Editable reports

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Overview
How to?
Creating the editable report
Edit control in a form
Characteristics of edit controls
Edit control events in a report
Interactive Check Box control in a form
Characteristics of the Check Box control
Check Box control events in a report
Combo Box control in a form
Characteristics of Combo Box controls
Edit control events in a report
Input in the report viewer
Input in a PDF file
Input in a report based on a PDF form

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Editable reports

Overview

The report editor can be used to create form reports, which include different controls allowing users to enter data:

Edit controls.
Interactive Check Box controls.
Combo Box controls.

You can also integrate a Link control into these forms to let the user quickly access a page on a site, for example.

These form reports can be generated as PDF files.

This gives you the ability to distribute reports (as PDF if necessary) allowing the user to enter data in the specified areas: administrative form (tax return, registration, ...).

The data can be printed or stored in a database (when the data is entered from the report viewer). Then, the report becomes an entry form.

Edit, Check Box and Combo Box controls can be used on all types of reports. Generally, these types of controls are used in Form reports that use a PDF file in the background of the report.

How to?

Creating the editable report

To create an editable report:

Create a report according to your requirements (for more details, see Creating a report).
Create the desired controls where you want to allow users to enter data:
- Edit controls: on the "Creation" tab, in the "Interactions" group, click "Edit".
- Check Box controls: on the "Creation" tab, in the "Interactions" group, click "Check Box".
- Combo Box controls: on the "Creation" tab, in the "Interactions" group, click "Combo Box".
Save the report.
The user will be able to directly enter data in the edit controls before printing. Input in the different controls is available:
- in the report viewer.
- in the reports printed to PDF.

Remark: Link controls can also be integrated into the report: on the "Creation" tab, in the "Interactions" group, click "Link". These links can be used:

in the report viewer.
in the reports printed to PDF.

Edit control in a form

Characteristics of edit controls

When creating an edit control in a report, you have the ability to define:

the type of control (text, numeric, date, time),
the associated mask: the available masks are the ones supported by the PDF format. They are available for the numerics, the dates and the times.
the input size, which means the maximum number of characters allowed in the control. If this parameter is set to 0, there is no limit.
the horizontal alignment,
whether there is a border around the input area.
the initial value,
the style of caption and input area.

Remarks:

Multiline edit control: if the users enter more lines than what is visible, the non-visible lines will not be printed. During the input, the edit controls manage a vertical scrollbar.
Style of input area: In this version, only the "Arial" font can be used.
The edit control is not bound to an item in a data file, query or variable. To display information coming form a data file, a query or a variable, the control must be assigned by programming.
The borders of the input area cannot be configured (thickness, color, etc.). You only have the ability to make it visible or invisible.
No currency type can be used (the Euro symbol is not supported).
It is not possible to make calculations between the different input fields.

Edit control events in a report

The following events are associated with edit controls in a report:

Event	Runtime condition

Initialization	Run when opening the report.
Before printing	Run before printing a control.
Entry	Executed when the input cursor enters the control.
Exit	Executed when moving from one control to another (TAB key, selecting another control with the mouse, etc.).
Modification	Executed whenever the content of the control is modified (entering or deleting a character, for example).

Interactive Check Box control in a form

Characteristics of the Check Box control

When creating a Check Box control control in a report, you can define:

the type of control, interactive or not. If the control is interactive, the end user will be able select and clear the Check Box control,
style: background color, background image, check box color.

Remark: The Check Box control is not bound to an item from a data file or query, or to a variable. To display information coming form a data file, a query or a variable, the control must be assigned by programming.

Check Box control events in a report

The following events are associated with Check Box controls in a report:

Event	Runtime condition

Initialization	Run when opening the report.
Before printing	Run before printing a control.
Entry	Executed when the control gains focus.
Exit	Executed when moving from one control to another (TAB key, selecting another control with the mouse, etc.).
Whenever modified	Run whenever the content of the control is modified (selecting or deselecting an option for example).

Combo Box control in a form

Characteristics of Combo Box controls

When creating a Combo Box control control in a report, you can define:

the type of the control: combo box with or without input,
for editable Combo Box controls:
- the type of input,
- the associated mask: the available masks are the ones supported by the PDF format. They are available for the numerics, the dates and the times.
- the input size, which means the maximum number of characters allowed in the control. If this parameter is set to 0, there is no limit.
- the style of the input area (font, background color)
the style (background color, text).

Remarks:

Style of input area: In this version, only the "Arial" font can be used.
The Combo Box control is not bound to an item from a data file or query, or to a variable. To display information coming form a data file, a query or a variable, the control must be assigned by programming.

Edit control events in a report

The following events are associated with edit controls in a report:

Event	Runtime condition

Initialization	Run when opening the report.
Before printing	Run before printing a control.
Entry	Executed when the input cursor enters the control.
Exit	Executed when moving from one control to another (TAB key, selecting another control with the mouse, etc.).
Modification	Executed whenever the content of the control is modified (entering or deleting a character, for example).

Input in the report viewer

When a report is displayed in the report viewer, its Edit, Check Box and Combo Box controls are enabled.

In this case, the user will be able to enter the desired information and print the report to one of the available formats. A message is displayed in the report viewer to inform the user of the ability to enter information.

By default, the user can browse the edit control via the TAB key: the available controls are browsed from top to bottom and from left to right.

Remarks:

The events associated with Edit, Check Box and Combo Box controls are executed when the controls are handled in the report viewer.
The data coming from the database can be displayed programmatically. Simply link the report to a data file or query and assign the desired item to the control in the "Before printing" event.
The data modified by the user in the report viewer can be saved through programming. Let's take a simple example, the modification of a record displayed in the report. In each control with a value to be modified, you must:
- assign the entered value to the item,
- modify the record.
This can be done in the "Exit" event.
For example, to modify the customer name, the corresponding code is as follows:
Customer.Name = EDT_Name
HModify(Customer)

Input in a PDF file

When a report is printed to a PDF file, the Edit, Check Box and Combo Box controls are enable. In this case, the user will be able to enter data in the different controls and print the PDF file with the entered and/or selected values.

Remarks:

Edit, Check Box and Combo Box controls allow entering data in the PDF file. This information will be taken into account to print the document. If the end user owns a full version of Adobe Acrobat, the data entered can be saved in PDF format (Acrobat Reader cannot be used to save the PDF files).
The data coming from the database can be displayed programmatically. Simply link the report to a data file or query and assign the desired item to the control in the "Initialization" or "Before printing" events.

Input in a report based on a PDF form

Edit, Check Box and Combo Box controls are well suited for Form reports. Form reports are based on an image or PDF file.

For a PDF form containing several pages, you have the ability to create a report displaying the different pages of the PDF file ("Print all the pages found in the PDF" option in the "Background" tab of the report description).

These pages are visible and they can be modified in the report editor: you can position the controls on any page in the report.

For more details, see Reports on form.

Related Examples:

Training (WINDEV): WD Reports

[ + ] This example presents the different methods for creating a report:

- prints based on different data sources (queries, variables, ...)
- prints based on controls (Table, Spreadsheet, PVT, ...)
- printing composite reports
- specific prints (portrait/landscape, report with watermark, report with bar code, ...)