Creating a Report with the Report Wizard

The easiest way to start a new report is to use the Report Wizard. The Report Wizard will help you create a basic report, specify the data source, fields to include in the report, layout of the report, and styles or labels to use in the report.

To use the Report Wizard

  1. In the Administrator, connect to the server, then click the Server tab. You should be connected to the reports database.

  2. Do one of the following:

  3. The New Report dialog box appears.

  4. Type a title for the new report, then click Create. The Report Designer appears.

  5. Click File, then click New Report, or click the New Report icon on the toolbar. The New Report Wizard opens.

  6. Do one of the following:

  7. Click OK in the Data Link Properties dialog box to return to the New Report Wizard.

  8. Click one of the following:

  9. Click Next. The fields that appear in the Available fields list depend on your selection in the previous step. For example, if you selected tbl_EventRules, the fields for Event Rules appear.

  10. Double-click a field or click it and use the arrows to move it to the Groups list. You can move more than one field to the Groups list. Group fields define how the data is sorted and summarized. The information in the Detail list is grouped according to the group name. The Detail list displays the details for each group. Detail fields define the information you want to appear in the report. For example, if you move SiteName to the Groups list and Time_stamp, EventName, and so on to the Detail list, then the report displays the time stamp and events under the respective Sites, considering different Sites as different groups.

  11. You can also drag and drop the available fields into the Groups or Detail section.

  12. Click Next. The layout options appear.

  13. Click a layout for the report. When you select a layout, a thumbnail preview appears on the left to give you an idea of how the layout will appear on the page. There are two groups of layouts. The first is for the reports with no groups defined and other is for the reports with group fields defined.

  14. If you did not define the Group field, the following options are available:

  15. If you defined the Group field, the following options are available:

  16. If you selected any option other than Labels, click the report orientation from the following options. If you select the Labels option, the Orientation options are disabled.

  17. Select the Adjust fields to fit page check box to adjust fields in a way that they fit the page.

  18. Click Next.

  19. Do one of the following:

  20. Click Next.

  21. Type a title for the report.

  22. Do one of the following:

  23. Click Finish. Your new report name appears in the left pane of the Report Designer. The right pane displays a preview of the report or the design view, depending on your selection in the previous step.

  24. Click Save to save the report.

  25. Click File, then click Close to close VSReport Designer. The report appears on the Reports tab.

  26. Use Design mode to add/remove fields, resize fields, add graphics, and so on.