Enterprise Reporting Solution Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 2.0 Last Updated 10.18.
Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................. 8 Evisions Support Site ............................................................................................................. 8 In Product Help ........................................................................................................................ 8 Security...................................................................................
Choose the Database fields to use .......................................................................................... 20 Execute the Report....................................................................................................................... 21 Adding additional fields using expressions ......................................................................... 21 Filter and Sort the Data...................................................................................................
Place Expression into Group Header Band ........................................................................... 57 Creating Mailing Labels ......................................................................................... 59 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 59 Select the Mailing Labels Report Type ...................................................................................
Create the Title, Column Header, and Detail Bands ................................................... 84 Add a Summary Band .......................................................................................................... 85 Add a Chart Object ............................................................................................................... 85 Follow the Chart Wizard......................................................................................................
The Support Site ........................................................................................................................ 112 The CO-OP User Community ................................................................................................. 113 Important Links .......................................................................................................................... 113 Table of Figures...................................................................................
Trademark, Publishing Statement and Copyright Notice © 2010 Evisions, Inc. All rights reserved. This software and related documentation are provided under a license agreement containing restrictions on use and disclosure and are protected by intellectual property laws.
Introduction Argos is a powerful reporting solution designed for everyone from novice users to the most seasoned technical experts. For ease of use, Argos users are divided into three distinct types: Argos Evisions solution for building and deploying reports and dashboards across the enterprise. DataBlock Designers: Argos “power users” who create DataBlocks. Report Writers: Intermediate users who use DataBlocks to build a variety of reports.
Security Access to reports is managed by DataBlock Designers and Administrators by permitting or denying access to Argos objects. The only level of security available to report writers is a private report. Making a report private is an action reserved to the user types that can edit a report. So this means a few things. You cannot create a private report for someone else. And only report writers and above can create private reports.
Getting Started Starting Argos Browser support Argos is Windows PC software which is web-enabled, meaning it is accessible from your web browser via an Internet connection. Before launching Argos, you may need to disable any pop-up blockers running on your computer. To disable the pop-up blocker in Microsoft (MS) Internet Explorer, select Tools, Pop-up Blocker, Turn Off Pop-up Blocker. You should be able to re-enable the pop-up blocker once you have downloaded the software.
Navigation Argos has been designed with an intelligent interface that knows your user type and configures menus and buttons to show only those actions permitted. Menus across the top allow you to take simple actions such as logging into the product, finding items in the Explorer, customizing your Argos toolbars and changing your password. You can also access the integrated Help system or visit the Evisions website that has many helpful resources available.
Some objects can be flagged as private. Private objects will not show up in the Explorer for users other than the creator and the administrator. These objects will have the “private eye” icon like the sample private Banded report icon on the list to the right. Dashboards and Schedules will appear in the navigation area only if these features were purchased and included within your software license. Reports exist within the Explorer as child objects of a DataBlock. A DataBlock can have many “child” reports.
. Figure 4 – QuickLaunch View Dashboard view Dashboards provide an organized, direct way of accessing and running your reports. Here is an example of a QuickView report that has been run as a Dashboard. The report is within the main Argos window. Figure 5 – Dashboard View www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.0 – Last Updated 10.18.
DataBlocks The DataBlock is the foundation from which all reports are created and contains Forms and Queries. Only users with DataBlock Designer privileges can create DataBlocks. The Queries obtain data from a database. When results of a query are displayed on a form, this is called a QuickView Report. In the case of CSV, Banded, and Extract Reports, the results of the query become input to the report design with the results displayed or stored elsewhere.
Report Types QuickView A situation in which a user needs to access information quickly and often is usually a case in which one would want to use a “QuickView”. A good example is a situation where the head of Sales needs to view sales results for the organization. The design of the QuickView report could allow the Sales Manager to view a sales summary for the organization, by region, for each quarter.
Creating a QuickView Report If you highlight a DataBlock you can see the option to create a new report in the detail pane. You can also right-click on the DataBlock and go to New Report. The “Create a New Report” dialog box appears. Give the report a name and a description if desired. Next, choose what kind of report you want to create: QuickView, CSV, Banded, or Extract. As you select each report a description of the report type is shown to the right. (Select QuickView).
QuickViews are shortcuts to the form created by the DataBlock Designer, so there isn’t much more you can do other than create it. If you click Edit Report you can edit the report. The Design button is grayed out and you don’t have access to it. There are a few tabs: the Refresh, API, and Saved States. Figure 12 – Editing the details of the QuickView Report Refresh Tab The Refresh tab allows you to refresh the variables within the DataBlock. This is mostly only useful for Dashboards.
Saved States Tab The last tab is the Saved States tab. A Saved State is a point in time snapshot of a QuickView or an OLAP cube or chart. The data is saved as a file that can be viewed at any time. Saved States are configured via the scheduler by an Argos Administrator or a DataBlock Designer. As a Report Writer you can allow or disallow the running of the QuickView by checking or un-checking this box. Creation and execution of Saved States is described within the Argos Report Viewers Guide.
Creating a CSV Report For this example, the Employees table within the sample database will be used. The table contains the following fields which are all used in the Report query.
Click Create, then the following dialog box will appear. Figure 17 – Editing the Report Click the Design button which brings up the following dialog box: Figure 18 – Choosing the fields to appear within the report Choose the Database fields to use This dialog box above allows you to specify which fields within the Report Query will appear in the report. For this example the emp_id, last_name, first_name, salary, dept_id, and location_id fields will be used.
After fields are moved to the window in the right you can: Click the red X to delete a field from the report. Use the up/down arrows to move a field up or down. Editing fields To change the name of a field within the right hand window, click the “ab” item, then change the name of the field. Right-clicking on any field provides all available editing features Figure 19 – Changing the field names Execute the Report Click OK to complete the report design.
Figure 22 – Preparing to add new fields To add the first field, click E=mc2 (in the upper right of the dialog box) which brings up the Expression Builder dialog box shown below. icon Function Choose functions from library Add system variables. Lists available database fields. Figure 23 – The Expression Builder dialog box + Click the Green circular icon which brings up the list of database fields, then double-click on Employees.last_name which places the field within the Expression Builder.
Figure 25 – Expression Builder (second item in expression) Click the green circular icon to display the list of fields, then add the first_name field. Figure 26 – Expression Builder ( final item in expression) Click OK then enter the name for this new field. Figure 27 – Entering a name for the new field The figure on the next page shows the new field (lastfirst) added to the original list of fields. www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.0 – Last Updated 10.18.
Figure 28 – The new field concatenating last/first name To create the other field which will contain today’s date, a similar process is used. Within the above dialog box click E=mc2 then click the fn item to display a list of available functions. Figure 29 – The list of Date & Time Functions Click Date&Time, then Now to obtain today’s date. Click OK then name the new field “Today”. The resulting list of fields is shown below. www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.
Figure 30 – New field containing today’s date/time Run the report and you will now see the concatenated last/first name in column G and today’s date/time in column H. Figure 31 - The CSV report showing the two new fields Filter and Sort the Data When you first create the report (or edit an existing report) you see the Edit Report dialog box shown below containing the Filters and Sorts tabs.
Filters The Filters tab allows the report writer to activate additional filters to the report query. Any filters here are run after the filters in the DataBlock report query are run. The Filters tab allows you to activate additional data filters at the report level rather than having to modify the WHERE clause of the DataBlock's report query. Figure 33 – Creating a filter To add a filter you need to activate additional filtering by checking the “Activate additional filtering” box.
Sort Click on the Sort tab and the following will appear. Sorting Options Double-click Ascending/Descending to toggle sort by ascending or descending order. As shown in the figure at the left, you can sort using multiple fields. The figure illustrates sorting by department name (ascending), then by salary within the department (descending).
Creating a Basic Banded Report Example 1 Definition of Bands: Page Header Band Prints at the top of every page. Introduction Page Footer Band This example utilizes the Employees table within the sample database and will produce a report (see figure below) of employees grouped by Department Name. The example demonstrates the use of a Page Header Band, Group Header Band, Child Band, Detail Band, Group Footer Band, and Summary Band. Prints at the bottom of every page.
Creating a Basic Banded Report Before creating the complete report above, a simple Banded Report of the Employees table (see figure below) will first be created to enable a new user to quickly become familiar with the process of creating a basic Banded Report. This report will then be enhanced to create the report shown above. The DataBlock form used for this example. One or more departments can be selected when executing the report.
Figure 40 – Selecting fields to include within the report Including the database fields into the report Move emp_id, last_name, first_name, hire_date, salary, dept_name, city, and region_name to the area on the right by double-clicking each field name. When moving fields, click city prior to region_name to order them in that fashion within the report.
Figure 41 – Specifying which fields will exist within the report Click Next to bring up the Report Options window shown below. The Page Settings Tab provides options such as paper size, margins, orientation (portrait/landscape), etc. Figure 42 – Identifying which bands will be utilized Choosing the Bands to utilize Under the Band Selection tab shown above you can decide which bands to include in the report. For the simple example the Page Header Band, Column Header Band, and Detail Band will be utilized.
Figure 43 – Selecting Page Settings Click Finish to launch the Band Report Editor where you can customize the look of the report further. Band Names Note the names assigned by Argos (Pageheader, Columnheader, Detail) to the various bands. Band names can be changed by right clicking within the band, selecting Options, then entering the new band name. Creating meaningful band names is valuable when creating bands that reference other bands.
Editing the Report Design There are a number of toolbar icons within the Editor that will be discussed further in the next example, but for this report a title will be added to the Page Header band by clicking the A icon (Text Field Object) on the toolbar then clicking anywhere within the Page Header band. The Edit Text Field dialog box will appear in which you can create text for the band as well as change the font size, color, etc. You can also change the background color of the band.
Figure 47 – Background color of Page Header Band changed Next the text for the labels in the Column Header will be changed. Right-click on each label, select edit, then type in the new name for the label. In this example, the text for each label will be capitalized. Execute (or preview) the report and it will look like this (larger font for “Employee Roster”) and all titles capitalized. You may need to reduce the font size of the Column Header fields to 10 to make the report look more readable.
After executing the report again you can see the report is now sorted by Employee ID. Figure 50 – The report after sorting by Employee ID Your first simple Banded Report is now complete. The next step is to enhance the report to obtain the final report format. Resizing and Aligning Fields As fields are added to the report, you may need to resize them to ensure that the contents of the fields will fit into the space allocated by the editor.
Aligning Fields When repositioning a field by dragging it, Argos will display blue horizontal or vertical alignment guidelines to assist you in aligning a field with other fields. In the figure below, note the blue vertical alignment line (to the left of the “R” in REGION) that appears when moving the REGION title to align it with the region_name field.
Enhancing the Report The report will now be enhanced to appear in its final form by: Sorting the employees by department name. Adding page counts and dates to the report. Creating and highlighting groups. Summing employee count and salaries by department and by entire company.
Add Date, Page Number, Page Count From within the Editor, click the “Add a System Data Field” icon on the toolbar, then click anywhere within the Page Header band. Add System Data Field Icon on Band Report Editor Toolbar Figure 59 – Selecting the Date from the list of system data fields There are a number of Date/Time selections, but select Date for this example. You need not enter anything into the Text field for this example.
Enter the first segment of the expression which consists of the string ‘Page No. ‘: ` Figure 62 – The first segment of the text string Click the ‘Function’ button to display the list of available functions. The + operator concatenates strings and eliminates leading/trailing spaces. Figure 63 – Select the PAGENUMBER function Figure 64 – Enter the remaining segment of the expression Click the Function button again to display the list of functions again. www.evisions.
Figure 65 – Select the PAGECOUNT function Figure 66 – The completed expression Figure 67 – Select Autosize width to ensure the new field will fit www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.0 – Last Updated 10.18.
The new field is now positioned within the Page Header Band. If it is not positioned in the desired location, drag the field until it is underneath the date. Adding bands to the Report Click on the desired band icon, then click anywhere within the report image displayed within the Editor. The band will then be added to the report. Creating the Group Bands Next Group Header and Group Footer bands will be created which will surround the Detail Band.
Remember that when grouping by a particular field (dept. name in this example), the data must be sorted by the same field. Figure 70 – Adding the database field to Group-by field listbox Enter dept_name into the group-by field or expression textbox. A later example will illustrate how to group by an expression as opposed to this example where grouping is done by database field. Click the Create button at the upper right to create a corresponding Group Footer, then click OK.
At this point the report will look like this: . Figure 72 – The Report showing the grouping by Department Name Note the grouping by Department Name as well as the existence of the date and page count at the top right of the report. The following will now be done: • • • • • Move the department name into the Group Header Band Add background color to the Group Header Band Add a child band after the Group Header band which will contain column headers. The existing column header band will then be removed.
Figure 73 – Adding a background color to the Group Header Band After this is completed, delete the column header for department name. After some resizing and repositioning of fields, the report should look like this: Figure 74 - Highlighting the Group Header Band www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.0 – Last Updated 10.18.
Add Child Band Following the Group Header Band Rather than printing the column headings at the top of each page, it is desired to print them immediately after the Group Header Band. Therefore a Child Band will be used to accomplish this. Within the Band Report Editor click the “Create a New Child Band” icon, then click anywhere within the report image. The following dialog box will be displayed.
Figure 77 – The report showing the Group and Child Bands Note that the column headers are now printed under each Group Header Band. Add Employee Count and Salary Sum Next a count of employees and sum of salaries for each department will be placed within the Group Footer Band and will print after the Detail Band for each department. The employee count and salary sum will be done using the Expression Wizard.
Build the following within the Expression Wizard using the same procedure as described above for the PAGENUMBER and PAGECOUNT fields. The COUNT function is found under the Statistical category within the Wizard. You may need to extend the width of the field to have it print correctly (or check the “Autosize width” box in the previous figure to allocate sufficient room for the field.
Figure 81 – Selecting the parameter for SUM function Click the ellipsis button. Figure 82 – Selecting the database field Select “Database field” since the parameter for the SUM function is the employee salary and comes from the DataBlock. Figure 83 – Selecting the salary field www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.0 – Last Updated 10.18.
Figure 84 – The completed expression As was done with the COUNT function, check the “Reset after print” box to reset the sum to zero for each band. Also, check “Autosize width” to guarantee that enough room will be set aside for the new field to print. This item will be placed under the employee count field, thus you may need to increase the height of the band for the new field to fit. You may also select “Autostretch height” and the height of the band will be increased for you.
Create a new Summary Band using the icon within the Band Report Editor toolbar Figure 85 – Adding the Summary Band Figure 86 – The Report Format after adding the Summary Band Notice the new Summary Band at the bottom of the report with the solid line surrounding the band. Now add the employee count and sum of salaries to the Summary Band by copying the expressions from the Group Header Band and pasting them into the Summary Band.
Note the total employee count and sum of salaries as well as the frame around the Summary Band. The final report now appears as shown below. Additional Group Bands This example utilizes a single Group Band to group employees by department name. If desired, additional Group Bands could be created to group, for example, by Region. Thus, nesting of Group Bands provides multi-levels of grouping.
Formatting Numeric Output Example 2 Introduction The Banded Report in the previous example shows the sum of salaries without any formatting, that is, without dollar signs or commas. Instead of printing “Total Sum of Employee Salaries = 1923000 in the Summary Band, it is desired to print it as $1,923,000. To format the output you need to edit the field within the Band Editor. Right-click the field to be formatted which brings up the Edit Expression Field dialog box shown below.
Figure 90 – Selecting the formatting option The field being edited will then be displayed using the format chosen. However, the example above needs to be modified in order to use the formatting since the field containing the sum also contains a leading string “Total Sum of Employee Salaries”. Argos cannot format the entire field since the expression also contains a string. Therefore the leading string must be separated from the SUM, and only the SUM field should be formatted.
Figure 93 – The formatted numeric output printed The same procedure can be used to format the Sum of Employees Salaries within the Group Footer Band. www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.0 – Last Updated 10.18.
Group By Expression Example 3 Introduction The previous examples illustrated how to group employees by department, where the database field dept_name was used as the field to group by. It is also possible to group where an expression defines the grouping criteria. This will be demonstrated in this example where the employee list will be grouped by the first letter of the employee last name. An expression will be developed to be used as the criteria for grouping.
Figure 95 – The format of the report prior to creating groups Create a Band Group Create a band group by clicking the “Create a Band Group” icon on the Band Report Editor toolbar. The Header dialog box will appear as shown below. Since grouping by the first letter of the employee last name is to be done, you need to enter an appropriate expression into the “Group-by-field or expression” box.
The COPY function returns a substring, and for this example you need to choose the Employee Last Name field from the database (using the same method as in previous examples) and return the first character from the string by entering the following: Figure 98 – Obtaining the first letter of the last name The expression to return the first letter of the last name has now been inserted into the Group-by-field or expression box.
Figure 100 – Adding the expression to print within the Group Header Drag the field containing the expression to the left edge, then set the font to 14 point bold. The desired report will print as follows: Figure 101 – The final report grouped by first letter of employee last name www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.0 – Last Updated 10.18.
Creating Mailing Labels Example 4 Introduction The Argos Band Editor can be used to generate labels for an extensive list of labels from many different manufactures. You can also create your own custom label size as well. Select the Mailing Labels Report Type To use the Band Editor to generate labels, begin the report creation using procedures outlined in previous examples. However, on the form where you select the Report type, choose the ‘Mailing Labels’ option.
The next form allows you to choose the Label Format. First select the Vendor, and then the Format. For this example select the vendor Avery Standard, using the 2163 layout. Click Finish to continue. Figure 103 – Selecting the Mailing Label Type Note: If the label you are using is not listed, select one that is close to what you are using as you will be given opportunity later on to change the size and position of the individual label. On the figure above, a sample of the layout is displayed.
You will need to rearrange the fields to appear as follows on the label: first name last name Street 1 Street 2 Street 3 City, State Zip By selecting a field and clicking and dragging, the field can be moved. Using the alignment tools, multiple fields can be selected and properly aligned. For example, to make sure the all the fields are aligned on the same left margin, select the fields in question and press the Left Alignment icon.
Figure 106 – The Rich Text Field Editor The RTF Editor can be thought of a mini text editor and provides various text formatting features. The fields to be added to the label will be identified by clicking the E=mc2 icon (then selecting the desired database field within the expression builder) to obtain the desired field. Perform this repeatedly for each field to include within the label. The result is shown in the figure below.
Suppress printing of empty lines Fields Street_Line2 and Street_Line3 may not contain data, therefore if they are empty these lines should not be printed. To accommodate this condition, click the red X icon (Remove Line if Empty) on the upper right of the dialog box. This will cause empty lines to not be printed.
Group Band on new page/reset counter Example 5 Introduction This example illustrates a situation where it is desired to print each group on a new page and to reset the page number to 1 for each group. The COUNTER and RESETEXPR functions will be utilized to accomplish this. Example 1 showed how to reset the SUM and COUNT functions after printing (by selecting the “Reset after print” check box).
Note that the page numbers increment for each employee, but will be reset to 1 for the next employee. The following describes the format of the report. The Title Band contains the text string “Employee Sales”. The Column Header Band contains the Sale Date, Quantity, and Product Name Headers. The Group Header Band contains the employee last name and first name. It also contains the function RESETEXPR. The Detail Band contains the sale date, quantity, and product name.
The COUNTER function was added to the Page Footer Band as shown in the above report design. Since the Page Footer Band is printed on each page, the counter will increment on each page as well. Reset the COUNTER expression The name of the COUNTER expression must be obtained such that it can be reset within the RESETEXPR function. To obtain the name, right-click on the [‘Page ‘ + COUNTER] expression then click “Options’ to obtain the Expression Name, which in this case is Expression1.
Conditional Printing Example 6 Introduction When an Argos DataBlock is initially designed, the developer creates a form that the Report Viewer uses to filter or limit the data that will be displayed. There are times when it would be useful to run the same report, but filter the data on information not available on the form.
Figure 117 – Entering the criteria for conditional printing For this band (PO_Footer) an expression was entered to limit the printed information. The complete expression is shown in the figure below which satisfies the condition for printing as described above. Conditional Printing can be used for any band type. For Detail Bands, conditional printing is applied to each record within the band, but for other bands it applies to printing or not printing the entire band.
After adding the expression, the report now appears in the figure below with Purchase Orders only printed if invoice received = ‘y’ and invoice paid = ‘n’. It is necessary to enclose each portion of the expression within parentheses. Figure 119 – The final report with conditional printing applied www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.0 – Last Updated 10.18.
Starting with a Blank Report Type Example 7 Introduction Icons on Band Report Editor toolbar for creating bands Previous examples demonstrated the creation of a Banded Report using the List and Mailing Labels report types. As you have seen, other report types are available within the Banded Report Wizard Report Type Library (List Report, Tabular, Blank, Form Style, and Mailing Labels). If none of the Report Types meet your needs, you can create a custom report using the Blank Report Type.
Using Sub-Detail Bands Example 8 Introduction The use of Sub-Detail Bands increases the Band Editor’s functionality by allowing subreports that provide additional information for each record in the Detail Band. A Sub-Detail Band prints one dataset while being linked to another dataset (called the Master). As each record is printed in the Master dataset, Argos will execute the dataset in the Sub-Detail Band and print the Sub-Detail Band once for each row returned.
Figure 121 – Tables to be used to create datasets for Sub-Detail Bands Note that none of the tables are joined since for this example these tables are considered separate datasets from the Main Report DataBlock. This also simulates the situation where the datasets can exist in an entirely different database from the database used within the DataBlock. A report is to be created such that for each employee within the Employees table, associated records within the other datasets will be printed.
The process for creating the Banded Report shown above follows: Create the Title and Detail Bands First a List Report Type is chosen, with a Title Band and Detail Bands created. The Detail Band contains the Employee ID, and employee last name/first name concatenated. Also the band has been given a purple background color. Create the datasets Four datasets will be created and named empl_phone, empl_email, Emergency, and Dependents.
Figure 125 – Selecting fields from the Employee_Phone table Next the WHERE clause is utilized to link the emp_id field in this table to the emp_id field within the Employees table in the Main DataBlock. Figure 126 – Linking the Employees table to the Employee_Phone table After creating the WHERE clause, the SQL for the empl_phone dataset appears as follows: Figure 127 – The query for the empl_phone dataset www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.0 – Last Updated 10.18.
Click OK. The Band Report Editor now shows the empl_phone dataset in the upper right portion of the window. Figure 128 – The empl_phone query shown in the Band Report Editor Click the green plus sign to create the other three datasets (empl_email, Emergency, and Dependents) using the Employee_Email, Employee_Emerg_Contact, and Employee_Dependents tables using the same method that was used to create the empl_phone dataset.
Figure 130 – Properties of the first Sub-Detail Band Select empl_phone from the dataset drop-down menu since this is the dataset applied to this band. Also, uncheck the “Print header/footer even if dataset is empty” box. Unchecking the box will prevent the band from printing if there is no data within the dataset. Click OK to continue.
Select empl_phone as the dataset and the phone_number field then click OK. The phone_number field will be added to the band. Repeat the procedure to add the phone_type to the same band. Repeat this procedure (adding fields) for each band. Add text fields to each band by selecting the “Adding a text field”.
Figure 134 – Choosing another connection After choosing the appropriate connection you can then select the appropriate tables from the external database, build the dataset query, and add fields to Sub-Detail Bands using the same methods described in this example. www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.0 – Last Updated 10.18.
Adding Parameter Input to the Report Example 9 Banded Reports obtain query results from the DataBlock to report on the contents of a database. Other information not contained within the Report Query can be obtained and inserted into your report, including items such as: Date and time the report was generated Information about the database connection such as DataSource name, Driver file name and version, SQL format, etc.
Figure 136 – The list of system variables For this example, the DataBlock name as well as the departments selected within the DataBlock form will be placed into Summary Band that was created in Example 1. The DataBlock form for Example 1 consists of a list of department names which is contained in the variable LISTBOX1.DEPT_NAME shown at the bottom of the list in the above figure. To add the selected department names into the Summary Band, click the LISTBOX1.
Link With Band Example 10 Lonely Group Header Band Occasionally, depending on the number and size of bands in your report, you may get pages that have Group Header Bands at the end of a page. Its corresponding Detail Bands are then printed on the following pages as illustrated in the figure below. Figure 138 – Lonely Group Header Lonely Group Footer Band In other cases, a page will have just enough room to print the last Detail Band.
In the case of the lonely group footer, you would set the Link with band option in the detail band since the Group Footer Band comes after the Detail Band. . Figure 140 – Group Header Linked to Detail Band The data entered as shown in the figure above would produce the report in the figure below and corrects the lonely group header. In this case, the Header 1 band is linked to the detail band “myDetailBand”.
Figure 142 – Detail Band Linked to Group Footer The data entered in the figure above would produce the report in the figure below and corrects the lonely group footer. In this case, the Detail Band was configured to link with the Footer 1 band. Notice how there is still room for more data on page 1, yet the last detail record for group 1 is not printed until page 2 with its group footer. Figure 143 – The Lonely Group Footer corrected www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.
Creating a Chart Example 11 This example will demonstrate how to add a simple chart to a Banded Report as shown in the figure below. Charting in Argos The chart to be created in this example is very simple and was included primarily to show how to add a chart to a Banded Report. Chart icon on Band Report Editor toolbar Figure 144 – Banded Report with a chart The report contains a list of employees (ID and name) within a department and a chart showing the salary of each employee.
Figure 145 – Report Design with Title, Column Header, and Detail Bands Add a Summary Band A chart can be added to any type of band. For this example it is added to the Summary Band. Add the band using methods you are now accustomed to. Add a Chart Object Click on the Chart icon on the toolbar, then click anywhere within the Summary Band to add the chart object.
Figure 149 – Adding information into the Data Tab Click the “Type” tab where you can select various types of charts (Bar, Pie, Line, etc.). This example creates a bar chart which is the default selection, so no change is required. Click on the “Labels” tab to display various label options. Uncheck the “Visible Label” box. The image on the right of the window will show the effect of checking/unchecking this box. Click the “Bar Option” tab and uncheck the “3D” and “Color Each” boxes.
Figure 151 – The completed report design Run the report and select “Technical Support” for the Department Name. The parameter entered is shown below. Figure 152 – The query parameter The resulting Banded Report with included chart is shown below. See the Argos DataBlock Designers Guide (or Help) for a more complete description of Charting within Argos. Figure 153 – The final report www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.0 – Last Updated 10.18.
Creating an Extract Report Example 12 Introduction An Extract Report is designed to create output files that meet pre-defined specifications. This feature is especially useful for creating delimited output that is more complex than a simple comma-separated file (CSV), for creating a fixed-width file in which each field is precisely positioned on a given line, or for creating an XML file. This could include files that you might upload to a government agency, clearinghouse, or service bureau.
You can create multiple Detail sections in an output file. You might have one simply follow another. For example, if you wanted a list of all regular checks, followed by a list of all voided checks, you would simply add a pair of Detail sections. Each Detail section is associated with its own dataset, and can be formatted however you require. Another option is to make a Detail section a “parent” of a subsequent Detail section (referred to as the Sub-Detail section).
The Report Specification This example will create an Extract Report loosely based on the Internal Revenue Service Publication 1120, Specifications for Filing Forms 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, 5498, 8935, and W-2G. The intent of the example is not to create a file adhering to the entire specification, but to illustrate how the Extract Report could be used to create such a report. Therefore, not all aspects of the specification are included in this example.
A Record Field Name Width Value Fill character Alignment Record Type 1 A Payment Year 4 2009 Record Sequence Number 10 Obtained from DataBlock zero right Payers TIN 9 Obtained from DataBlock Payers Name 20 Obtained from DataBlock blank left Type of Return 1 A (represents 1099-MISC form) Field Name Width Value Fill character Alignment Record Type 1 B Payment Year 4 2009 Record Sequence Number 10 Obtained from DataBlock zero right Payee TIN 9 Obtained from DataBloc
F Record Field Name Width Value Fill character Alignment Record Type 1 F Payment Year 4 2009 Record Sequence Number 10 Obtained from DataBlock zero right Number of A records 10 Obtained from DataBlock zero right unused 21 blank unused 19 blank Number of B records 10 Obtained from DataBlock zero right Again, the above is a small subset of the required fields, but demonstrates the types of fields, fill characters, and alignment required by the IRS specification.
Create a New Report As with other report types, go to the Argos Explorer, right-click on the DataBlock to be used for this report, then select “New Report”. Give the report a Name and Description, click “Extract text report”, then the “Create” button. The DataBlock used in this example The Sample Database used for other examples in this guide will also be used here and will create 1099 forms for vendors that supplied services to the Company existing in the Sample Database.
The Extract Report Editor The Extract Report Editor is used to design the Extract Report. There are three areas within the editor shown in the figure below. Report Structure, where sections used in the report are created. Properties that apply to all sections and fields are also identified in this area. Configure Report, where properties of individual sections and fields are specified. Fields are also added in this area. Datasets, where datasets used in the report are created and displayed.
Configure the Report The first step is to configure the report be selecting options shown within the “Configure Report” area. Click “Report Options” to display the options under the Settings tab. The Report Formats Although there are 3 different output report formats, the report design process is virtually identical for all report types. Figure 159 – Configure Report ( Settings Tab) The Report Format field allows you to select from Fixed Width, Delimited, and XML formatted reports.
Add datasets The next step is to add the datasets that will be used in the report. The datasets that were created in the DataBlock’s Report Query are displayed as shown in the figure below. The ArgosData dataset is the main dataset that obtains payments made to vendors. The Counter dataset contains a count of the number of vendors that payments were made to.
Added datasets vs. datasets in Report Query Figure 163 – Entering the Table name The “Company” table will be displayed. Double-click on Transmitter_TIN and Transmitter_ Name as they will be used in the T and A records. Click “OK” to continue. Datasets added during creation of the Extract Report are shown with a colored icon. Datasets contained in the Report Query are not colored.
Note the field names under each Dataset. They will each be placed into various sections within the Extract Report. Now that the required Datasets exist, the sections and fields can be added to the report. Add the section for the T Record Type (Title Section) A right-click anywhere within the Report Structure area displays the following menu items for adding, deleting, or moving sections. The first section in the report creates the T Record Type and reads the single record from the Company Dataset.
Add fields to the section The next step is to add fields to this section. The fields to be added from the datasets are Transmitter_TIN and Transmitter_Name (from the Company dataset), and the number of payees (from the Counter dataset). Constant fields will be used for record type (T) and payment year (2009). Finally, an expression field (COUNT) will be used to create the Record Sequence Number. Click on the Fields tab shown in the figure above to activate the area where fields are displayed and configured.
Record Sequence Number – Add a COUNT expression as shown below which will increment for each record. Dragging Dataset fields If you drag a Dataset field from the Datasets area to the Configure Section area, you will need to click on the field after dragging for the configurable properties to appear. This step is not required when using the other methods for adding fields to a section. Figure 170 –Adding the COUNT expression The COUNT field will then appear as shown in the figure below.
Extract Report Editor Icons Icon Description Close the Editor. Save your work. Figure 172 –The section with all fields added Undo the last operation. Save your work and test the report You can save your work at any time by clicking the save icon at the top left of the Report Editor. You can view the report by clicking the green circular icon containing an arrow. The icon is shown in the sidebar to the right. Redo the last undone operation. Click the small arrow to view undo history. Test the report.
Add the section for the A Record Type (Detail Section) This section identifies the institution making payments to vendors. For this example, the transmitter is the same institution as the institution making the payments. Therefore the company name and TIN for this record contains the same values used in the T record. Add the section Add a Detail Section beneath the T Record and name it “A Record”.
Figure 174 – copy/paste fields to this section After the paste operation, change the field name from T to A, and change the value to A. Then add the Return Type as a constant field, give it a value of A, and set the width to 1.
Add the section and fields Add a Detail Section, name it “B Record” and select ArgosData as the Associated Dataset. Then add the Record Type = B, Payment Year, Record Sequence Number in the same fashion that was done for the T and A records. Then add the Payee TIN, PayeeName, and TotalCost fields from the ArgosData dataset. Right align the COUNT and TotalCost fields, and left align the PayeeTIN and PayeeName fields.
Add the Sections for the C Record Type (Header and Footer Sections) The C record type contains the number of payees (B records) as well as the sum of all payments made by the payer. Therefore, Header and Footer sections will be created which will count the number of B records and will sum the payment amounts in the B records.
Figure 179 –The Footer Section for the C Record Type Add the fields to the C Record Using methods shown above, add the Record Type, Payment Year, Record Sequence Number fields by copying them from other sections and pasting them into the C Record. Add a COUNT expression, right align, and name it TotalBRecords. Select “B Record” for the “Controlled by Detail Section” field since the COUNT expression must count the number of records in the B (detail) section.
Add the Section for the F Record Type (Summary Section) The F Record Type is the end of transmission record and must appear as the last record in the report. Therefore a Summary Section is used for this Record Type. Add a Summary Section Add the Summary Section and name it “F Record”. The record will be placed as the last section. Since this record contains fields to be included in the report, keep the “Print this section” box checked. At this point, all sections have been added and appear as shown below.
Figure 183 –The F Record with all fields added Save your work and test the report The report is now completed, therefore save it and click the “Test this Report” icon to preview the report. The completed report appears as follows: Figure 184 –Testing the completed report design www.evisions.com Argos - Argos Report Writers Guide Document Version 1.0 – Last Updated 10.18.
Execute the Report Extract Reports are executed in the same fashion as other report types. Select the report from the Argos Explorer window, then click the Execute button to execute the report. The icons shown below are used to represent the Report Type.
The Report in Delimited Report Format The above report in delimited format would appear as follows (using comma as the delimiter).
If you override the defaults, the appearance of the report will differ. For example, if the “Is Attribute” option is unchecked for a given field, then the XML syntax for the field is: field value In this example, if the “Is Attribute” field in the F Record is unchecked for the B_Count field, the XML created is shown below and differs from the figure above.
Argos Resources Evisions Forum Comprised of Argos clients for sharing of information about Evisions’ products The Support Site The support site can be accessed through the web using the following URL: HelpDesk Technical issues can be logged here. http://www.evisions.com/Support/Overview.aspx Navigating to this site through the link or through Evisions’ main page will require login credentials before allowing material to be downloaded.
Evisions Forums: collaborate with peers and share ideas about the Evisions Suite of Products based upon specific topics. The forums are also used to provide Evisions product/update information to clients. Forums can be found on the Evisions web site under the CO-OP User Community page. The HelpDesk: Technical issues can be logged here. The link to the HelpDesk is listed below under “Important Links”. The CO-OP User Community Like the support site, the COOP can be accessed in two ways: 1.
Table of Figures Figure 1 – Explorer objects............................................................................................................ 11 Figure 3 – Explorer Navigation .................................................................................................... 12 Figure 2 – Options for QuickLaunch .......................................................................................... 12 Figure 4 – QuickLaunch View ................................................................
Figure 43 – Selecting Page Settings ........................................................................................... 32 Figure 44 – The Report Format showing Column Headings and Fields.......................... 32 Figure 45 – Properties of the Text Field .................................................................................... 33 Figure 46 – The text field added to the Page Header Band ................................................
Figure 87 –Employee count and salary sum within Group & Summary Bands............. 50 Figure 88 – The completed report .............................................................................................. 51 Figure 89 – Choosing the field to be formatted ..................................................................... 52 Figure 90 – Selecting the formatting option ........................................................................... 53 Figure 91 – The expression as one string ...........
Figure 132 – The final report design with all four Sub_Detail bands............................... 77 Figure 133 – Dataset Properties – selecting another connection ..................................... 77 Figure 134 – Choosing another connection ............................................................................ 78 Figure 135 – Adding an expression ............................................................................................ 79 Figure 136 – The list of system variables .............
Figure 177 – Testing the report ................................................................................................. 104 Figure 178 –Adding a Header Section ..................................................................................... 105 Figure 179 –The Footer Section for the C Record Type...................................................... 106 Figure 180 – Adding the SUM function ...................................................................................
