FPReport Designer: what changed

Revision 0 to 1. Removed lines have a minus sign; added lines have a plus sign.

Title: FPReport Designer

New		Line
1	+	## The FPReport Visual report designer
2	+
3	+	The FPReport visual report designer has the following features:
4	+
5	+	- Design a report from scratch using a visual editor.
6	+	- Define variables
7	+	- Load/Save report to/from a JSON file
8	+	- Connect data to the report
9	+
10	+	:* CSV data
11	+
12	+	:* JSON data
13	+
14	+	:* SQLDB data
15	+
16	+	:* DBF Data
17	+
18	+	- Preview data
19	+	- Export data to known exporters (PDF, Image, HTML)
20	+
21	+	The following is how it will look when working on a report:
22	+
23	+	<figure>
24	+	<img src="fpreport_designer_main.png" title="fpreport_designer_main.png" />
25	+	<figcaption>fpreport_designer_main.png</figcaption>
26	+	</figure>
27	+
28	+	## usage
29	+
30	+	The Visual report designer is intended to be intuitive, and as such does not require a lot of explanation
31	+
32	+	- To add a data field to a band: drag and drop ot from the data tree view no the right.
33	+	- Same for functions
34	+	- ctrl-drag will create a selection rectangle
35	+	- shift-click can be used to select multiple elements
36	+	- Move the selection using arrow keys (shift to use bigger step)
37	+	- Resize the selection using ctrl-arrow keys (shift to use bigger step)
38	+
39	+	Quick explanation of the menu
40	+
41	+	### File
42	+
43	+	The file menu starts a new report or loads/saves a report from disk.
44	+
45	+	- New - speaks for itself
46	+	- Open report - load a JSON file with a report from disk.
47	+	- Save Report - save report to a JSON file.
48	+	- Quit - exit the report designer
49	+
50	+	### Edit
51	+
52	+	- Delete - delete the selection
53	+
54	+	Copy & Paste are in the works.
55	+
56	+	### Report
57	+
58	+	- Add Page : Add a new page to the report.
59	+	- Properties: set author, 2-pass, title.
60	+	- Report data : To manage data sources.
61	+	- Variables: define variables which can be used in expressions
62	+
63	+	### Bands
64	+
65	+	This can be used to add various types of bands to the report.
66	+
67	+	### Elements
68	+
69	+	The elements menu can be used to add various types of elements to the report. Currently the following types are supported:
70	+
71	+	- Memo
72	+	- Shape
73	+	- Image
74	+	- Checkbox
75	+
76	+	### Align objects
77	+
78	+	When multiple objects are selected, this menu can be used to align them:
79	+
80	+	- Align will show the align dialog
81	+	- All other elements just perform the requested alignment on the selection
82	+
83	+	### Resize objects
84	+
85	+	When multiple objects are selected, this menu can be used to resize them:
86	+
87	+	- Resize dialog will show the resize dialog
88	+	- All other elements just perform the requested resize operation on the selection.
89	+
90	+	## Data
91	+
92	+	The Report - report data menu can be used to define data sources for the report
93	+
94	+	<figure>
95	+	<img src="fpreport_design_data.png" title="fpreport_design_data.png" />
96	+	<figcaption>fpreport_design_data.png</figcaption>
97	+	</figure>
98	+
99	+	The left side shows a list of available data sources.
100	+
101	+	The buttons above the list will (from left to right):
102	+
103	+	- Clone the currently selected data source.
104	+	- Add a new data source.
105	+	- Delete the currently selected data source.
106	+
107	+	At the right, the configuration details of the data source are shown. This means the name, and type of data.
108	+
109	+	Depending on the type, more details can be configured.
110	+
111	+	The "preview" button at the top right can be used to show the dataset in a grid:
112	+
113	+	<figure>
114	+	<img src="fpreport_design_data_preview.png" title="fpreport_design_data_preview.png" />
115	+	<figcaption>fpreport_design_data_preview.png</figcaption>
116	+	</figure>
117	+
118	+	### DBF
119	+
120	+	Only the filename can be set for a DBF data source.
121	+
122	+	<figure>
123	+	<img src="fpreport_design_data.png" title="fpreport_design_data.png" />
124	+	<figcaption>fpreport_design_data.png</figcaption>
125	+	</figure>
126	+
127	+	### CSV
128	+
129	+	For CSV data, some more details can be set:
130	+
131	+	- FileName
132	+	- Quote character for string fields
133	+	- separator character between fields
134	+	- First line contanins fieldsnames:
135	+
136	+
137	+	if checked, the first line of the CSV file is expected to contain the field names.
138	+
139	+	- Use the following field names:
140	+
141	+
142	+	If checked, the first line is expected to contain data, and the names of the fields must be entered, one per line, in the memo below the radiobutton.
143	+
144	+	<figure>
145	+	<img src="fpreport_design_data_csv.png" title="fpreport_design_data_csv.png" />
146	+	<figcaption>fpreport_design_data_csv.png</figcaption>
147	+	</figure>
148	+
149	+	### JSON
150	+
151	+	For JSON data, there are 2 possibilities for the data source:
152	+
153	+	- A file on disk
154	+	- A URL
155	+
156	+	Depending on what is chosen, the dialog will load the file from the indicated file or download it from the URL.
157	+
158	+	The following options are still possible:
159	+
160	+	- Path to data array.
161	+
162	+
163	+	If the data is not an array, but the actuall data is in some sub-element of the data, then here a path can be entered.
164	+
165	+	The designer will make an intelligent guess at where the data is, when the file/url is opened
166	+
167	+	- Array based records
168	+
169	+
170	+	By default, the JSON support expects an array of objects. An array of arrays is also supported.
171	+
172	+	The grid below allows to enter the data type for each of the fields.
173	+
174	+
175	+	The designer will make an intelligent guess based on the first row in the array, but e.g. null fields will not be detected correctly.
176	+
177	+	valid types are string, integer, float and boolean
178	+
179	+	<figure>
180	+	<img src="fpreport_design_data_json.png" title="fpreport_design_data_json.png" />
181	+	<figcaption>fpreport_design_data_json.png</figcaption>
182	+	</figure>
183	+
184	+	### SQLDB
185	+
186	+	Any database reachable by SQLDB can be used as a data source for a report. The configuration needs 2 things:
187	+
188	+	- Connection details. These must be entered using the button, which opens the connection editor dialog
189	+	- SQL Command. Here an SQL Select command can be entered.
190	+	- The "Test connection" button can be used to verify that the connection is reachable.
191	+
192	+	<figure>
193	+	<img src="fpreport_design_data_sqldb.png" title="fpreport_design_data_sqldb.png" />
194	+	<figcaption>fpreport_design_data_sqldb.png</figcaption>
195	+	</figure>
196	+
197	+	The connection editor allows to edit the connection settings as they exist in SQLDB:
198	+
199	+	- Type: the list depends on the compiled-in SQLDB connections
200	+	- Hostname: SQL server hostname
201	+	- Database: DatabaseName
202	+	- user: username for connection
203	+	- Password: password of the user
204	+	- Role: user role
205	+	- chr.set: character set (UTF8 is recommended)
206	+	- Additional parameters:
207	+
208	+
209	+	here, additional connection-specific parameters can be entered (port no. etc)
210	+
211	+	Again, there is a button to test the connection.
212	+
213	+	<figure>
214	+	<img src="fpreport_design_sqldb_connection.png" title="fpreport_design_sqldb_connection.png" />
215	+	<figcaption>fpreport_design_sqldb_connection.png</figcaption>
216	+	</figure>
217	+
218	+	---
219	+	From the Free Pascal wiki, page "FPReport Designer", as it stood on 2018-03-08 after a change by Djzepi, out of the wiki's dump of 2024-05-26. Copyright stays with the author who wrote it, according to the old wiki's [[Licensing]] page. If you have concerns about this material, [message the admin](/wiki-contact).

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