<= Previous | Next => | Table of Contents DataVision User's Manual

9 The DataVision User Interface

9.1 Windows

9.1.1 The Report Design Window

The Report Design window is the main window used to edit, save, and run a report. To the left are section labels, to the right are the sections containing report fields. The labels, sections, and fields all have popup menus that appear when you right-click them.

Drag the bars to re-size report sections.

To select a field, single-click it. To select more than one field, hold down the shift key while selecting the fields. Not yet implemented: You may also select fields by clicking and dragging a selection box with the mouse.

Click and drag a field to move it. Drag the edges to re-size it. Moving and dragging operate on the current selection. If multiple fields are selected they will all be moved or re-sized.

Field commands (format, re-size) operate on the set of currently selected fields.

To insert a new section, right-click on a section label or section and select "Insert Section".

9.1.1.1 Menus

Fields have popup menus. Sections have popup menus. The section labels on the left side have popup menus.

The File Menu

New Creates a new, empty report and opens the Database Connection dialog box (see The Database Connection Dialog).

Open Opens a dialog box that lets you select a report XML file to open.

Save Saves the report. If you have not yet specified a report XML file because this is a new report, you will be asked to do so.

Save As... Saves the report to a file you specify.

Page Size This submenu lets you select the report's paper size. One could argue this belongs in the Report menu, but print-related menu items usually appear in an application's File menu.

Close Closes the report and the design window. If the file has been changed, you will be asked if you want to save the report first.

Quit Closes all reports and quits DataVision. If any file has been changed, you will be asked about saving it. If you answer "Cancel" to any request (instead of saving or confirming that you don't want to save the report), DataVision does not quit.

The Edit Menu

Undo Not yet implemented.

Cut Deletes the currently selected fields (same as Delete Selected Fields).

Copy Not yet implemented.

Paste Not yet implemented.

Delete Selected Fields Deletes the currently selected fields.

Delete Group Deletes the group containing the selected field. If more than one field is selected, the group containing the first (earliest) selected field is deleted.

Delete Section Deletes the section containing the selected field. If more than one field is selected, the section containing the first (earliest) selected field is deleted.

The Insert Menu

For more information about the Field Picker window, see The Field Picker Window.

Database Field... Opens the Field Picker window and jumps to the Database Fields section. (In a newly created report, there will be no database columns in this section yet. Open the "All Database Fields" sections by double-clicking it.)

Text The cursor changes to a text-editing cursor. Click on a report section and begin typing to add a text label.

Formula Field... Opens the Field Picker window and jumps to the Formula Field section.

Parameter Field... Opens the Field Picker window and jumps to the Parameter Field section.

Special Field... Opens the Field Picker window and jumps to the Special Field section.

Running Total Field... Opens the Subtotal dialog on the currently selected field. If more than one field is selected, uses the first (earliest) selected field. See The Subtotal Dialog.

Line Not yet implemented.

Group... Inserts a new group below all the other groups. This menu item is disabled if there are no fields in the report.

To reorder groups or change a group's sort order, select Group By... from the Report menu.

Section Inserts a new section after the one containing the selected field. If more than one field is selected, the new section is inserted below the section containing the first (earliest) selected field.

The Format Menu

Format Field... Opens the Format dialog (see The Format Dialog).

Border... Opens the Format dialog (see The Format Dialog) with the border tab displayed.

Position and Size... Opens the Position and Size dialog (see The Position and Size Dialog).

Align Opens the Align submenu. Selecting a menu item aligns all currently selected fields to the top, bottom, left, or right edge of the first selected field or snaps all selected fields to the grid.

Size Opens the Size submenu. Selecting a menu item re-sizes all currently selected fields to the same width, height, or size (both width and height) of the first selected field.

The Database Menu

Table Linker Opens the Table Linker dialog (see The Visual Table Linker Dialog).

SQL Query Text... Opens a dialog containing the SQL query that will be used to run the report. This text is not editable. It is, however, selectable: you can copy the text and paste it anywhere else.

Connection... Opens the Database Connection dialog (see The Database Connection Dialog).

The Report Menu

Run Runs the report and displays the results.

Export... Opens a dialog that lets you choose which format to use for exporting the report data. When you click Ok, a File Save dialog box opens to let you specify an output file.

Select Records... Opens a dialog that lets you edit text inserted into the WHERE clause of the SQL statement used to generate report data. See The "Select Records" Dialog.

Sort By... Opens the dialog box used to specify which fields should be sorted, and in what order. See The "Sort By" Dialog. To change the sort order of a group, use the Group By... menu item.

Group By... Opens the dialog box used to specify how records should be grouped, and in what order. See The "Group By" Dialog.

Summary... Lets you specify the report's author, name, title, and description. See The "Summary" Dialog.

The Help Menu

Help Opens a window on the DataVision User's Manual. The manual is displayed as HTML and the links really work.

About DataVision... Opens a dialog that displays the DataVision version number and other exciting information.

9.1.2 The Field Picker Window

When you select one of the field types from the Insert menu on the design window, this window opens. It contains a tree list containing all database field types except text labels. Click and drag a field to add it to the report.

The first item in the window is "Database Fields" and the last item is "All Database Fields". In a newly created report, the first "Database Fields" item will be empty, because it displays database columns that are already in the report.

Drag database columns, formulas, parameters, or special fields from the Field Picker window into the report. As an added bonus, when you drag a database column into a "Detail" section, the name of the column will automagically appear in the "Page Header" section.

This window also lets you create and edit formulas and parameters. Select the appropriate menu item from the Field menu.

9.1.3 The Report View

When you run a report by selecting Run Report... from the Report menu, a report view window opens and displays the report output.

From this window you may print the report or export it using one of the other layout engines.

See Running a Report for more information on the Report View window.

9.2 Dialogs

9.2.1 The Subtotal Dialog

Open by selecting Subtotals... from a numeric field's popup menu or by selecting Running Total Field... from the Insert menu.

This dialog will open. It contains check boxes for each group in the report, along with a "Grand Total" check box. Select groups and "Grand Total" to make (sub)totals appear.

The Grand Total will be created in the Report Footer section of the report.

9.2.2 The Format Dialog

The Format Dialog has two tabs labeled "Format" and "Border". The contents of the "Format" tab edit the look of a field (its size, font, alignment, etc.) The contents of the "Border" tab edit the borders that surround a field. These borders are not yet displayed by the GUI, though they are output by layout engines such as the LaTeX engine that understand them.

The "Format" tab lets you edit a fields font family name, text size, color, text attributes such as bold, italic, underline, and wrap, text alignment, and the printing format of numbers and dates.

Though field colors respect their alpha component, there is no way in this dialog to edit that value. You can manually edit the alpha value by editing the report XML file and changing the final value of the color string. See Field Formats for the format of the color string.

The "Format" string needs a bit of explaining. It is used by a Java formatting object that is appropriate for the type of field. For numeric fields, this string is used as input to a DecimalFormat object. For date fields, it is used as input to a SimpleDateFormat object.

For numeric fields, you create a "picture" of how you want the number to appear. Use either `#' or `0' characters to represent numbers; `#' will print blanks if no digit is needed, `0' will print a zero. Add commas or decimal points where appropriate. The number of `#' characters you use is not important. To print negative numbers by using a leading minus sign (or whatever is appropriate for your locale), you need do nothing. To print negative numbers by using parenthesis, you need to add the string ";(#)" to the end of your format string.

For a complete and detailed discussion of the numeric format strings, see the java.text.DecimalFormat documentation.

Here are a few example numeric format strings, using the separator characters used in the USA. We will apply each to the number 1,234.0078.

#,####
Print with commas but with no decimal places: "1,234"
####
Print with no commas and no decimal places: "1234".
####.#
Print with no commas and one decimal place: "1234". No decimal places are printed here because we asked for one decimal place only if it is non-zero.
#,###.00
Print with commas and exactly two decimal places: "1,234.01".
$#,###.00
Print as money: "$1,234.01".
$#,###.00;(#)
Print as money, but use parenthesis if the amount is negative: "$1,234.01".

For date fields, you create a format string that is understandable by the SimpleDateFormat class. Briefly, use `y' for year, `M' for month, `d' for day, `E' for day of the week, and `h', `m', and `s' for hours, minutes, and seconds. Use 'yyyy' for four-character years and 'yy' for two-character years. For a complete and detailed discussion of the date format strings, see the java.text.DecimalFormat documentation.

Here are a few example date format strings, using the date/time August 27, 2002, 12:36 pm.

yyyy.MM.dd
2002.08.27
EEE, MMM d, ''yy
Tue, August 27, '02
h:mm a
12:36 PM
hh 'o''clock' a, zzzz
12 o'clock PM, Eastern Standard Time
yyyyy.MMMMM.dd GGG hh:mm aaa
2002.August.27 AD 12:36 PM

The "Border" tab lets you edit the border surrounding a field. You can specify top, bottom, left, and right borders. Each is defined by a count (zero, one, two, or three lines), a style (line, dashed, or dotted), and a thickness in points. Remember: not all layout engines support borders. Only the line style works.

9.2.3 The Position and Size Dialog

To be written.

9.2.4 The Database Connection Dialog

This dialog lets you edit the information needed to connect to the database: the driver class name, connection info string, database (schema) name, user name, and password. For information about each field in this dialog, see Connecting to the Database.

9.2.5 The Visual Table Linker Dialog

Use this dialog to create or edit links (joins) between tables. The top of the window displays a list of joins or links between table columns.

New reports start with no joins between any columns. When you first open this dialog, the area above the Add and Delete Selected buttons will be empty.

To add a new link, click the Add button. To delete links, select them with the check boxes on the left side of the window and then click Delete Selected.

Each row above the Add and Delete Selected buttons represents one link between two database fields. To the left and right are combo boxes (drop down menus) that let you select database fields. In the middle is a combo box that defines the relationship between the two fields (for example, "equals" or "greater than").

To further limit the records retrieved by a report, enter a SQL where clause by using the "Select Records" dialog (see The "Select Records" Dialog).

9.2.6 The Parameter Editor Dialogs

To be written.

9.2.7 The Formula Editor Dialog

The main text pane in this window lets you edit the text of a formula. You can drag database fields, formulas, parameters, and special fields into this window.

To open a formula editor, double-click on a formula field in the report. Within the Field Picker window, select a formula then select Edit Formula... from the Field menu.

For a description of the simple formula language, see The RPN Mini-Language.

9.2.8 The "Select Records" Dialog

The main text pane in this window lets you edit the text of a SQL where clause. You can drag database fields, formulas, parameters, and special fields into this window.

9.2.9 The "Sort By" Dialog

Database columns that are used by groups will not appear in this dialog.

9.2.10 The "Group By" Dialog

To add a group to a report use either this dialog or the Group... menu item in the Insert menu.

To add a group using the "Group By" dialog, select a database column from the list on the left. Click the button with the right-pointing arrow (">") to create a new group that uses that column. To remove a group, select the group from the list on the right. Click the button with the left-pointing arrow ("<") to remove the group from the report.

To edit the sort order of a group's values, select the group from the list on the right side. The Ascending and Descending radio buttons will become enabled, and you can change the group's sort order.

To edit the nesting order of a group, select it and click the Move Up and Move Down buttons.

9.2.11 The "Summary" Dialog

This dialog lets you specify the report's name, its title, the author's name, and descriptive text. These values may be inserted into a report using special value fields.

9.3 Language Settings

If DataVision has been translated into your language, that language should be used automatically. The Java runtime sets the default language and region when you start DataVision. If you don't see the proper translation, use the command line arguments to set the language and region. See Running DataVision from the Command Line for a command synopsis.

Tony Tomov, who translated DataVision into Bulgarian, warns that Cyrillic characters don't display properly with Java 1.2. Once he upgraded to Java 1.3, they displayed fine.

See the file Credits for translators' names.


<= Previous | Next => | Table of Contents   DataVision User's Manual