You are here: Reporting > Working with the Report Editor
Report Definitions
Working with the Report Editor
|
|
The Report Editor is a tool that displays a report and provides options for editing it.
The Report Editor shows the name of the report, the date and time when the report ran, and whether simulated or actual data is being used.
Use the search box to find specific text within the report. Click the search icon repeatedly to move from instance to instance of the search string in the report.
The Data Explorer
The Data Explorer panel on the left of the screen provides a quick way to find a property or calculation to include as a column in the report, or to use in defining a filter condition.
Enter a value in the search box of the Data Explorer and click the magnifying glass to limit the display in the current tab to only properties whose name or label match the search string you entered. Click the X to clear the search box and display all properties.
Note: The search field only searches top-level (not embedded) properties.
The Data Explorer includes three tabs:
Best Bets
The Best Bets tab displays the properties that you are most likely to use in your report, organized in a tree structure. Expand any subfolders (representing page lists and other embedded properties) to see more properties.
Click More to display properties that do not belong to the class that the report applies to, or the parents of that class. Using a property from another class requires creating a join between the classes. The Report Editor creates the join for you.
To add a property to the report, drag and drop the property name before or after any of the existing column names on the report.
Notes:
- Properties can be secured with a privilege using property security rules. The Report Editor displays secured rules in the Data Explorer but does not visually distinguish them. If a user lacking the privilege to access the property drags a secured rule into the report, the system disallows the operation and displays an error message.
- You can manually specify the set of properties you wish users to see in the Data Explorer. See the PDN article Customize the lists of properties and calculations available in the Report Editor.
- If you have added properties to the Scratch Pad through the Live UI tool, the properties appear for the duration of the current session at the top of the tab in the Data Explorer. You can add the properties as columns in reports on the class to which the property belongs; if the property does not belong to the same class as the current report, a red x appears beside the property and you cannot use it to create a report column.
- If the parent page of the property matches an association or a class join, the Data Explorer displays an entry for that association or join in the scratch pad, with the property as a child of that entry.
All Matches
The All Matches tab displays all the properties that are available for use in the report, organized in a tree structure. Navigate the tree and add a property to populate a column in the report.
If you manually specify a set of properties, the All Matches tab does not display.
Calculations
The Calculations tab allows you to select an SQL function and identify one or more properties for it to work with. The result of the calculation can populate a column in the report.
Double-click a calculation to use it to populate a column in the report, or right-click the calculation name and choose the Add option. The Calculation Builder opens, in which you can specify the input for the function that you selected. See Using the Calculation Builder.
Actions menu
The Actions menu provides some or all of the following options:
Control
|
Description
|
|
Summarize
|
Click to display the Summarize form. The form displays all columns in the report, and you can specify sorting information and a summarization function for each column. Available functions are:
- COUNT() - How many different values exist for a property.
- SUM() - Total of values in a numeric property.
- AVG() - Average of values in a numeric property.
- MIN() - Minimum of the values in a numeric property.
- MAX() - Maximum of the values in a numeric property.
Select the Include a column of row counts check box to add to the report a column of row counts.
Select the Expand all group sections by default check box to display all group sections fully expanded when the report initially appears in the Report Viewer. Otherwise, only the Overall Total group heading and the group headings for the first Group By column appear when the report first displays.
Select the Do not display group headings check box to suppress all group headings in a summarized report. With this option selected, no subtotals, subaverages, or similar values, appear on the report: the report appears in a “spreadsheet-style” display in which the values for each Group By column are repeated on each row. When this option is chosen, results can be sorted using any combination of columns desired. When this option is not chosen, sorting options are limited, since displaying group headings requires that the results be sorted first by the Group By columns, in their group order, to keep detailed rows in the correct group section.
When you apply these changes to a list report, you convert it to a summarized report.
|
|
Sort
|
The sort option appears when you are working with a list report. Click it to display the Sort and Group form. In the top part of the form, for each column use the drop-down list to indicate whether results should be sorted by the values in the column and, if so, whether to sort the values from highest to lowest or from lowest to highest. If you are sorting by values in more than one column, click the drag icon at the far left of the row and drag the column up or down in the list to change the order in which columns will be used to sort the results.
Check the Group results check box if you want to group the results by one or more of the columns being used for sorting, and then indicate in the field that appears which of them to use in grouping the results. Columns selected no longer appear as separate columns, but display as group headings in the report. In addition to making a report easier to read, a grouped display also conserves space and enables you to display a report with more columns in the same size window.
Check the Remove Duplicate Rows check box to eliminate rows in a list report that have the same values in all columns as an earlier row in the report.
At the bottom of the form is the Top/Bottom Rank section. Here you can limit the number of rows shown on the report to those with the highest or lowest values of some property:
- Display: Choose either
Top ranked or Bottom ranked to limit the report display to those rows with the highest (top ranked) or lowest (bottom ranked) values of the specified property.
- Number field: Enter the maximum number of rows to include.
- Grouping: Choose whether to limit the number of rows in the entire report (Overall) or the number of rows within each group as defined by the Group Resultscheck box (For Each Group).
- Based on: Select the property to use in ranking rows and determining which should be included.
As an example, if you want a report that shows the three most-recently-entered cases for each customer: sort the results by customer, check Group results to group the results by customer, and, in the Top/Bottom Rank section, enter:
Display Top Ranked 3 Rows For each group based on .pxCreateDateTime
|
|
Title
|
Click to display the Change Report Title form. Enter the new title, and click OK to change the title. Click Cancel to close the form without changing the title.
|
|
List
|
Click to convert a summarized report to list report. |
|
Actual Data / Simulated Data
|
Click to use either actual data or simulated data in the Report Editor. Designing a report with simulated data is useful when working in a development environment with limited data. It is also useful when a report query is very expensive and you do not want to re-retrieve the data for display each time a change is made in the Report Editor. This will make editing faster. |
To add a chart to a summarized report, click Add Chart. If the report already includes a chart, click Edit Chart to update it. See Working with the Chart Editor.
Click Apply changes to apply your changes. Click Preview to run a preview of the report.
Hints
A series of hints provide context-specific help as you select options. You can also click the Next hint and Previous hint links to guide you through creating or modifying the type of report that you are editing.
You do not need to have the hints visible to edit a report.
Filter conditions
Filter conditions restrict which rows of data are included in a report (for example, "only orders from these customers" or "only open cases"). Filter conditions display in the Report Editor. However, filter conditions can be defined in the rule form and not display on the report. You can add new filter conditions in the Report Editor and the Report Definition rule form.
The report developer can enable the following options:
- Provide filter parameters before the report runs
If you select this option, when the user runs the report a form appears letting the user provide parameters used by the report's filters. The form fields display default values that the developer has set for each parameter; the user can accept some or all of the default values, and then submit the form to run the report.
The parameters submitted are valid only for the current running of the report, and do not change the default parameter values.
- Edit the filter conditions
If you select this option, the report user can edit existing filter conditions (for instance, changing "less than 100" to "greater than 100" or “less than 150” ). Any changes are valid only for the current execution of the report.
Adding filter conditions
To add a filter condition to the report, click and drag a property name or calculation from the Data Explorer panel onto the Drop Column to Add Filter drop area, and release the mouse button. Then follow the instructions below for editing the new filter condition.
Editing filter conditions
Filter conditions that you can edit appear as hyperlinks. Click a filter link to see the Edit filter form. This form shows the following information and options for the selected filter:
- The column name to which the filter applies. This entry cannot be edited.
- Relationship: Select a relationship operator for the condition, such as Is Equal or Starts With.
- One or more comparison values for the condition. You can:
- Enter one or more values. Separate multiple values with commas. Enclose text values that contain spaces or special characters in double quotes: "Pegasystems Inc.".
- Enter the name of a property (if, for example, you want to select cases where the date of resolution was the same as the date on which they were created), or select a different property using the SmartPrompt option by entering some characters and clicking the down arrow.
- Enter an expression using the Calculation Builder by clicking the
icon. - Click Pick Value to select one or more valid values for the column.
If you selected Is Null or Is Not Null, you do not have to provide a comparison value.
- Enter an optional Filter Caption to describe the condition in business terms. If a caption is entered, it disploays on the report for the condition.
- Click the chevron to the right of the Advanced Options header to display further options:
- Use Null If Empty: Check the check box to use a comparison value to NULL if none is supplied above.
- Ignore Case: Check the check box to perform case-insensitive comparisons.
Click Apply to accept your changes, or click Cancel to close the form without changing the filter condition.
Change column order
To move a column to a different place in the report, click and hold on the column header, drag it to the location you prefer, and release the mouse button.
Column header menu
Right-click a column header to edit, reformat, or delete that column. The commands available depend on whether you are working with a list report or summarized report.
| Option |
Description |
| Heading
|
Click to display the Heading form, and enter the desired column changes.
|
| Format
|
Click to display the Format form, and select a valid format for the data values in the column. Some formats permit or require parameters, Specify parameters by clicking the icon next to the Autocomplete box.
|
| Width
|
Click to display the Width form, and enter the desired column width as a numeric value followed by a selected unit (pixels, or as a percentage of overall report width).
|
| Delete
|
Click to delete the current column.
If you delete a group-by column, any chart included in the report is deleted.
If the report has only one column, you cannot delete it.
|
| Sort
|
Click to sort the rows of the report based on just the values of this column. Select whether to sort values from lowest to highest or highest to lowest. |
| Summarize this column
|
Click to display the Summarize column form, which changes a list report to a summarized report that displays row counts grouped by the values of the columns that are selected.
Select the Expand all group sections by default check box to expand all group sections when the report opens in the Report Viewer. If this is not selected, only the Overall Total group heading and the group headings for the first Group By column display when the report opens.
Select the Do not display group headings check box to suppress all group headings in a summarized report. When this is selected, no subtotals, sub-averages, or similar values display in the report. The report displays in spreadsheet style, with the values for each Group By column repeated on each row.
When this option is selected, you can sort results using any combination of columns. If it is not selected, sorting options are limited, because displaying group headings requires that the results are sorted first by the Group By columns, in their group order, to keep detailed rows in the correct group section.
|
| Display Values Across Column / Display Values Vertically
|
Available for summarized reports only.
When the data values for a column display vertically within a single column, click Display Values Across Columns to display the column's values horizontally. This creates a pivot table.
When the data values for a column display horizontally across columns, click Display Values Vertically to display the column's values vertically within a single column.
|
Related information
Open topic with navigation