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Building Reports๐Ÿ”—

With Fomin Report Builder (FRB), your users can create, customize, preview, and print reportsโ€”right from your applicationโ€”without needing any development skills.

This guide walks through everyday tasks like inserting new reports, applying filters, building layouts, and navigating the ReportManager interface.

The ReportManager procedure is the userโ€™s central hub for managing reports. Its tree-style interface displays available .rpt files grouped by type or folder.

ReportManager actions:๐Ÿ”—

Action Description
Insert Create a new report file
Change Edit an existing report
Delete Remove a report from the list
Print Send the selected report to the printer
Expand/Contract Collapse or expand report groups

๐Ÿ’ก The layout and available actions depend on your use of ReportManagerTree and supporting control templates (e.g. ReportManagerUpdateButtons).

๐Ÿ“„ Creating a New Report๐Ÿ”—

  1. Launch your Clarion app and open the ReportManager
  2. Click Insert to start a new report
  3. The Report Formatter opensโ€”a canvas for laying out content using "frames"
  4. Use the toolbar or right-click to:
  5. Add report sections (headers, details, footers, groups)
  6. Insert frames for data, formulas, or static text
  7. Save the file with a .rpt extension (e.g. CustomerList.rpt)

โœ๏ธ Pro Tip: You can also clone an existing report using Change โ†’ Save As..., then tweak the layout.

๐Ÿงฑ Report Sections at a Glance๐Ÿ”—

FRB lets users build multi-section reports. Each section controls how and when content prints:

Section Purpose
Page Header Appears at the top of each page
Report Header Printed once at the top of the first page
Group Break Defines sort order (not printed directly)
Group Header Printed before each group of records
Detail Core data section (one per record)
Group Footer Totals or summaries after a group
Report Footer Final totals and remarks (last page only)
Page Footer Appears at the bottom of each page

Add, remove, or reorder sections using the section menu or right-click context options.

๐Ÿงฎ Adding Data Frames๐Ÿ”—

Frames are visual containers that show text, variables, or expressions.

To add a frame:๐Ÿ”—

  1. Select a report section
  2. Click New Frame or right-click โ†’ Insert Frame
  3. Resize and position using your mouse or arrow keys
  4. Set contents:
  5. Text (e.g. Customer Report)
  6. Expression (e.g. =CustomerName)
  7. Formula (e.g. =FORMAT(TODAY(),@D17))

Formatting options:๐Ÿ”—

  • Horizontal & vertical alignment
  • Fonts, colors, and borders
  • Dynamic filling
  • Picture formatting (e.g. date, time, currency)

๐Ÿง  Expressions starting with = are evaluated using Clarion's EVALUATE() function.

๐Ÿ” Sorting, Filters & Totals๐Ÿ”—

๐ŸŽฏ Filtering Records๐Ÿ”—

In Report Properties:

  • Use logical expressions to limit records (e.g. Balance > 1000)
  • Combine with AND, OR, >=, etc.

Use the [Dictionary] button to insert fields.

๐Ÿ”ข Sorting (Group Breaks)๐Ÿ”—

To sort records:

  1. Insert a Group Break
  2. Set a Sort Expression (e.g. LastName)
  3. Add Group Header/Footer to display grouped values or totals

Group order determines sorting hierarchy.

ฮฃ Calculating Totals๐Ÿ”—

You can define result variables for:

  • Sum
  • Average
  • Count
  • Min / Max
  • Custom Evaluate() expressions

Configure Tally On and Reset rules to control when calculations run (per record, group, or page).

๐Ÿ–จ๏ธ Printing & Previewing๐Ÿ”—

Before printing, you can:

  • Set page layout (margins, size, orientation)
  • Define preview mode (always, never, ask at runtime)
  • Choose print destination (printer or file)

Preview options include support for third-party tools like:

  • CPCS (Creative Reporting Tools)
  • RPM (Report and Presentation Manager)

๐ŸŒ Using the Dictionary & Formulas๐Ÿ”—

Press F2 or click the [Dictionary] button when entering:

  • Filters
  • Sort expressions
  • Frame formulas

Youโ€™ll see a tree-style reference for:

  • Available table fields
  • Clarion operators and functions
  • User-defined variables and totals

This makes building powerful expressions easyโ€”even for non-programmers.

โ›๏ธ Power Features๐Ÿ”—

  • Save As...: Duplicate reports quickly for reuse
  • Frame Copy/Paste: Speed up layout building
  • Suppress Printing: Use conditional logic to hide sections (e.g. Page_Counter = 1)
  • InvokeDictionary Button: Lookup available formula variables at runtime

๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿซ Example: Date & Time in a Frame๐Ÿ”—

Add this expression to a frame in the header:

=FORMAT(TODAY(), @D17) & ' ' & FORMAT(CLOCK(), @T1)

Outputs something like: 2025-07-09 18:45:00

๐Ÿง  Keyboard Tips๐Ÿ”—

  • Ctrl + Tab โ†’ Cycle through sections
  • Ctrl + Arrow โ†’ Move selected frame
  • Tab / Shift + Tab โ†’ Select next/previous frame
  • Ctrl + Click โ†’ Multi-select frames

โœ… Next Step๐Ÿ”—

Dive into the developer guide to see how to plug FRBโ€™s capabilities into your Clarion projectโ€”including multiple RunTimeReport procedures, user functions, and embedding FRB actions in your code.

โ€œLet your users own their reports. You just build the tools.โ€