Quick Overview of the IDE	Contents
	Gui Overview
	Java model specific tasks (Connection and configuration).

This is the ReportsAnywhere's main editing frame. This screen appears after you open a template set and before you create/edit a report.

1. The Toolbar Use the buttons on the toolbar to apply actions to the current page or to the whole repository. Toolbar Reference
2. The Formatting Bar. Use the formatting bar to change the style of the report. The format bar is used for quick local changes to a cell. The complete set of formatting options is available in the property sheet (see below). Formatting Reference
3. The Repository Explorer. The repository is where all the work is saved. It contains the reports, data views, and styles that are created using ReportsAnywhere. Right clicking on the elements in the explorer pops up the context menu for each item. Use the menu items to act on the elements.

4. The Repository Explorer has several tabs to switch between the components of the repository.

   • The Data tab shows the entry points into the database. There are different types of entry points depending on your database. They can be the set of all objects of one class or they can be special named objects. You need an entry point to create a report. The data in a report comes from accessing the entry point of the report.
   • The Reports tab of the repository explorer shows the reports contained in your repository.
   • The Types The types describe the data in your database. Types are either physical types or user defined views. Physical types correspond to Java classes or to database classes. User defined views provide an abstracted layer above the physical types. In addition to omitting attributes of physical types, aggregations or computed fields can be added to the view. A view can also use a filter expression which extracts a subset of the objects in a collection.
   • The Styles tab. It lists the named styles in the repository. Named styles are a convenient way of changing the look of several reports at once and to make sure that all reports conform to the corporate identity.
   • The Fields tab lists all data fields, that you can place in the report. Drag a field from the list to a cell in the page to place it in your report. It is only active when a report or data view is edited.
5. The Property Sheet for the edited elements. The property sheets lists all properties of an element that can be edited. Properties relate to styles or to the specific properties of a view, report, frame or table. Property Sheet Reference
6. The Work Area. The work area initially displays the main tasks of ReportsAnywhere. Once you are working on a task it shows the item currently being edited. (e.g., the report template or the data view.)

Note:The menu bar may contain an additional menu with the name of your database system. The items in the database menu relate to administrative tasks related to the database system. This menu is described in the database setup.

Note:ReportsAnywhere uses a spreadsheet like approach to layout the elements on a page. As a consequence elements are not placed anywhere on a page but rather into cells. This allows ReportsAnywhere to manage the cells and to adjust the layout automatically whenever something changes. This feature is a great time saver.

Note:If you have been using relational databases or relational report writers you may wonder why ReportsAnywhere uses different names for familiar notions like rows and tables. In many cases, a root is the same as a table and a class is the same as a row definition and an object is the same as a row. However roots, classes, and objects are more powerful because they are more flexible than their relational counterparts. So here is a short account of the differences, that you should be aware of.

Note:There are two general kinds of reports that can be created with ReportsAnywhere. Formatted reports (simply called reports) and data views. Data views are used to export pure data, which will then be processed with other tools like Excel or XML processors. Formatted reports are based on data views and add a styled page layout, so that formatted reports can be printed directly. Data Views ReferenceEditing Formatted Reports

The Main Editing Window

1. The fields tree. These are the fields that can be reached from your data entry point (root). Drag them onto the page and drop them at the location where they shall appear in the report. For deatails see the Fields Tree Reference
2. The property sheet. The property sheet displays the properties of the currently selected item. ( In this case the style of the title cell.) For details see the Property Sheet Reference
3. Message line showing the name of the currently selected template
4. The template layout editor. Initially it contains only a default title cell. Click on a cell to select it and to edit its properties in the property sheet. Double click it (or any other label cells) to edit the text.
5. The selection indicator. Here it indicates, that cell at row 0, column 0 is selected.

Related Tasks:

• Opening/Saving a Template Set.
• Report Tutorial.
• Details of the Editor Gui
• Creating a data view..
• Organizing the repository.

Java model specific tasks (Connection and configuration).

Contents

Gui Overview