The JADE Report Writer Designer application is a highly graphical tool for creating reports.
When a blank report form is displayed, you can immediately proceed to insert fields into the default frames. However, you can perform a number of administrative functions before you create the report detail. Although you can perform these functions after you have created some detail, it is more efficient to deal with the administrative functions before you start to create the report detail.
The administrative functions include setting report properties and formats, attaching standard templates, and creating report profiles.
The following table lists the subsections that describe the administrative functions in detail.
| Administrative Function | Describes how to… |
|---|---|
| Setting User Preferences | Tailor the appearance of your JADE Report Designer window |
| Setting Report Properties | Set a number of defaults, including field alignments, fonts, outputs, and parameters |
| Setting Report Formats | Set your default field formats, including numbers, currency, Boolean, dates, and times |
| Setting the Section Properties | Set defaults that are applicable to a section (frame) of a report |
| Creating or Maintaining Profiles | Apply different sort and selection criteria to a report |
You can also create standard report templates before designing your reports. Templates provide standard layouts that you can attach to new or existing reports. You would typically design templates to provide a standard look for your company or departmental reports; for example, they can provide standard headings or standard footers.
Although creating templates can be an administrative function, their construction is similar to constructing reports and the process is therefore described in "Using the Detail Functions", later in this chapter.