Inserting Objects in a Report

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to insert objects in a report.

The Field Explorer

Database fields, formula fields, parameters, and special fields are examples of the types of objects that you can place, move, and resize on your report. You access and insert these objects onto the report from the Field Explorer.

Watch this video to see how to use the Field Explorer.

Browse Field Data

Use the Browse Data dialog box to preview:

Data type (such as number, string, date)
Length (if the field is a string type)
Sample content of the field

The image displays a software dialog box titled Customer.City, featuring a string-type input with a length of 40, showing a vertical list of city names including Abu Dhabi, Acapulco, Amiens, Amsterdam, Ankara, Arras, and Ashford, with Abu Dhabi highlighted, and two functional buttons labeled Paste Data and Close at the bottom, indicating a user interface for selecting or inputting city names.

You can take a look at a sample of the actual data in the table before you place the field on your report in the Browse Data dialog box.

Note

When you browse a field, by default you see the first 500 unique values of the field.

If Select Distinct Data for Browsing is not selected, browsing returns the unique values in the first 500 records.

Hint

You can also browse the field data after you place the field on the report by right-clicking the field and selecting Browse Field Data from the shortcut menu.

Special Fields

Special fields contain information that is not included in the data source, but is useful to the overall presentation quality of the report.

The image displays a software interface window titled Field Explorer, showing a hierarchical list of database-related fields and categories such as Database Fields with a subfolder Customer, Formula Fields, SQL Expression Fields, Parameter Fields, Running Total Fields, Group Name Fields, and Special Fields, each expandable to reveal specific data attributes like Content Locale, Current CE User ID, various date and time fields, file information, and report metadata, indicating a detailed organizational structure for managing database report components within a professional data management or report design application.

Some of the more commonly used Special Fields are:

Page Numbering (usually displayed in the Page Header or Page Footer section)

Page Number
Total Page Count
Page N of M

Dates and Times

Data Date/Time
Print Date/Time
Modification Date/Time

Report Information

File Author
Report Title
Report Comments

Note

Report Information contained in the Summary Info → Document Properties.

Summary

Field Explorer is a tool for managing fields in a report, displaying a tree view of database, formula, and special fields, and can be docked or moved freely.
Browse Data Dialog Box allows previewing field data types, lengths, and sample content before adding fields to the report, showing up to 500 unique values by default.
Special Fields provide additional report information like page numbers and dates, not present in the data source, and can be added using the Field Explorer.

Next lesson