Report Definitions
Completing the Report Viewer tab

Use the Report Viewer tab to

• Manage how users interact with this report in the Report Viewer, including:
  • Whether the Report Viewer toolbar appears, and which commands users can select there to modify, print, or export the report.
  • Whether users can access the column header command menu to delete and reformat column values.
  • Whether and how users can modify report filters.
  • Whether and how users can perform drilldowns from summary reports.
• Set general options for controlling the appearance of the report in the Report Viewer, such as the title, header, and group heading sections.

Report header

You can customize the way the header for all your application's reports displays by overriding the section pyReportEditorHeader, an extension point. Save a copy of this section into your application's ruleset, edit it to display the information, images and layout you desire, and each of your application's reports will automatically use it as their header.

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

Note: if you select Hide Column Headings, the column command menu is not available.

• Do not scroll header - Optional. Check the check box to keep the report's column headings in view as the user scrolls down a long report page in the Report Viewer.
• Display filters using custom section - Optional. Check this check box to replace the default Filters display at the top of a report with a custom section. The custom section can include basic controls (such as drop-down menu and text entry field), and the controls can only provide values for the filter functions established in the Edit filters section of the Query tab.
  
  When the check box is checked, new fields appear:
  • 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 to use.
  • 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 appears. Check the check box to have the custom filter section appear at the top of the tab displaying the report. Leave it unchecked for the default behavior: when you click the filters link, the custom section appears in a popup window.

Report body

• Display actual data while editing report- Optional.Select to display actual, rather than simulated, data for the report when the report first opens in the Report Editor. The Report Editor offers users the option to edit a report while viewing either actual or simulated data. This option is useful for expensive reports, to avoid repeated queries of the database while the report is being edited, and also for development environments in which there is no or very little data yet 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 appears where you can select the section; select the edit icon that appears beside the selection field 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.
  
  Note: Test carefully any custom sections you use for displaying rows. You may get unexpected results as the report definition tries to populate a section which, for instance, does not account for all the properties it is asked to display.
  
  Note: Nested sections may not render properly when used as custom sections. PRPC cannot tell the width a custom section requires. When a window is resized, PRPC does not automatically resize the width of the custom section. Design the custom section to fit into the smallest display size possible.

Grouping

• Do not display group headings - Optional. Only available for summary 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 this is selected, the user can sort the report in any way desired. When group headings are shown, there are restrictions on how results can be sorted: the first n-1 GROUP BY columns in a summary 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. Check this 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 check this option, you will be 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 only appears when you select the previous check box. When this option is selected, the grouping you select in the report viewer will also appear in the report when it is exported to Excel.
  
  Note: using this option disables filtering in Excel for this report. Do not use this option if you need to filter data in the report once it is exported to Excel.
• Display groups using custom section - Optional. Available only for list reports in which the previous option to Group results has been checked.
  
  Select to replace the default display for each group with a custom section. A field appears where you can select the section; select the edit icon that appears beside the selection field 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.
  
  Note: test carefully any custom sections you use for displaying groups. You may get unexpected results as the report definition tries to populate a section which, for instance, does not account for all the properties it is asked to display.
  
  Note: Nested sections may not render properly when used as custom sections. PRPC cannot tell the width a custom section requires. When a window is resized, PRPC does not automatically resize the width of the custom section. Design the custom section to fit into the smallest display size possible.

User actions

• Display in report browser - Optional. Select to have a shortcut to this report created and display in the Report Browser. When this check box is checked, a field appears where you specify the Category in which the report shortcut should appear in the Report Browser.
  
  This check box operates as a one-way control:
  • If the check box is checked and a category is selected when you save the rule, the system creates a shortcut for the report in that category, if one does not already exist.
  • If you later uncheck the check box and save the rule again, the system does not remove the report's shortcut in the Report Browser.
  • If you change the category selection and save the rule, the system creates a shortcut for the report in the newly-selected category, without removing the 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. Check this check box to have the system prompt the user running a report for changes to the filters before the report displays. The options available are based on how the report filters were configured in the Report Viewer options field on the Report Definitions Query tab.
  • Filters configured as Filter not visible in viewer will not be displayed.
  • Filters configured as Read only, allow no changes cannot be changed or deleted; the delete button is not displayed.
  • 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. Uncheck to hide report filters.
• Enable filter changes - Optional. This check box is displayed when Display report filters is checked. Check 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 unchecked, the user cannot change any filters on the report in the Report Viewer.
• Enable column command menu - Optional. Check this check box to allow users to make changes to a report in the Report Viewer by using one of the commands that appears in the column header menu to delete, re-label, or reformat the data values in the column.
• Enable toolbar - Optional. Check this check box to display the toolbar within the Report Viewer and allow users access to those commands that are enabled. When this box is checked, click the Options button to enable or disable specific commands in the toolbar:
  • Edit Report
  • Summarize
  • List
  • Print
  • Export to Excel
  • Export to PDF
  • Save
  • Save As

  Note: Version 6 charts (the default) cannot be exported to PDF. You may need to adjust the settings in the "Display options for Report Definition Charts" section of the Report Settings landing page to permit use of version 5 pie, bar, column, area and line charts, which can be exported to PDF.

• Disable drill down - Optional. Available only for summary reports. Check this check box to disable the ability for users to click on any row or cell in a summary report and drill down to a detailed list of the instances included in the row or cell.
  
  When the box is unchecked, the report used for displaying drill down results appears 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 to use. 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 this restriction: if the report you select for drill downs 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 as described above.
  
  When drill-down results are shown, the filter conditions in the summary 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. Check this check box to display report results as a series of pages, each containing a fixed number of rows. Unchecking this box will display all results on a single page.
  
  Paging is enabled by default, since a list report may contain many rows of data, resulting in poor performance when trying to display the entire result set at once.
  
  As a good 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 and sorting in each list view rule to eliminate the need for user paging, or to present as few pages as possible when paging is unavoidable. See the PDN article When and how to configure paging in reports.
  
  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 runtime, users may 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. Check this check box to add a SmartInfo icon to each row of the report, to display additional information about that row.
  
  When the box is checked, 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 in order to see or create a report (or receive a scheduled 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

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