QAD 2017 Enterprise Edition
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Reporting Framework
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Creating a Basic Report
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Report Resource, Report Definition, and Report
Report Resource, Report Definition, and Report
Report resource, reporting definition, and report are a set of interrelated concepts in the QAD Reporting Framework.
A report resource represents a unique, cross-domain report object that contains report metadata, report definitions, report data source definitions, filter definitions, report parameters, and report settings.
A report definition contains all the information that defines the data binding, layout, and customized formatting of a report. It is saved as an XML file that can be edited in the Report Designer, either visually or in the text editor mode.
For a report resource, you can create multiple report definitions that represent different layout and formats to address different requirements. For example, you can design a cash flow statement report definition to meet external financial requirements, and another with a different layout and formatting for internal reporting.
A report is a collection of your desired data, as defined in the report resource, organized in your desired format, as defined in the report definition. This is what the QAD Reporting Framework is all about.
To sum up, report resources are primarily concerned with what data to display and report definitions are mainly about how to display them in the generated reports. And since you may want to retrieve different data from the same data source and present it in different formats, you can create multiple report definitions within the same report resource to generate different reports.
Report Resource, Report Definition, and Report
Example: You need to generate sales order by customer reports and unconfirmed sales order reports on a weekly basis. You create a report resource that retrieves data from the sales order-related tables and then create two report definitions for the two kinds of reports. You then either run these reports manually every week or schedule a weekly batch run for them to generate the reports you need.
