Report Designer

Purpose

Report designer allows you to create and design reports for custom configured Activity and Lab Test Forms. First you will need to create a Report Type. Once the Report Type is created, you can start designing your report.

Accessing Report Designer

You can access Report Designer from the following pages in Administration:

• Administration > Activity > Form Designer screen (Activity Reports Only)
• Administration > Lab > Test screen (Lab Reports Only)
• Administration > Reports > Report Settings Screen 

Working With Report Designer

When you first open the Report Designer you will see a blank "page" and various menu options above and on the right.

Main Menu

Above the report page is a main menu with the following options:

Elements

Every report template contains various elements, which define the layout and describes how the form's data should be rendered in the Report.

Datasets

Data Sources are used to specify dynamic data for the elements on your report. 

Properties

Used to control formatting of individual items on the report.

Report Settings

The Reports Setting section allows you to define the settings for each report (report name, titles, legal text, digital signature properties, etc. See Reports - Report Types for specific setting information). Depending on the type of report you are working with (Activity or Lab Test) you will see different options.

Placeholders

Both the File Name and Report Description values have dynamic placeholder values that can be implemented. Hover over the information icon next to each field to see the available placeholders. The placeholders are case sensitive and must be placed within brackets {{ }}.

 File Name

Dictates the name of the file if a report is downloaded or emailed. Customizing this value can make it easy for clients to better identify a report without having to open the file PDF file. 

Report Description

Creating Columns of Data

Splitting your report into multiple columns can be achieved using multiple Panel elements. It's important to use panels to define alignment of the various elements used in your report design.

Step	Direction	Example
1.	Within a panel, add the number of panels that equals the number of desired columns In the example, three panels were added to achieve three columns
2.	For each column, set the desired Width (% preferred) to defined the size of each column In the example: column 1 = 25%, column 2 = 25%, column 3 = 50% Together the Panels width should not be greater than 100%.
3.	Add fields inside each column. Elements inside Panels are aligned one to another if there is enough space in the same row.

Best Practices

Working with Report Elements

 As you are building your report, you will be working with various elements. Elements can be split into two categories based off complexity of the content:

• Simple elements are the smallest building blocks. Examples include Labels, Panels, Tables, Images, and Lines
• Composite elements are created by combining Simple elements. For example, when you click and drag a field from a Data Set to your report, you are adding a panel and two labels.

Adding a Form Field / Project Meta Data 

There are two ways to add a Form Field or Project Meta Data to your report.

1. From the Datasets menu, drag and drop the field to the report
2. From the Elements menu, drag and drop a label to the report. Select the label you just added to the report, then from the Properties menu choose the appropriate Data Set and Source.

Use a Panel to Wrap Elements

Simple elements (Labels, Images) which define a logical structure, should be wrapped inside a Panel. For example a Form Field can have a Label, Helper Text, and Value. Those elements should be wrapped inside panel, because together they define a Field.

Working with Form Fields

Under the Datasets tab you can find a list of Fields available to add to your report. This list is based on the Active Fields previously added to your From. 

Text Based Fields

To allow for faster addition of Form Fields, several additional elements are preconfigured for you upon dropping a Field onto a form. For example text based field types (Number, Text Area, Multiple Choice, etc.) are dropped onto the report as two Labels (one for the field label and one to display the field value) wrapped inside Panel component. After a Field has been added, all of these components can be altered to fit your needs.

File Upload Fields

File Upload field types have the same structure as the text based field types, except that they are using an Image component to display the field’s value.

How this Image will be rendered on the generated report depends on the source file type. File Uploads fields allow a wide range of file types to be uploaded while creating an Activity record. However, the report will only support certain types of files. 

Image report display by file type:

• Image file types (jpeg, png, bmp, gif) are rendered on the exact position where the image component is placed
• PDF files are attached on the PDF right after the form records. The Image component is replaced with the following text: “See {filename} in the documents section at the end of this report”.
• All other file types are not rendered on the report. 

Note that image fields are contained in a Panel wrapper that also has Hide Expression property added by default.

Data Grid Fields

Data Grid fields are also available to drop. When dropped onto your report you will have three options for how the fields will render on your report:

1. Vertical Table - Headers span across the page
2. Horizontal Table - Headers run along the left side of the page
3. Panel - Fields are not placed inside a Table, instead they are added as a simple panel

When adding a Data Grid as a table component (with Data Grid field for the Data Source property) a table title and grid are created by default. All of these elements are wrapped inside Panel component with Hidden Expression that hides all the elements inside if the Data Grid field has no records.

Sections Fields

Section form fields are not available as a data source and cannot be used with any component. Instead, all form fields, nested inside the Section, are available in the Form Fields data set and can be used as normal.

Resources

Resources are uploaded to the report template as static images. These images can be used inside the template. For more info check the “FAQ” section.

Hide Expressions

Hide Expression property allows you to hides a component. If the calculation’s result is TRUE, the component won’t display on the generated report. There most common types of expressions allowed for the Hidden Expression property: Is empty and Is last record. An example of how these are constructed is provided below. The system also supports expressions using "Not Equals", "Greater Than", "Greater Than or Equal To", "Less Then" and "Less Than or Equal to". Defining a Hide Expression is done using the Expression Builder interface. 

Calculation Expressions

Calculation Expression is a property that allows you to write expressions directly on a report.  This allows for the ability to dynamically report on different data elements within the report itself.  The Calculation Expression property is available for standalone fields (Label, Paragraph) or to table fields.  When an applicable field is selected Caclulation Expression will be listed under the properties tab.  

Working with Basic Table Elements

How to Use Build a Table to Display Data Grid Fields

If you choose to build a table rather than dropping the table onto your report, you will need to follow these steps to set up your template.

Step	Direction	Example
1.	From Elements tab drop Table element on the template.
2.	Right click on the table and choose Select Table from the context menu.
3.	Open the Properties tab.
4.	Choose Form Fields for Data Set.
5.	Select the appropriate Data Grid.

How to Add Form Field to a Table with a Data Source (Data Grid Fields Only)

After your table has been configured to source the a data grid, you can work with the columns inside the table. To source data for a column follow the steps below.

Step	Direction	Example
1.	Make sure that the table has Data Source property set.
2.	Select the Heading column label you wish to work with. Open the Properties tab and edit the text.
3.	Open the Properties tab and select the Form Fields for the data set.
4.	Choose a Field in the Data Source dropdown.

How to Add New Column to Table

Step	Direction	Example
1.	Right click on the existing column from the table.
2.	Select "Insert Column Before" or “Insert Column After” from the context menu to add new column.

How to Use Data Grid Field Inside Table Component

You can add Grid field inside your table only if the field is a child element from the Main Data Gird. 

To do this follow these steps:

Step	Direction	Example (Click Image to Enlarge)
1.	Drop Panel component inside the table.
2.	Select the Panel and from the Properties tab select Form Fields as the data set.
3.	If sourcing a nested data grid, select the appropriate data grid as your source.
4.	Now inside the Panel element you can add components related to your nested data grid.

How to Control Data Grid Sort Order

How to Hide Duplicate Records

Using Main Level, Section and Report Resource Fields Inside a Table

You also can add a table element to your report and apply main level, section fields and report resources inside the table. This is especially helpful if you want a similar look throughout your report. 

Moving and Inserting Table Columns

Once a table is added to your report, you can quickly move, add or delete a column by selecting the column and right clicking. You will be presented a list of available actions, chose the appropriate option.

Table Footers

If you need a footer applied to your table, select the table and right-click. An option to add a Table Footer will be presented to you. 

A Label element should be added to the footer cell and the appropriate data aggregation field should be referenced in the properties of the label.

Working with Panels

How to Use Panel to Display Data Grid Fields

Data Grid fields can be displayed using with Panel components. Once the source of the panel is set to a Data Grid field, then inside the panel you can place fields related to that Data Grid. 

To set the source of a panel to a Data Grid:

Step	Direction	Example (Click Image to Enlarge)
1.	Drop Panel element from the Elements menu.
2.	Select the Data Grid field in the Data Source property.

How to Add Form Field to Panel with Data Source

Step	Direction	Example (Click Image to Enlarge)
1.	Make sure that the Panel component has Data Source property set.
2.	From the Elements tab select Label and drop it inside the Panel.
3.	With your label selected, in the Properties panel choose values for the Data Set and Data Source properties.

How to Add a Line Separator on All but Last Grid row

Line component can be used as separator between each Grid field records.

Step	Description	Example (Click Image to Enlarge)
1.	Go to the elements tab and add a line component as the last element inside the Panel. This line will be rendered after each grid record, including the last record. To suppress the line after the last record, proceed to step 2 and 3.
2.	Select the line and open the Properties tab.
3.	Type last() inside the Hide Expression property to hide the line in the last row.

Working with Images 

How to fix stretched images 

To keep the aspect ratio of your images, set a value only for one of the size properties: Width or Height.

If the Image component has value for Width, but Height property is left empty, on the generated report it’s height will be calculated to keep the appropriate aspect ratio.

Working with Resources

How to Add a Resource

Resources are static images, that can be used in the report template.

To add resource file:

Step	Direction	Example (Click Image to Enlarge)
1.	Click on the Upload Image button on the top bar.
2.	Select the image file, that you want to add as resource.
3.	When your image is uploaded successfully it will be available in the Data Sets tab inside Resources data collection.

How to Add Image Resource on the Template

Step	Direction	Example (Click Image to Enlarge)
1.	Open Data Sets tab.
2.	Inside Resources data collection find the resource you want to add.
3.	Drop the resource on the template.

How to Change Resources on the Template

Image resources can be used only with Image components.

If you have dropped image component and you want to change the resource it uses, follow these steps:

In the Data Source property find and select your resource name.

Step	Direction	Example (Click Image to Enlarge)
1.	Select the Image component.
2.	Open Properties tab and Make sure that the Data Set value is Resources.
3.	In the Source find and select your resource name.