JAIX Reports Design for Beginners

Basics of Report Design

This document contains reference material to be used in conjunction with the Reporting – Level 1 Standard Training Module. This is an entry level overview of Reporting functions and basic manipulation within the JAIX Report Designer. Although this guide is specifically tailored to Reports, JAIX Forms will use the same Report Designer and toolset. Reports are used to collate information from a database in a logical and digestible format. These can be run at will, or scheduled with a recurrence pattern. Forms are used to export specific records and a way to customize the presentation of that record. Forms are used for everything from Consignment Notes, Invoices, and Warehouse Dockets etc.

JAIX Report Designer is using the DevExpress Toolset.

Please see their official documentation for additional information.
https://devexpress.io/report-designer.html+

Glossary

The Basics

Create New Report / Form

To create a new report, navigate to the Report Manager within the JAIX Module and Sub-Menu section related to the report.

JAIX Reports can be either Saved as a Copy or created from scratch. If you create a new report, the Data Set will be restricted to General.

This will not provide any access to fields within JAIX by default.

It is expected that a New Report will be used in conjunction with a Custom Data Set. This kind of Data Set will be covered in a later section of the guide.

JAIX Forms on the other hand must be based on a pre-existing Standard Form. The only way to create a custom form is to edit an existing Form and Save as Copy.

Navigate to the Form Manager within the Tools menu of the related JAIX Module.

Select the Design Icon, and once the Form Designer has opened, click the "Save As Copy" Icon.

• All Report and Form names must be unique, and must have a Description.
• Creating copies of Reports/Forms is a useful method to keep track of changes and allow those changes to be discarded easily.
• Custom Forms will always be stored within the Group that the Form was created from.
• Custom Reports can be stored in any Group other than "Pre-Defined".
• Report Groups can be added/removed as required.
• Reports can be generated at will by double-clicking them.
• Forms must be generated through the function they were designed for.
• Only the Report Owner can edit a Report. Anyone can edit a Form
• Report/Form Owner can be changed within JAIX Admin > Tools > Report Manager
• Users can only see a Report/Form if it has been shared to their User Role

Scheduling Reports

Reports can be automatically generated and exported using scheduled reports. To create a new Scheduled Report, navigate to the Report Manager within the appropriate JAIX Module and select the report that is to be scheduled. Click the New Schedule Icon, or Edit Schedule to change the Report Options or schedule settings of a pre-existing Report schedule.

Clicking Edit Schedule on a Report that already has multiple Schedules will present the option to select which Schedule to edit.

Either method will open the Report Options menu populated with the default or saved options. Any changes made here will also modify the scheduled report. Once the options have been set, click Schedule. 

Scheduled Reports can be viewed and edited through JAIX Admin > System > Service > Task Scheduler

The Schedule Options menu allows for up to three output methods:

• Email Report
• Save to Storage
• Upload to FTP Site

Email Report - Multiple email addresses delimited by ;

Save to Storage - Network Path, Server Name and optional Login credentials

Upload to FTP Site - Drop-Down will populate with a list of FTP Sites from within JAIX Admin > System > FTP Sites

Format – PDF, CSV, XLS, TXT, XLSX

Range of Recurrence:

• Start Date
• End Date
• End After Count
• Active ON/OFF
• In Error – This will toggle if the schedule was unable to complete. Turn off within the Task Scheduler in JAIX Admin

Recurrence Pattern:

• Hourly – 24 hour selection
• Daily – Every # Days or Weekdays
• Weekly – Every # Weeks including Weekday selection
• Monthly
• Yearly

Report Manager

The Report Manager is used to manage all JAIX reports from a single location instead of within individual modules and can be found within JAIX Admin > Tools > Repot Manager.

Copy - The Copy function can be used to create a new version of an existing report, along with setting:

• Name – Name of new Report
  • Type - Copy - Creates a Copy within the Branch / Entity selected
  • Type - Link – This will create a Copy that's linked to the original report within the Branch / Entity selected. This will allow multiple entities to access the Report, and any changes made to the Original Report will also affect the Linked Copy.
• Branch
• Entity
• Report Group
•  Shared To

Edit - The Edit function will change the Report Owner. Only the owner of a report can use the delete function and change sharing settings.

Shared To - Only Reports that have been shared can be seen and used by Users other than the Report Owner.

Options Menu

Any report other than the JAIX Standard can have their Options Menu modified and default values saved. This can be used to generate very custom reports that require no user input before being run.
Functions:

• Hide – This will remove the option from view*
• Lock – This will set the option to Inactive*
• Save – All option settings will be held and pre-populated the next time the options menu is opened
• Reset – Resets all options back to the JAIX Standard version
• Print – This will print the report results directly
• Preview – This will open the report results within the Report Preview window

These functions only affect the visual aspect of the option, no change will be made to the report itself.

Standard Controls

Pointer – Default cursor for selecting objects Label – Default field that can be used to hold static text or bound data field. This is the most common field used. Check Box – For manual entry once printed or automatic population based on data. Expressions can be used to toggle the Check Box to ticked/unticked. Rich Text – Holds text that can be imported directly from a word document or any other text formatted in the source data Picture Box – Used to hold an imported image Panel – Function to allow multiple Labels to be held together in a single group. Panels allow the user to resize, format and move groups of Labels quickly Table – Another function for grouping and formatting Labels. When a tables is resized, all cells grow or shrink uniformly Character Comb – Function that allows each character to be split into separate cells. Can populate with static string or data binding Line – Simple line that will only display within the report section placed in Shape – Simple shapes. Rectangle, Ellipse, Triangle, Square amongst others. Can be formatted as required Barcode – All standard Symbology accepted. Defaulted to Code 128. Any field can be bound to a Barcode Label which will print on the Report/Form Chart – Provides access to Chart Designer. This allows Drag & Drop simplicity to generate Bar, Line, Pie and other chart types Gauge – Visual representation of data not dissimilar to the Chart function. Set a minimum and maximum value and decide on circular / linear format. Sparkline – To be used to visually display field values over a time period. The minimum and maximum values will be highlighted. Pivot Grid – Allows fields from a single record to be displayed within the same column. Pivot grids will expand based on the number of records provided. Sub-Report – This can call another saved report to then be generated within the primary report. No options will be available for selection for sub-reports Table of Contents – To be created manually within the Report Designer Page Info – A Label pre-set with either Page Number, Printed DateTime, Username and page count Page Break – Forces the Report / Form to begin printing on a new page Cross-Band Line – Single line that will be visible across all report bands (See Report Bands) Cross-Band Box – Box that is visible across all report bands (See Report Bands)

Running / Exporting Reports

To run a Report, navigate to the Report Manager and double click the report icon. This will open the options menu for that specific report.

Once the options have been selected, click Print or Preview.

Print – This will prompt the user to select a printer and then immediately generate the results.

Preview – This will open the Report Preview interface. From here the user can view the generated report, modify a few basic settings and then either print or export to file.

• Print – This will prompt the user to select a printer
• Quick Print – This will check User Settings for the default printer and then automatically select and print results
• Parameters – Will only show if report has custom parameters that have been added. This will be covered later in the document
• Scale – Increase or decrease report as a whole using either percentage or number of pages to fit in
• Margins – Increase or decrease page margins to avoid printer cropping
• Orientation – Landscape or Portrait
• Size – Page Size
• Find – Simple text search function to find key words
• Page Colour – This will change the background colour for the entire report.
• Watermark – Text or Image can be placed against each page printed. Opacity can be set as required.

Export To – A number of export formats are supported, each of which will open their own specific options windows. The most common export methods are PDF, CSV, DOCX.

Email As – Same formats and options as above. Once the file is saved, your default email program will open with the file linked as an attachment.

Tips:

• PDF - Meta Data can be set
• PDF - Password lock can be set
• CSV - Allows custom delimiters but defaults to comma
• DOCX - Single file page-by-page will create a new document for each page
• IMG - All common image formats supported

Formatting Fields

Positioning / Sizing

Fields can be moved by clicking and dragging or using the arrow keys on the keyboard. There are also multiple methods for aligning fields quickly with greater accuracy.

• Holding CTRL while pressing an arrow key will move the field one pixel at a time.
• Holding SHIFT while pressing an arrow key will resize the field to the maximum or minimum size given the space provided.
• Holding both CTRL and SHIFT at the same time while pressing an arrow key will resize the field one pixel at a time.

There are also a number of tools that can be used to align fields.

Notes:

•  All the above functions can be used while selecting multiple fields at once. The change will affect all fields.
• Fields that overlap will be highlighted in red to advise the user.

Font / Alignment

The text within fields can be resized, aligned and the font/colour/background all changed as required.

Basic Formatting tools will be presented in the Report Designer Toolbar:

From here you can edit:

• Background Colour
• Border Colour
• Border Dash Style
• Border Width
• Border Locations
• Font Style
• Font Size
• Bold/Italic/Underline/Strikethrough
• Font Colour
• Padding
• Text Alignment
• Text Trimming

More advanced Formatting tools can be accessed within the Properties tab on the right-hand side of the Report Designer.

• Select the Field you wish to modify
• Click Properties
• Select the Appearance Tab

Adding New Fields

Drag & Drop

The simplest method of adding/rebinding Labels is to drag the required field from the Field List.
Click and drag the field required either onto a blank section of the Report Designer or onto an already existing Label.

Tips:

• Selecting a pre-existing label can point users to the correct Data Member
• Selecting a field will show a small arrow icon, this can be used to quickly change label bindings, expressions, text and format strings.

Expressions

The Expression Editor allows the user to search through available fields and bind them to a Label. Simply begin typing and Auto-Fill will attempt to populate with any available fields. Simple expressions can allow users to add fields together, or perform some kind of formatting change based on field data. Advanced expression functions will be covered in a later section of this manual.

Binding Up / Down

You are able to bind fields from levels above the Detail Report Data Member. Example: Binding Consignment Number when the Detail Report is bound to Consignment Details.

You are able to bind fields from levels below the Detail Report Data Member, but the Report/Form will only populate with the first record found. The level at which you bind a Detail Report determines which fields you have access to, and the number of records reported on.

Format Strings

This allows the Label to present different information based on the string provided. Example: The number of decimal places for a numerical field, or the Date Format.

Grouping and Sorting

Report Bands

Detail Report - Adding a new Detail Report can be completed by right clicking within the grid, and selecting Insert Detail Report > Unbound. Each Detail Report can be bound to different Data Source and Data Member. Each Detail Report will contain its own Detail Band, and can contain as many Group Headers and Group Footers as required. It's possible to have multiple Detail Reports, each will generate separately and can report on different things. Sub-Detail Reports can also be created to report on every record from the parent Detail Report.

Detail Band - The Detail Band can be used to report on each record within the Data Member table after any filters are applied. A single row will be generated per record,

Group Header - Usually used as Header Label fields to present column titles for the report. The Group Header will be repeated depending on the Field Binding set for the Group.

Group Footer - Usually used as a way to summarize / total the Detail Band values. The Group Footer will be repeated depending on the Field Binding set for the Group. You are unable to have a Group Footer unless a Group Header is active for that Group Field.

Sorting - Any Group without the Header or Footer visible will function as a sort. Sorting methods are Ascending, Descending or None.

Page Header / Footer – These bands are at the top and bottom of every page in a report. They display information that should be printed on every page.

Report Header / Footer – The Report Header is the report's first band (margins are "out-of-page" zones). The Report Footer is placed before the Page Footer and Bottom Margin on the report's last page. You can use the Report Footer band for report summaries or conclusions.

Binding Report / Form

Any Report / Form will require a Data Source and Data Member to be set. All JAIX Standard Reports / Forms will have this set by default. Users can check and change the Data Source and Data Member by selecting the hamburger menu icon in the top left of the Report Designer. The Data Member controls what level the standard Detail Band reports at. For example, setting the Data Member as Consignments Detail Table would result in a new row being created for each Consignment Detail Record. If the Data Member is then bound to Consignment level, only a single Detail row would be created per Consignment. Any Detail level fields will then only report on the First consignment Detail record.

All JAIX Standard Reports and Forms have a pre-existing Data Set. Users can create a new Data Set using the Data Source wizard covered later in this document.

Data Member fields within any specific Data Set will list all fields including those that are not populated. JAIX does not populate all fields within a Data set in order to increase performance of Report and Form generation. As a JAIX user, any request for fields to be added or populated to an existing Data Set will be given consideration. Please contact JAIX to make a request.

Group and Sort

 Grouping is very important and has a high impact on how a Report will format. Consider the Detail Report Data Member, and how that information should be grouped and sorted. If the Data Member is bound at Item level, consider grouping at header level so that the report shows each item PER Consignment/Docket. Another grouping could then be set at Debtor level.

Each Detail Report has its own Group and Sort priority. The order can be changed by clicking Move Up and Move Down. Each Field constitutes a Sort, while any Field with a Header or Footer visible, will create a Group. Ticking Show Header / Footer will automatically create the corresponding band within the Report Designer Grid. Unticking will remove the band, along with any Objects / Labels within that Band.

For Example: Customer Group added to JAIX Standard Freight Activity Report with Detail.

Before Customer Grouping	After Customer Grouping