DIY Report Designer Practice

Table of Contents

This page is meant to provide a step by step instruction on how to create a report template within Report Designer. The example report template created for the screen shots below was built off a Daily Observation form with general discrepancy tracking (used in the Form Designer Practice). A form must be created first, prior to creating the report design. It is recommended that you complete the DIY Form Designer Practice prior to starting this practice. Note that which form fields are added to the report template and where they are positioned is completely configurable. This practice is just to get you familiar with basic report design functionality.

Create the Report Template

Step	Instruction	Screenshot
1	Navigate to the Form you wish to create your report template against in Administration > Activity > Forms. Select the group name the form is associated with. Select the form name to open the form in Form Designer.
2	Select Report Designer.
3	Select Add New Report.
4	Provide a Name, Code, and Default Title. Select Create.

A blank report template will be created. The following sections of this practice will provide instruction on populating a report template with report elements and configuring element properties.

We recommend that you save updates to the report template often. Very complex logic and or data sourcing can be built into a report design. If the logic or sourcing does not pass validation, MetaField will throw an error and not allow the report template to be saved. Saving in between changes will ensure that if validation is thrown, you will know the last update you made and correct it.

It is also recommended that after every couple of updates made to your report design, navigate to the QC module using a separate tab or window to preview the report. Note that you will need to have the form record entered into the system. This becomes more critical when you apply hide expressions and various properties to fields on your report template..

Add Elements to the Report Template

Step	Description	Instruction
1	Create the sections of the report with section headings.	A. In the right hand panel, select the Elements tab. Select Panel (click and hold) and drag the panel element to the body of the report template. B. Repeat step A so there is a panel within a panel. Select Label (click and hold) and drag the label element inside the two panel elements. C. Select the label element that you just moved onto the report template. The outline of the element should be highlighted in blue when it is selected. Select the Properties tab. The text field will default in the text "Content". Delete this text and update it with "General Information". Highlight the text and select the "B" icon in the text editor to make the text bold. Update the font size to "12" and the Text Align to "Center". D. Repeat steps A - C to create sections for "Observation Information" and "Remarks". Remember to select the Save icon often when making updates.
2	Create two columns on within general information and add general information form fields within the two column design.	A. Drag a Panel element into the General Information section of the report template, below the panel with the "General Information" label within it. Make sure the panel element you just added is selected (outline highlighted in blue). Select the Properties tab and update the Width property to "50". Keep the units as "%". You will notice that the panel should take up 50% of the space within the panel it was dragged into. B. Repeat step A so there are two columns created in the General Information section of the report.
3	Add form fields into the left column using the drag and drop Method.	A. In the right hand panel, select the Datasets tab. Select a form field (click and hold) and drag the field to the left column of the report template within the General Information section.Note that you can update the order the form fields display in the Datasets tab (alphabetically or form order) in order to make the design process easier. B. Repeat step A for all the form fields you would like to appear in the left column of this section of the report. Note when dragging picklist, multiple choice, or yes/no fields You will be presented with three display options to choose from. Select one of the options and select Create. When using the drag and drop method, The panel that gets inserted will have a hide expression added to the properties by default. The hide expression will hide the panel from the report if there is no value for the field on the form record. If you would like the panel to always appear on the report, this hide expression will need to be removed.
4	Add form fields into the right column using the data sourcing Method.	A. In the right hand panel, select the Elements tab. Select Panel (click and hold) and drag the panel element to the body of the report template inside the panel that is forming the right column. B. Select Label (click and hold) and drag the label element inside the panel. C. Select the label element you just dragged onto the report so it is highlighted blue. Select the Properties tab. The width property will default to 100 for label elements that are dragged onto the report. Delete the value in this field. It will now read "Auto". The text field will default in the text "Content". Delete this text and update it with "Weather". Highlight the text and select the "B" icon in the text editor to make the text bold. D. Drag another label element inside the same panel below the label that you just added. Make sure it is selected and highlighted blue. Select the Properties tab. Update the width property to "Auto". For the Data Set picklist, select the option that is the name of the form (in this case, the form name is "Observation Form". For the Source picklist, select "Weather". E. Select the Panel element that you dragged both label elements in so it is highlighted blue. Within the Properties tab, select the "..." icon next to the Hide Expression field. Expression Builder will open. from the list of available fields in Expression Builder, double click the Weather field. Select the "=" from the controls above the available fields and function library. type in open and closed quotes (""). Select Done. F. Repeat steps A - E for all the form fields you would like to appear in the right column of this section of the report. The actions performed in step 4 duplicated what was done in step 3 using the drag and drop method. However, using the sourcing method allows for more flexibility.
5	Add form fields for the other sections of the report.	A. In the Observation Information section, when dragging over the Work Performed field, choose the "Checkbox - Horizontal" display option. Select Create. B. Drag The Discrepancies form field onto the report under the Remarks section. The Data Grid Options popup will appear. Choose the "Panel" option and select Create. The display Options pop up will appear next. Select "List" and select Create. C. Repeat step B for the Images grid. D. Drag the Attachment Field to the bottom of the report template to complete step 5.

Make Cosmetic Changes to the Report Template

Step	Description	Instruction
1	Add color to the report template.	Select the panel that each section label sits in. Select the Properties tab. In the Background Color property select a color using the color picker control or type in the Hex code of the color you would like to use.
2	Add borders around each section.	Select the panel that wraps around the sections. Select the Properties tab. In the border property enter the value "1".
3	Configure the images to repeat each data grid record as a column on the report.	Select the panel that wraps around the image fields on the report. Select the Properties tab. In the "Repeat Panel as Column" property, select "3 Columns".
4	Remove un-needed line element from the images section	Select the line element from within the report design (It should be highlighted blue when selected). Use the delete key on your keyboard to delete the element or select the delete icon (trash can).
5	Insert a page break after the Images section.	select the Elements tab. Select Page Break (click and hold) and drag the page break element to the body of the report template below the images section.