Creating and managing custom web reports

Web reports are suitable for preparing formatted list reports (which are presented in a table) and chart reports (which allow you to select from various types of charts to illustrate the data). By using the preview feature, you can use Web reports to work interactively with the data in the form. 

Web reports options

AR System offers the following options for creating web reports. You can select one or many reporting options based on your requirements:

To create a web list report

1. Set up the report. 
   See Creating-and-managing-reports-from-the-AR-System-Report-Console.
2. (Optional) In the Report Definition area, add a brief description of the report in the Description field.
   This description appears in the list of reports in the Report Console. If you do not enter a description, it is identified as a "Web Report."
3. From the Content list, select List or Chart + List.
   • List—The report is presented as a table.

   • Chart + List—The report is presented as a chart, followed by a table. Use this procedure to define the list section of the report.

     The Chart+List type report exported to the Spudsoft Excel format does not display the chart as expected. To troubleshoot this issue, perform the following steps:

     1. Open the report that you exported to the Spudsoft Excel format.
     2. Right-click the chart image.
     3. Select the Size and Properties option.
     4. Set the value of Scale Width to 100%.

4. (Optional) To share this report with other users who share at least one permission group in common with you, clear the Private check box.
   Other users must also have permission to the form to run the report, and they must have permission to the fields included in the report to see the data in the report.
5. In the Columns tab, select fields from the Available Fields list to include in the report. Then, click Add, double-click, or drag them to the Column list.
   • You must add at least one field to the Column list to be able to save the report.
   • If you selected Add default fields and sort order when creating the report, the defined results list fields for the form are already in the Column list.
   • You can select multiple fields at a time from the Available Fields list. To add all fields to the report, click Add All.
   • You can include any field type except Diary fields in the report.
   • To remove a field from the report, select it in the Column list. Then click Remove, double-click the field, or drag it from the Column list back to the Available Fields list. To remove all fields from the report definition, click Remove All.
   • The available fields come from the standard view of the form or from the view defined as the Master View for the locale. If the fields that appear do not match the fields you see on the form, there might be a Web - Alternate view defined. Fields in a Web - Alternate view do not appear in the Available Fields list.
6. Use the Up and Down buttons next to the Column list to change the order of the columns in the report.
7. (Optional) In the Sorting and Grouping tab, select one or more fields on which to sort the report, and then click Add, or drag the selected field to the sorting list area.
   • If you selected Add default fields and sort order when creating the report, the default sort order for the form is already added to the report definition.
   • To change the sort order between ascending and descending, click the arrow in the Dir column for each field.
   • To group repeated values, select the Group check box.
8. (Optional) Define a qualification to identify the records that appear in the report.

9. (Optional) To preview the report before you save it, click Preview.
   A sample report runs and appears in a separate browser window. The Preview feature allows you to check and modify the report design until you are satisfied with the results.
   You can also use the Preview feature in cases where you want a quick view of the data in a form. You can print the report or export data from the preview screen.

   When you preview a Report that has a base qualification, the base qualification is ignored. In this case, the report preview might include more records than when you run the report from the Report Console list.

10. Click Save.
11. To return to the Report Console report list, click Back.

An example report is shown below.

To create a web chart report

1. In ad hoc reports, click in the data area of the chart to open the form with a results list containing the underlying requests. 
2. Use the drill-down function to work interactively with the data at the time you run or preview the report. 
   For example, to see more information about the students enrolled in the class "Managing Within the Law" in the Sample application, the instructor can run this example report and then click the column labelled "Managing Within the Law" in the chart. The Sample:Classes form then opens with a results list containing the records for each student enrolled.

An example chart is shown below.

To create a chart report

1. Create a new report. (See Creating-and-managing-reports-from-the-AR-System-Report-Console.)
2. In the Content field, select Chart or Chart +List.
   • Chart—The report is presented as a chart or graph of the type you select.
   • Chart + List—The report is presented as a chart, followed by a table. Use this procedure to define the chart section of the report. 
3. In the Chart Options tab, select the chart options:
   • Type—The type of chart you want to produce, such as a pie chart or a bar chart.
   • Category Field—Select the field to supply the category data for the chart.
     In a pie chart, the values in the category field become the "slices" of the pie. In graphs, such as a bar chart, the values in the category field are plotted on the X-axis. Ensure that the category you selected includes values. A null value can inhibit the interactive drill-down functionality of the report.
   • Category Label—Supply a label that describes the category data.
   • Aggregation—Select an aggregation method that makes sense for the data in the report.
     • Count—Reports the number of existing records for each unique value in the category field.
     • Sum—Adds the values in the series field for each unique value in the category field.
     • Average—Calculates an average of the values in the series field for each unique value in the category field.
     • Minimum—Shows the minimum of the values in the series field for each unique value in the category field.
     • Maximum—Shows the maximum of the values in the series field for each unique value in the category field.
   • Type—Tube Chart
   • Category
     • Field—Class Title
     • Label—Class title
   • Series
     • Aggregation—Sum
     • Field—Number Enrolled
     • Label—Total enrolled
4. (Optional) To preview the report before you save it, click Preview.
   A sample report runs and appears in a separate browser window.
5. Click Save.
6. To return to the Report Console report list, click Back.

Types of reports

The following table describes the types of reports you can create:

Using special characters in a custom web report

When you modify a customize web report that contents special characters, the report viewer does not display any content and you cannot print the report. 

The Unicode standard has reserved the range from U+D800 to U+DFFF for surrogate pairs, which are forbidden. Characters such as emojis and traditional/complicated Chinese characters (for example, 𢥧) fall under the surrogate range.

For more information about the character ranges that are allowed and those that are forbidden, see Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Fifth Edition) in W3C recommendations.

Where to go from here

Exporting-a-custom-web-report