Before Creating a Report
From Informer 4 Wiki
Before creating a new report, it is always best to ensure there is not an existing report already available in the system which fits your needs. Use tags to categorize reports and cut down on redundancy. Also remember you can maintain custom views of a report – meaning if there is a report in the system which returns the records you want but you need to view the results in a different format, use the ability to customize fields, groups, sorts, etc. rather than creating an entirely new report.
If you indeed determine you need a completely new report, follow the instructions below before clicking the new report action:
- Identify Base Report Type
Determine what it is you are actually attempting to return from the database. Is it a list of PERSON records, a list of INVOICE records, etc.? Informer requires each report to have a base type, and you are required to provide that type in the new report dialog. - Identify Selection Criteria
Determine which records you want to return. Do you want the entire list of PERSON records in your database, or only those who were born after a certain date? Knowing beforehand what your selection criteria is will make it easier for you to understand what you need from the criteria palette. Remember you can get as sophisticated as you want with your criteria, including selecting based of values from liked mappings, using compound conditions to create sub-query like functionality, and more. - Identify Fields to Display
Once you know what type of records you require, and which of those records you want returned, next determine what data you want to see for each record. If you are selecting PERSON records born after a specific date, what fields do you want to show as columns in the report? Remember that also, provided appropriate security, users of your report will be allowed to add and remove fields from their custom view if need be.
