of the control. Right-click on the control and select the Format Border menu items from the shortcut menu. The Format Border dialog will be displayed.

Presets

Select the border type you want to use by clicking on an icon in the Presets section of the dialog. The selected setting is previewed in the preview section of the dialog.

	No border is applied.
	Applies a border to the bottom of the selected item.
	Applies a left border to the top of the selected item.
	Applies a right border to the top of the selected item.
	Applies a top border to the top of the selected item.
	Applies a border around the outside of the selected item.
	Applies a double border to the bottom of the selected item.
	Applies a thick border to the bottom of the selected item.
	Applies a border to the top and bottom of the selected item.
	Applies a border to the top and a double border to the bottom of the selected item.
	Applies a border to the top and a thick border to the bottom of the selected item.
	Applies a thick border around the outside of the selected item.

Line styles

Select the border style. Select from None, Solid, Dash, Dot, DashDot, Double, ThickSolid, ThickDash, ThickDot, ThickDashDot, ThickDashDotDot, ThickDouble, and ExtraThickSolid. The selected border is previewed on the right.

Color

Select the border color. Click to select a standard color or click the color box to select another color. The selected color is previewed on the right.

Preview

Displays the selected border.

Report Design Environment

	Menu bar	The menu bar provides pull-down menus that open, save and print reports, add controls and report sections, format controls, and several options to customize the report design area. Most of these menu items are also available in their respective part of the report design area. Some selections on the menu bar may be unavailable (disabled) depending on the currently selected report section or control in the report design area.
	Design	The design tab is where most of the work is done when creating a report. The design tab provides access to all design elements including toolbars and toolboxes.
	Generate	The Generate tab is where the report is run against data. If the report uses parameters, the user will be prompted for the parameters when the Generate tab is selected.
	Standard Toolbar	The Standard Toolbar contains buttons for commonly used operations from the File and Edit menus. This includes buttons for New Report, Open Report, Save Report, Save As Report, Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Reorder Groups.
	Format Toolbar	The Format Toolbar contains buttons for commonly used operations to change the appearance of the selected controls. Commonly used Format options include, Bold, Italics, Underline, Font Settings, Align Left, Align Center, Align Right, Bullets, Decrease Indent, Increase Indent, Background Color, Foreground Color, Line Color, Line Style, Format Border, Font Style, Font Typeface and Font Size.
	Alignment Toolbar	The Alignment Toolbar contains buttons for commonly used operations from the Format menu. This includes Bring to Front, Send to Back, Align Lefts, Align Centers, Align Rights, Align Tops, Align Middles, Align Bottoms, Align to Grid, Same Size Width, Same Size Height, Same Size Height and Width, Decrease Horizontal Space, Set Horizontal Space Equal, Increase Horizontal Space, Decrease Vertical Space, Set Vertical Space Equal, Increase Vertical Space and Lock.
	Toolbox Toolbar	The Toolbox Toolbar contains buttons for the controls that can be used to display information on the report. The controls can also be selected from the Insert menu. The control types include: Pointer, Label, Textbox, Checkbox, Picture, Shape, Line, Rich Textbox, Subreport, Page Break, Barcode and Chart.
	Report Design Interface	The Design interface is where most of the work is done when creating a report. The design area designates the various sections of the report and displays the fields that are contained within each section.
	SQL Interface	The SQL Interface is where pre-defined SQL statements can be selected and/or modified. SQL statements can be created or modified by pressing the SQL button.
	Field Explorer Toolbox	The Field Explorer Toolbox shows the database fields available for use in the reporting interface. The list of fields is built based on the SQL statement defined in the report.
	Report Explorer Toolbox	This Report Explorer Toolbox is a helpful tool which provides easy navigation through the report's elements. This includes each report band and all of its controls. It also provides a simple way to modify each report element's properties in the Properties Toolbox.
	Properties Toolbox	The Properties Toolbox is used to change the properties of all report elements, including bands and controls.

Generate Report

When a report is executed, the Generate tab within the Report Design Interface is selected. If the report contains runtime parameters, the user will be asked to enter values for the parameters. Once the parameter values are entered, click OK and the results of the report are presented.

Toolbar

The toolbar on the Generate tab allows the user to view the generated report's pages.

Icon	Description
	Contents View displaying Table of Contents or Thumbnail View
	Print Report
	Copy current page to clipboard
	Find text
	Single Page view
	Multiple Page view
	Zoom Out
	Zoom In
	Zoom Percentage
	Page Up
	Page Down
	Current Page/Total Pages
	Jump back to last page viewed
	Jump forward to last page viewed