Report creation options

Each time you create a new report, you have three options:

• use a Report Expert
• use another report as a template
• create a report from scratch.

You will probably use each option at some time.

Report Experts

The Report Experts help create reports as quickly as possible and many new users and developers alike prefer to create the majority of their reports using them. All you have to do is choose the Expert that most closely matches your report type. The Expert walks you through the process of creating reports step-by-step.

You can quickly create the report and see how it looks against the actual data. And best of all, if you then decide to make changes, you can get back to the Report Expert to further modify the report.

Another report

To build a new report based on one that already exists, another report can be used as a template. Open the report you want to use as a template by using the Open an Existing Report option and save it to a new file using Save As (found on the File menu). Use this option whenever you think templates can save time. Templates are useful to:

• Create a new report with a different grouping or different record selection than that of an existing report.
• Reconstruct a report based on an earlier time period using the same report structure used today.
• Create an entirely new report based on a set of databases that are linked in another report. You can create a report and delete the fields without disturbing the underlying links. Then, without relinking, you can build all your new reports based on this report.

New report

The As a Blank Report option is used to create a report from scratch. This is useful when you want the full flexibility and control of building a report from the ground up, or when a report type is different from the many report types available in the Experts.

The As a Blank Report option was chosen for the Quick start for new users, because the process of creating a report from scratch most fully illustrates the basics of reporting.