Choosing a Data Source in Finished Reports

Finished Reports provides three data-source options:

• Details
• Summary
• Multi

The selected data source controls which fields are available while designing the report. Choose the source that matches the information you want to display.

Before You Begin

1. Open the VDM View containing the data you want to use.
2. Click Run View to populate the View’s data.
3. Review the Details and Summary grids to confirm that the required information is available.

The Summary data source is available when grouping or summary fields have been configured for the View.

Open the Finished Reports Designer

1. Open the View’s Finished Reports Designer.
2. Select the Home tab.
3. Locate the data-source menu in the upper-left portion of the ribbon.

The menu contains the Details, Summary, and Multi options.

Use the menu in the upper-left corner of the Finished Reports Designer to select a data source.

Details

Select Details when the report should display individual records from the View’s Details grid.

Examples include:

• Individual orders
• Customer records
• Transactions
• Line-item information
• Other row-level results

After selecting Details, expand VDMData > Details in the Field List to view the available fields.

You can drag fields from the Field List onto the report or select them while building an expression.

The Details data source provides the row-level fields from the View’s Details grid.

Summary

Select Summary when the report should display grouped or calculated information from the View’s Summary grid.

Examples include:

• Counts
• Totals
• Grouped dates
• Summed amounts
• Other summary calculations

After selecting Summary, expand VDMData > Summary in the Field List to view the available summary fields.

The fields displayed depend on the grouping and summary options configured for the View.

The Summary data source provides the grouped and calculated fields from the View’s Summary grid.

Multi

Select Multi when a Finished Report needs access to both the Details and Summary data.

After selecting Multi, the Field List displays:

• Details
• Summary
• Parameters

The Multi option makes the Details, Summary, and Parameters folders available in the Field List.

Selecting Multi makes the different data members available to the report designer. Additional configuration is required to display Details and Summary data in separate report sections.

For complete instructions, see Creating a Multi Datasource Finished Report.

Selecting Fields in Expressions

The selected data source also controls which fields are available when editing a report control’s expression.

For example:

• With Details selected, the expression selector displays fields from the Details grid.
• With Summary selected, the expression selector displays fields from the Summary grid.
• With Multi selected, the Field List provides access to both data members.

The expression selector displays fields from the selected data source.

Review the Report

After selecting and configuring the data source:

1. Select Preview.
2. Confirm that the report displays the expected records and values.
3. Return to Designer if fields are missing or the report does not display the expected information.
4. Save the report after confirming the results.

Important: Changing the data-source option does not automatically replace the fields or expressions already used by the report. Existing report controls must reference fields that are available from the selected source.

Choosing the Correct Data Source

Related Articles

• Creating a Multi Datasource Finished Report
• Creating a Finished Report in VDM