Tip of the Month - August, 2001

Editing an iMIS Standard Report

Each iMIS module contains a Reports menu item through which specific reports can be run. The specifications or details of all the iMIS standard reports can be modified or cloned (copied and renamed) through the Report Specifications window (Utilities> Report Specs) and the Detail Report Parameters window (Utilities> Report Specs, click Parameters). 

TO CLONE A REPORT (C/S and LAN)
To avoid losing report specifications, it is best to clone a report and make the changes to the cloned version.
For information on Cloning reports using Crystal Reports please go here. 

1. Select Utilities> Report Specs to display the Report Specifications window which contains a list of all standard reports, sorted by module and type.
1a. Lan Users will find Report Specifications under File>System Menus>iMIS Utilities>Report Specs.

2. Highlight the report you want to clone and then click the Clone button at the bottom of the window.
2a. Lan Users, as there is no "Clone" button in LAN, users should hold down the SHIFT key on their keyboard while clicking the "Insert" button on the screen.

3. Enter in the System and Category where you want the report to appear.

4. Type a name for the cloned report in the Title field and a new description in the Description field.

Note: If you use the cloned report as the standard report within its Category and the original report chosen for printing at the individual level (from the Generate button), make sure the report name is first in the alphabetical report category. To simplify this task further, put a period "." at the beginning of the name, such as .Badge, so it becomes the default for the report type. Not all options are available for all reports.

5. Click the Parameters button and make the change you want to make. This may include a change in the Report Format used to print the report, an addition or change of an option in the Options list string, or an addition of message text (for certain invoice and confirmation formats) in the Parameters text field.

Note: When changing an option, remember that most of the options available for a report are already in the Options list. However, you may need to either enable or disable the option depending upon the setting. To enable an option that is disabled, change the first word of the option from NO to PRINT For example, NO_FULL_ADDRESS to PRINT_FULL_ADDRESS.

6. Click OK. You have created a new report that appears with the other Standard Reports.

Cloning a standard report and making changes to the cloned version will avoid any changes being lost to the report when the Update Standard Tables utility is run. The Update Standard Tables utility reviews the modules the client is currently licensed for and creates a fresh list of all report specifications based on the default definitions. Basically, the report specifications are copied from the imisstd.df1 file and put into the current imis.df1. It will not overwrite any custom report specifications.

Note: If report specifications for a standard report were changed (other than cloning), they will be overwritten when Update Standard Tables is run.

Cloning a standard report and making changes to the cloned version will also avoid any changes being lost to the report when an upgrade is performed.

For more information on the iMIS Report Specifications menu please see the iMIS Utilities Menu (pdf) on the Resource Center. Select iMIS (Client/Server) as the category> Reference> iMIS Utilities Menu (pdf).