Creating a database report
Contents
Overview
To present the data of a database table or the resultset of a database
query in a more comfortable way you may set up a database report with HBasic.
With a database report you may not only add a layout that describes how
your data should be presented, you can also sort your data, group it or
add calculated fields. Remember that the current state of the HBasic report
designer is a prealpha version. Many of the features that are neccessary
to edit reports will be added later.
If you have connected your HBasic project to a database you can
open the report designer by creating a new database report in the new form
dialog which appears when you select
New in the menubar or click
on the
new icon in the project tree toolbar or HBasic global
toolbar.
[
画像:new_doc]
Next a popup dialog asks you for the name of the new report. Insert
a unique name for your report and press the OK button. You should now
see the report editor dialog which looks like the following image.
[
画像:report_edit]
In this image the following steps to define a report have already
been executed:
- Select a table that should be used for the report
- Insert report parts into your report
- Connect report parts to database columns
Editing database reports
This document should explain how you can set up your own report
definitions. The reports you have created will be stored with your HBasic
project. You can see a list of all defined reports in the project tree.
When you want to change or execute your report later click on the name of
the report in the project tree with the right mouse button and select
Edit
or
Execute in the popup menu that will be displayed.
Prerequisites
Before you may create and start a database report you have to prepare
the following steps:
- Create a database connection for an existing database (database
dialog)
- Connect this database to your project (Button To project
in database dialog)
[
画像:db_in_project]
Select database and connect to project
Since a report description will be stored in the project files of
your current HBasic project you have to select a database and connect
it to the project first. Open the database window with the menu entry
view / database window or click on the small database icon in the toolbar.
HBasic will open a new dialog where you can edit the list of known
databases or connect to one database. Remember to compile the database
plugin for your favourite database backend before trying to use the database
connection in HBasic. (See setting up database access with HBasic).
To connect a database to your project add the database description
to the list of known databases on top of the database window and click
on the button
to project to connect the current selected database
to your project description
Select table for your report
For the following description we assume that you have already connected
your project to a database and opened the report designer by creating
a new database report.
The data fields used in your report should be taken from a database
table. Click on the
Add table button in the report designer. You
will now see a new dialog that lists all the tables from the database that
is connected to your project. Mark the tables that you want to use with
a mouseclick and click on the
Add button. If you cannot see any table
in this dialog check if you correctly connected to a database (with correct
user and password) and the database is online.
Connect a table column
The main contents of a report are report fields which display a predefined
text or values from database columns. You can create new database fields
by selecting the type of the field on the left side of the report designer.
Click on the
Label button to select creating text items or click
on the
Lineedit button to creat a report field that may display table
column values.
Next click on the position in the report designer where the report item
should be inserted. After you have inserted new report items you may move
them to a new position or resize them mith mouse clicks.
The property editor will display the properties for the item that is
currently selected in the report designer. To insert the text that should
be displayed with the Label entry change the
Text property of this
fields. To connect a Lineedit item to a column of the database table that
has been selected for the report change the
Display property of this
items.
Execute report
After you set up all this parts of a report you can start execution
by clicking on the
Preview button. The right side of the current
dialog shows the result data of your report.
Beside showing the preview of a report you can also start the print function
which will print the result of the report to a printer (or file) that may
be selected in a special dialog that pops up after clicking the
Print
button.
After leaving the report designer you can see a list of all defined
reports in the project tree. When you want to change or execute your
report later click on the name of the report in the project tree with
the right mouse button and select
Edit or
Execute in the
popup menu that will be displayed. You may also select the report with
the left mouse button and click on the
Start button in the project
tree window.