Report Editor

The report editor allows you to conveniently create a PDF report template using data from the input bus of the REPORT operator, along with a set of components responsible for the layout and visualization of data in the report. The report is always generated in portrait orientation with an A4 page size.

When designing a report, keep in mind that more than one report may be generated, depending on the bus bits used at the first level of the report data map.

The editor window consists of five main areas:

Design area (1) → This is the area where you visually design your report. You can drag bus bits directly into this area or insert controls from the Toolbox. Controls can be freely positioned by selecting them with the mouse and dragging them.

The design area is divided into several sections, each with a different purpose for displaying data:

Header → a header rendered on every page of the report PDF.
Title → the report title, rendered only once on the first page.
Body → the main area for report data, located directly below the Title. Data is automatically adjusted to the page size and, if necessary, continues onto subsequent pages.
Report sum → a summary of the data contained in the Body, rendered at the bottom of the page (above the Page footer and Page sum sections);
Page sum → a per-page summary, rendered on every page. The height of this section is calculated from the bottom of the page, taking the Page footer into account;
Page footer → the page footer, rendered on every page. The height of this section is calculated from the bottom of the page.

Report data map area (2) → This area shows which bus bits are used at each level of the report design.

There is a main level called Document, as well as subordinate levels created by Browse-type controls. Each text control placed in the design area that derives its value from a data bus bit is also included at the Document level.

Although the data bus is flat, it can carry both parent and child data. Therefore, a key design decision when creating a report is which bus fields should be placed at the Document level. Fields at this level are used to group data from the input bus. This means that as many reports (output bus records) will be generated as there are records resulting from the grouping. Fields at this level will also become bits of the output bus, along with the report_binary field storing the binary report data and the report_name field generated based on the Report name setting.

Bus data area (3) → This area contains the available bus bits that can be used in the design area and in the report map area, as well as the report’s global variables (System variables).

You can drag bus bits and system variables into the design area or into the report map area at the Document level.

Dragging a bit into the design area creates a text control that displays the value of the corresponding bus bit.

Dragging a bit into the report data map area adds the bit to the bits used to determine the number of generated reports (input data grouping).

Properties area → This area contains the Toolbox with available controls, as well as Document properties and control properties (Properties).
Actions area → Provides buttons for saving the report project.

DOCUMENT PROPERTIES

Each document you create has a set of basic properties, such as header height, footer height, and page margins. You can configure these settings in the Document properties panel (the Layout section) or directly in the design area by adjusting the margin guides or changing the height of the Header and Page footer sections.

The Data section collects information about all bits that have been used either in the design area or in the report map at the Document level. All bits added by dragging them from the data bus area into the design area or the report map area are listed here. You can add another bit using the Add button and then selecting the appropriate bit from the list. Bits can be removed either by clicking the x or by deleting the field associated with the bit from the design area.

AVAILABLE CONTROLS AND THEIR PROPERTIES

The system provides three controls: Label, Browse, and Image. You can add a control by dragging it (drag and drop) from the Toolbox into the appropriate section of the design area.

You can freely change a control’s position within a design section, as well as resize it by dragging its edges or by using the control’s properties panel.

Each control can be bound to data from the bus. Binding a control to the bus automatically adds the associated bit to the report structure.

Clicking the delete icon removes the control and, if it is bound to a bus bit, that bit is also removed from the report structure.

Selecting a control placed in the design area gives you access to its properties, which are grouped into logical sections. Some sections, such as Appearance are shared across all control types.

LABEL CONTROL

This is a simple control used to display arbitrary text or numeric values in the report. The text can be static (entered manually) or sourced from the input bus of the REPORT operator.

You can place the control in the design area in two ways:

By dragging it (drag and drop) from the Toolbox into the appropriate section of the design area.

When using this method, the control is not bound to bus data.

By dragging a data bit from the bus data area into the appropriate section of the design area. When using this method, the control is bound to the selected bus bit, and the bit is automatically added to the report map at the Document level.

CONTROL PROPERTIES

The properties of a control become available after selecting it in the design area by clicking it with the mouse. They are divided into four main sections:

Data → properties in this section control the data displayed by the control and the way data is grouped for the report.

Value → the value displayed by the control.

Entering a value as static text causes it to be displayed at the specified location in the report. The control will always display the same value, regardless of the input data or the number of reports generated.

If you want to bind the control to a bus bit, enter the bus bit name in the Value field using curly braces, for example {year}. This will also add the bus bit to the report data map.

Removing a value from the Value field that is bound to a bus bit does not automatically remove that bit from the report data map.

Name → a unique name of the control within the report.
Grouping element → the level of the control within the report map (Document, Browse).

Misc → this section defines how the data displayed in the control is formatted.

You can apply a data format to control how values are displayed in the control. For example, if you want a number to be displayed with two decimal places, use the n2 format.

Learn more about data formatting.

Layout → this section defines the position and size of the control. You can change the control’s position and dimensions either by dragging it with the mouse or by entering values directly in the properties panel.

Appearance → this section contains properties related to the visual appearance of the control. Here you can set margins, background color, text alignment, as well as font family and font color.

Example of a report using the Label control:

The example above uses several input bus bits to generate the report. Controls that use bus bits are easy to recognize by the bit name enclosed in curly braces. Additionally, in the report map section under the Document node, all used bits are listed. As a result, the input bus is grouped by these bits, and the system generates as many output records (reports) as the grouping returns. In this case, if the input bus carries data for a single order, one report record is generated. If the bus contains three orders, three reports are generated, and so on.

BROWSE CONTROL

This control is used to generate a list of data. The list consists of a title and columns that are directly bound to bus bits.

If you want to display a column with data calculated from two different bits, create a computed bit earlier in the process using the available GRAVITY operators.

You can place the control in the design area by dragging it (drag and drop) from the Toolbox.

Placing a list on the design area adds a new level (named after the list) to the report map. The list can be placed directly under the Document level or under another list. If it is placed under another list, it will be rendered for each record of the parent list.

The bus data passed to the list for rendering is limited by the currently processed grouping defined by the list’s parent levels.

If the list does not fit on a single page, subsequent rows are moved to the next page without repeating the column headers.

CONTROL PROPERTIES

The control’s properties become available after selecting it in the design area with the mouse.

They are divided into four main sections:

Data → properties in this section define the control’s name, title, and parent grouping element.

Name → a unique name of the control within the report. This name is used to identify the control in the report map area.
Grouping element → the parent grouping element of the control. The default parent element for a list is Document. If another list already exists in the report, it can be selected as the grouping element, causing the list to be rendered as many times as there are records produced by the parent list.
Title → the list title.

Layout → this section contains settings related to how the list title is displayed, as well as the control’s position and size. You can adjust the control’s position and size either by dragging it with the mouse or by entering values directly in the properties.

Appearance → in this section, you can control the appearance of individual elements within the control. This section is divided into several subsections corresponding to specific control elements:

Browse appearance → general display settings for the control.
Browse title appearance → display settings for the control title.
Columns header appearance → global display settings for column headers.

If you need custom settings for a specific column, you can configure them on that column in the Appearance section by disabling the Use browse settings toggle.

Even row appearance → settings for even rows.
Odd row appearance → settings for odd rows.

Each of the above sections provides the same set of properties for modifying the selected element or area. You can change the background color, text alignment, and the font type and color.

Columns → the section where you can define the list columns. Columns must always be bound to bus bits. The component detects the data type of the bus bit and aligns the column content accordingly: left-aligned for text or date types, and right-aligned for numeric values. A column can also be of a binary type. If the binary type contains an image, it will be displayed as the column value. After the list is placed on the report, this section contains no columns.

You can add columns in two ways:

By clicking the Add button in this section and then selecting the bus bit that will represent the column in the Data section, in the Value source field.

By selecting the appropriate bus bit from the bus data area and dragging it onto the list control, you can drop the bit at the position where you want to insert the column. This method also allows you to arrange the column order.

You can access a column’s properties by expanding individual columns in the Columns section when the list is selected in the design area, or by clicking (selecting) the column directly in the design area.

The column properties are divided into three sections:

Data → this section contains properties related to the binding to a bus bit, the column name, width, and visibility.

Misc → defines the column’s data display format.

You can specify the data format used to display values in the column; for example, to display a number with two decimal places, use the n2 format.

Learn more about data formatting.

Appearance → properties related to the visual appearance of the column.

By default, the Use browse settings option is enabled, which means that the appearance is inherited from the list control settings.

Clearing this option allows you to define an independent appearance for the column.

You can configure the appearance of both the column header and the data cells. The available appearance properties are the same as those used throughout the reporting system.

Example of a report with a list:

IMAGE CONTROL

Using the Image control, you can insert an image into the report. The image can come from a bus bit or from a file added to the report definition.

To place the Image control on the design area, drag and drop it from the Toolbox to the desired location.

CONTROL PROPERTIES

After selecting the control in the design area, you gain access to its properties. They are divided into three sections:

Data → the section responsible for defining the image source for the control. Here you can choose whether the image is sourced from a bus bit or specified from a file on disk.

Value source → specifies the bus bit that contains the image,
Name → a unique name for the control within the report,
Grouping element → the control’s level in the report map (Document, Browse). This applies only when the image source is a bus bit.
Image → specifies an image loaded from disk as the source.

Layout → this section contains information about the control’s position and size. You can adjust the control’s position and size either by dragging it with the mouse or by entering values in the properties panel.

Appearance → In this section, you can set the border color, background color, and the alignment of the image within the control area.

Example of a report using the Image component: