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The Report Design window is the main window used to edit, save, and run a report. To the left are section areas which contain one or more labelled sections, to the right are the sections containing report fields. The labels, sections, and fields all have popup menus that appear when you right-click them.
Drag the bars to re-size report sections.
To select a field, single-click it. To select more than one field, hold down the shift key while selecting the fields. Not yet implemented: You may also select fields by clicking and dragging a selection box with the mouse.
Click and drag a field to move it. Drag the edges to re-size it. Moving and dragging operate on the current selection. If multiple fields are selected they will all be moved or re-sized.
Field commands (format, re-size) operate on the set of currently selected fields.
To insert a new section into a section area, right-click on a section label or section and select "Insert Section".
Fields have popup menus. Sections have popup menus. The section labels on the left side have popup menus.
New Creates a new, empty report and opens the Database Connection dialog box (see The Database Connection Dialog).
Open Opens a dialog box that lets you select a report XML file to open.
Save Saves the report. If you have not yet specified a report XML file because this is a new report, you will be asked to do so.
Save As... Saves the report to a file you specify.
Page Size This submenu lets you select the report's paper size. One could argue this belongs in the menu, but print-related menu items usually appear in an application's menu.
Close Closes the report and the design window. If the file has been changed, you will be asked if you want to save the report first.
Quit Closes all reports and quits DataVision. If any file has been changed, you will be asked about saving it. If you answer "Cancel" to any request (instead of saving or confirming that you don't want to save the report), DataVision does not quit.
Undo Not yet implemented.
Cut Deletes the currently selected fields (same as ).
Copy Not yet implemented.
Paste Not yet implemented.
Delete Selected Fields Deletes the currently selected fields.
Delete Group Deletes the group containing the selected field. If more than one field is selected, the group containing the first (earliest) selected field is deleted.
Delete Section Deletes the section containing the selected field. If more than one field is selected, the section containing the first (earliest) selected field is deleted.
For more information about the Field Picker window, see The Field Picker Window.
Database Field... Opens the Field Picker window and jumps to the Database Fields section. (In a newly created report, there will be no database columns in this section yet. Open the "All Database Fields" sections by double-clicking it.)
Text The cursor changes to a text-editing cursor. Click on a report section and begin typing to add a text label.
Formula Field... Opens the Field Picker window and jumps to the Formula Field section.
Parameter Field... Opens the Field Picker window and jumps to the Parameter Field section.
Special Field... Opens the Field Picker window and jumps to the Special Field section.
Aggregate Field... Opens the Aggregate dialog on the currently selected field. If more than one field is selected, uses the first (earliest) selected field. See The Aggregate Dialog.
Line Not yet implemented.
Group... Inserts a new group below all the other groups. This menu item is disabled if there are no fields in the report.
To reorder groups or change a group's sort order, select from the menu.
Section Inserts a new section after the one containing the selected field. If more than one field is selected, the new section is inserted below the section containing the first (earliest) selected field.
Format Field... Opens the Format dialog (see The Format Dialog).
Border... Opens the Format dialog (see The Format Dialog) with the border tab displayed.
Position and Size... Opens the Position and Size dialog (see The Position and Size Dialog).
Align Opens the Align submenu. Selecting a menu item aligns all currently selected fields to the top, bottom, left, or right edge of the first selected field or snaps all selected fields to the grid.
Size Opens the Size submenu. Selecting a menu item re-sizes all currently selected fields to the same width, height, or size (both width and height) of the first selected field.
Default Format... Opens the Format dialog (see The Format Dialog) so you can edit the report's default format and border.
Table Linker Opens the Table Linker dialog (see The Visual Table Linker Dialog).
SQL Query Text... Opens a dialog containing the SQL query that will be used to run the report. This text is not editable. It is, however, selectable: you can copy the text and paste it anywhere else.
Connection... Opens the Database Connection dialog (see The Database Connection Dialog).
Run Runs the report and displays the results.
Export... Opens a dialog that lets you choose which format to use for exporting the report data. When you click , a File Save dialog box opens to let you specify an output file.
Select Records... Opens a dialog that lets you edit text inserted into the WHERE clause of the SQL statement used to generate report data. See The "Select Records" Dialog.
Sort By... Opens the dialog box used to specify which fields should be sorted, and in what order. See The "Sort By" Dialog. To change the sort order of a group, use the menu item.
Group By... Opens the dialog box used to specify how records should be grouped, and in what order. See The "Group By" Dialog.
Formula Languages... Opens the dialog box used to select the report's default formula scripting language and add new languages. See The Formula Languages Dialog.
Summary... Lets you specify the report's author, name, title, and description. See The "Summary" Dialog.
Help Opens a window on the DataVision User's Manual. The manual is displayed as HTML and the links really work.
About DataVision... Opens a dialog that displays the DataVision version number and other exciting information.
When you select one of the field types from the menu on the design window, this window opens. It contains a tree list containing all database field types except text labels. Click and drag a field to add it to the report.
The first item in the window is "Database Fields" and the last item is "All Database Fields". In a newly created report, the first "Database Fields" item will be empty, because it displays database columns that are already in the report.
Drag database columns, formulas, parameters, user columns, or special fields from the Field Picker window into the report. As an added bonus, when you drag a database column into a "Detail" section, the name of the column will automagically appear in the "Page Header" section.
This window also lets you create and edit formulas and parameters. Select the appropriate menu item from the menu.
When you run a report by selecting from the menu, a report view window opens and displays the report output.
From this window you may print the report or export it using one of the other layout engines.
See Running a Report for more information on the Report View window.
Open by selecting from a numeric field's popup menu or by selecting from the menu.
This dialog will open. Each group and the report footer are displayed, along with a check box and a popup menu for selecting the aggregate type.
The Format Dialog has two tabs labeled "Format" and "Border". The contents of the "Format" tab edit the look of a field (its size, font, alignment, etc.) The contents of the "Border" tab edit the borders that surround a field. These borders are not yet displayed by the GUI, though they are output by layout engines such as the LaTeX engine that understand them.
The title of the Format Dialog displays the name of the field whose format you are editing. If more than one field is selected, a plus sign ("+") appears after the field name and that field is the prototype. Its format will be used to populate the Format Dialog. If you are editing the report-wide default format, that will be indicated in the title.
The "Format" tab lets you edit a fields font family name, text size, color, text attributes such as bold, italic, underline, and wrap, text alignment, and the printing format of numbers and dates.
Though field colors respect their alpha component, there is no way in this dialog to edit that value. You can manually edit the alpha value by editing the report XML file and changing the final value of the color string. See Field Formats for the format of the color string.
The "Format" string needs a bit of explaining. It is used by a Java formatting object that is appropriate for the type of field. For numeric fields, this string is used as input to a DecimalFormat object. For date fields, it is used as input to a SimpleDateFormat object.
For numeric fields, you create a "picture" of how you want the number to appear. Use either `#' or `0' characters to represent numbers; `#' will print blanks if no digit is needed, `0' will print a zero. Add commas or decimal points where appropriate. The number of `#' characters you use is not important. To print negative numbers by using a leading minus sign (or whatever is appropriate for your locale), you need do nothing. To print negative numbers by using parenthesis, you need to add the string ";(#)" to the end of your format string.
For a complete and detailed discussion of the numeric format strings, see the java.text.DecimalFormat documentation.
Here are a few example numeric format strings, using the separator characters used in the USA. We will apply each to the number 1,234.0078.
For date fields, you create a format string that is understandable by the SimpleDateFormat class. Briefly, use `y' for year, `M' for month, `d' for day, `E' for day of the week, and `h', `m', and `s' for hours, minutes, and seconds. Use 'yyyy' for four-character years and 'yy' for two-character years. For a complete and detailed discussion of the date format strings, see the java.text.SimpleDateFormat documentation.
Here are a few example date format strings, using the date/time August 27, 2002, 12:36 PM.
The "Border" tab lets you edit the border surrounding a field. You can specify top, bottom, left, and right borders. Each is defined by a count (zero, one, two, or three lines), a style (line, dashed, or dotted), and a thickness in points. Remember: not all layout engines support borders. Only the line style works.
To be written.
This dialog lets you edit the information needed to connect to the database: the driver class name, connection info string, database (schema) name, user name, and password. For information about each field in this dialog, see Connecting to the Database.
Use this dialog to create or edit links (joins) between tables. The top of the window displays a list of joins or links between table columns.
New reports start with no joins between any columns. When you first open this dialog, the area above the and buttons will be empty.
To add a new link, click the button. To delete links, select them with the check boxes on the left side of the window and then click .
Each row above the and buttons represents one link between two database fields. To the left and right are combo boxes (drop down menus) that let you select database fields. In the middle is a combo box that defines the relationship between the two fields (for example, "equals" or "greater than").
To further limit the records retrieved by a report, enter a SQL where clause by using the "Select Records" dialog (see The "Select Records" Dialog).
To be written.
The main text pane in this window lets you edit the text of a formula. You can drag database fields, formulas, parameters, user columns, and special fields into this window.
To open a formula editor, double-click on a formula field in the report. Within the Field Picker window, select a formula then select from the menu.
Formulas are written using a Bean Scripting Framework language. You can select the language using the drop-down menu at the top of this dialog.
A suppression proc determines if a section should be displayed or not. See Section Suppression Procs for details.
The suppression proc dialog is a formula dialog with one difference: a checkbox at the top labeled "Always Hide". When this checkbox is selected, the section will always be hidden and the text edit area of this dialog is diabled. When the checkbox is not selected, the formula determines the visibility of the section.
The formula may be empty. If it is (and "Always Hide" is not selected), the section is always displayed.
Formulas are written using a Bean Scripting Framework language. You can select the language using the drop-down menu at the top of this dialog.
The startup script is a formula. This dialog is the same as the Formula Editor dialog.
The startup script is run at the beginning of each report run. Here, you can set script variables that are available to all of the rest of your formulas. Note: I think those variables are only available to scripts in the same language, but I have to make sure of that.
The main text pane in this window lets you edit text that limits the selection of records from the data source. You can drag database fields, formulas, parameters, user columns, and special fields into this window.
If the data source is a database, the text is a SQL where clause. If the data source is a character-separated file, the text is a BSF script. For more information about what can go in the dialog, see Selecting Records.
This dialog lets you select how your data will be sorted. On the left side is a list of unsorted user columns and database columns. On the right side are the user columns and database columns to sort by.
Move columns by using the buttons in the middle. The buttons with three arrows ( and ) move all of the columns at once.
The right "Sorty By" column lets you move fields up and down and specify the sort order of each field. When a column is selected in this list, the the and radio buttons will become enabled.
The left column does not display any user column or database column that is used as a group column. You can specify the sort order for those columns in the "Group By" dialog.
To add a group to a report use either this dialog or the menu item in the menu.
To add a group using the "Group By" dialog, select a user column or database column from the list on the left. Click the button with the right-pointing arrow (">") to create a new group that uses that column. To remove a group, select the group from the list on the right. Click the button with the left-pointing arrow ("<") to remove the group from the report. (The group is not removed until you click or .)
To edit the sort order of a group's values, select the group from the list on the right side. The and radio buttons will become enabled, and you can change the group's sort order.
To edit the nesting order of a group, select it and click the and buttons.
This dialog lets you select the report's default formula scripting language and add new languages. See Bean Scripting Framework for information about adding a language.
The "Default Language" is the scripting language that newly created formulas use, unless you select a different language. Changing the default language does not affect existing formulas.
When you add new languages in this dialog, they become available in the default language drop-down menu and in the Formula Editor and Startup Script dialogs.
Selecting a language from the default language drop-down menu fills the name and class fields.
Clicking adds a new language/class pair to the list of languages or modifies the class of an existing language.
Clicking checks to see if the class that you've entered can be loaded by DataVision. If it can't be loaded, that means the language is not on the class path. You are not prevented from adding a language that can't be found. This lets you design a report and add the language's jar file to the class path later. If you try to run the report and use a language that can't be found, you will see an error message. As described in Bean Scripting Framework, you have to add the language's jar to DataVision's class path before you can use the language.
This dialog lets you specify the report's name, its title, the author's name, and descriptive text. These values may be inserted into a report using special value fields.
If DataVision has been translated into your language, that language should be used automatically. The Java runtime sets the default language and region when you start DataVision. If you don't see the proper translation, use the command line arguments to set the language and region. See Running DataVision from the Command Line for a command synopsis.
Tony Tomov, who translated DataVision into Bulgarian, warns that Cyrillic characters don't display properly with Java 1.2. Once he upgraded to Java 1.3, they displayed fine.
See the file Credits for translators' names.
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