The purpose of the following quick tour is to provide a general overview of
the ReportWorks commands and setup procedures. This tour does not go into
detail about any of ReportWorks' features. In fact, the example used here
is quite simple. The tour is presented in tutorial style so you can follow
along on your computer if desired.
The AppleWorks file used in this tour is called Properties and is on the
Examples disk. Take a moment to look at this file with the AppleWorks database.
The file holds information about real estate properties and might be similar
to something used by a real estate broker. What we'll do in this example
is print a listing of certain properties and their costs. We'll use formulas
to calculate tax and totals automatically. We'll then embellish the report
by adding headers and footers. Finally, we'll make suggestions for more
complex examples that you can try on your own.
STARTING ReportWorks
Since the AppleWorks file is already created and full of sample files, we
need only use ReportWorks to create the report. Place the ReportWorks boot
(or Examples) disk into drive 1 and turn the computer on. Switch this disk
with the program disk when prompted. The ReportWorks main menu appears.
DESIGNING THE REPORT
Select the 'add files to the desktop' command and then select the 'make a
new reportworks file' command. The new file you are creating is the report
itself; call it Properties List and press return. The design screen is now
in view. Use the arrow keys to move around the page.
SELECT PAGE SIZES
The first thing to do is select the desired page sizes by entering the
(OPEN-Apple)-P command. You will see options for various parts of the
report. Using the TAB key, highlight the ENTRY SIZE option and press
return to change the number to 1.
You've just told ReportWorks that each entry in the body of the report will
be one line long. These one-line entries will fill the pages of the report
(which are now set at 66 lines, or letter sized paper). Press ESCAPE to
return to the design page. Notice that the entry area has changed to reflect
the new entry size.
DRAW FIELDS
Using the arrow keys, place the cursor in the leftmost corner of the entry
area and enter the (OPEN-Apple)-F command. This sets a field on the page.
To make the field larger, hold the (OPEN-Apple) key and tap the RIGHT ARROW
until the desired length is reached. Make this field 15 characters long.
Press RETURN again when finished.
Draw another field, approximately ten characters long to the right of this
field, and still another ten character field to the right of that one.
DEFINING THE FIELDS
We'll now tell each field where to find its information. Move the cursor to the
first field and press (OPEN-Apple)-F. Notice that the field is now highlighted,
showing that it is selected. Now, enter the (OPEN-Apple)-D command and the
options shown appear at the top of the screen:
------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------
Field Name : F1 Source : Formula
Type : Text Format : Left Justify
Formula :
============================================================ ===================
Here you can define characteristics of each field in the report. Change this
field's name by pressing RETURN and typing the name "LOCATION". Press RETURN
again when finished.
Use the TAB key to highlight the SOURCE option; now press RETURN. You get a
"drop down" menu of the available sources: Formula or File. Using the UP ARROW
key, highlight the FILE option and press RETURN. You have just told ReportWorks
that this field will look up in an AppleWorks file for its information.
ReportWorks is now highlighting the words New File in another drop down menu.
Since you have not yet created any file lookups, New File is the only option -
later, your file lookups will appear in this menu. Press RETURN to continue.
ReportWorks now asks:
Use AppleWorks file ______________________________________as master file.
and the words "Change Disks" are highlighted in a drop down menu. Typically,
ReportWorks would display all available AppleWorks files in this drop down
menu. However, since it found no files on the ReportWorks disk, it asks you
to change the disk to one that contains the AppleWorks files.
SELECTING FILES (Changing the Prefix)
Place the Examples disk (side 1) in the drive and press RETYRN (if you have
two drives, use Drive 2 for the Examples disk). Now enter this prefix:
/EXAMPLES
and press RETURN. You can also enter #1 or #2 to select the disk in the
respective drive. (for when you forget the prefix). Now ReportWorks displays
all the available AppleWorks files on the data disk. Select the field
PROPERTIES.
and displays a list of all available categories in the Properties file.
Highlight the category ADDRESS and press RETURN. Now press ESCAPE and save the
changes you have just made.
DEFINING THE SECOND FIELD
You have now defined the first field in the report. Let's do the same thing
with the next field. We'll access the same AppleWorks file, but this time
we'll extract the "PRICE" category instead of the "ADDRESS" category. Since
we're using the same file reference over again, we won't have to repeat
all of the steps.
Move the cursor to the second field in the report and press (OPEN-Apple)-F
to highlight it. Now enter the (OPEN-Apple)-D command. First change the
name of this field to be "PRICE". Next, highlight the TYPE option with the
TAB key and press RETURN. Just as before, select FILE as the source. Notice
that the name of the previous file reference appears in the drop down menu
along with the words New File. In this case, instead of selecting a new
file reference, will use the previous one by selecting the name PROPERTIES.
Now you can go back and change the category being retrieved by highlighting
the category name with the TAB Key and pressing RETURN. Select the category
PRICE from the list. Press ESC to save the changes. What we have done is
set-up two fields in the report to draw separate information from the same
file - the Properties File.
DEFINING THE THIRD FIELD (Using a Formula)
Will use a formula for the last field in the report. This field will calculate
slaes tax on the price of the property. Move the cursor to the last field and
press (OPEN-APPLE)-F. Now use the (OPEN-APPLE)-D command, tab to the TYPE
option and press Return. Select NUMBER as the type. You might also want to
change this field's name to somehing like "WITHTAX". Now tab to the Source
option and press Return. Select Formula as the source for this field.
Tab over to the Formula option and press Return to begin entering the formula.
Type the following:
PRICE *1.06
This formula takes the value of the PRICE field and multiplies it by 1.06 to
add a 6% sales tax. Press ESC to save these new field definitions.
SAVING THE REPORT
Save this report by pressing the ESC key. You should see a card menu informing
you that changes have been made. Here you can either save or discard the
changes. For this example save the report design. Be sure to save the report
onto the same disk the Appleworks files used in the report (The EXAMPLES Disk).
BUILDING THE REPORT
To create this report select the 'WORK WITH ONE OF THE FILES ON THE DESKTOP'
command from the main menu and select the PROPERTIES LIST file from the
data disk.
You can now create a report of all the entries in the Properties file;
simply enter the (OPEN-APPLE)-B (BUILD) command. When te report is
completely built, you can use the arrow keys to look it over on the screen,
or the (OPEN-APPLE)-P command to print it.
You can use the (OPEN-APPLE)-C command to clear the report in case you want
to start over. You can also enter the (OPEN-APPLE)-R command to go back
and redesign the report.
USING CRITERIA
This last part of the quick tour show you how to view a report in many
different ways using View criteria. There are many ways of using criteria.
With the report currently on the screen, enter the (OPEN-APPLE)-V command.
This takes you into the View criteria screen. Lets establish a simple
criteria: Select option #1 EDIT THE CURRENT VIEW CRITERIA. Now type the
following into the criteria box:
PRICE < 100000
This criteria will generate a report with only those properties whose
price is less than 100,000. Press RETURN when finished and save the criteria
you entered. Soon, ReportWorks will complete the new report. Since it is a
subset of the first report you created, ReportWorks will not take long to
create it.
TRY THIS
Experiment with sorting the report. You can use fields in the report to sort
by - just enter the (OPEN-APPLE)-V command when the report is in view. Now
select option #4 to change the sorting.
Try adding headers and footers to this report. Include the automatic page
numbering function. (You'll need to use the OPEN-APPLE-R command to redesign
the report).
Try adding a second (Lookup) file to this Real-Estate report application.
Add the spreadsheet file call TAXTABLES which stores the tax rate of every
state in the country. (This file is on the /EXAMPLES Disk). Setup the report
to lookup the approriate state tax percent depending upon which state the
property is in. Then figure out tax for the property using the correct tax
rate.
HINT: You will need to add another field to the report. This field will hold
the state of the property (Drawn from the Properties File). The value entered
into this field can be used as match criteria for the spreadsheet file lookup.
SUMMARY
In summary, you can design almost any kind of report or form layout desired,
using ReportWorks design features. The OPEN-APPLE-P (Page Setup) option
let you establish various page sizes and entry areas for the design.
Fields are created with the OPEN-APPLE-F command and are defined with the
OPEN-APPLE-D command. Defintions include field names, sources of information
(Formula or File), and more.
Several fields can use the same file as a source of information or they can
use several different files. Each file used as a source is enetered into a
list where it can be used again for other fields.
Building a report is simple. Just begin working with the report from the
main menu, then establish any desired view criteria with the OPEN-APPLE-V
command. After saving the criteria, ReportWorks automatically builds the
report based on the criteria. If no criteria are desired, simply enter the
OPEN-APPLE-B command to build the report.
