Personal Report Viewer (PRV)

Use the Personal Report Viewer (PRV (Personal Report Viewer) A STORIS printer output option that allows you to customize report results, for example to rearrange data columns.) to customize your report output. You select report criteria and generate reports in the normal way. However, when outputting reports, select V at the Output Settings window to send the data to the PRV. Use the PRV to rearrange and hide columns, process the data through various filters to restrict report output, perform calculations on columns, and group columns together as in an Excel® spreadsheet.

You can save your changes and view them later. The PRV allows you to arrange report data in a variety of ways, but does not affect your actual data files. That is, your data files are never altered when you edit report data in the PRV.

When you send a report to the PRV, only the data and not the totals appear on the report (to see totals, perform calculations within the PRV). Therefore, if the report contains a summary-only version and you send the summary-only version to the PRV, the report will be blank.

If STORIS adds a new data column to a report, the PRV includes that column when you run the report regardless of any changes you have made to the report view in the past. You can edit the new column like any other column. Likewise, if a column has been removed by STORIS from a report, the column no longer appears in the report regardless of how you have saved the report view.

• Sending a Report to the Personal Report Viewer

• Using the Personal Report Viewer

• Using Tools on the PRV Ribbon

• Saving Reports and Exiting the Personal Report Viewer

Sending a Report to the Personal Report Viewer

You access the Personal Report Viewer via the Send Output To field that appears on every report screen. If the default response at this field is not V for Personal Report Viewer, click the Actions button at the bottom of the screen. Then select the Output Settings option from the menu that appears. A pop-up window appears where you can specify a new destination for the output of the report. Choose V for Personal Report Viewer, then click on Save. The system returns you to the report screen. Click on Run to generate the report and send it to the PRV.

Using the Personal Report Viewer

The PRV is a Windows® application, so many familiar conventions apply (for example, drop-down menus, minimize/maximize, etc.). The first time you generate a report type and send it to the PRV, the report appears in the default format. That is, the columns appear in the same order as if you chose the familiar Screen or Printer options, all columns have the same width, etc. Below is an overview of ways you can modify the appearance of a report using the PRV.

• Changing the Width of Columns and Rows

  To alter the width of a column, hover the mouse over the column border in the column-header area. When you see the cursor change to a double arrow, click on the border and drag it to your desired width. You can also change the height of rows. Any changes you make affect all rows.

• Hiding and Restoring Hidden Columns

  To hide a column, right-click on the header of the column you want to hide and select Column Chooser from the menu that appears. The Customization window appears. Any columns already hidden appear in the window in alphabetical order. Click on the header of the column you want to hide and drag it into the Customization window. The column is now hidden.
  
  To restore a hidden column, select it from the Customization window and drag it to the column header. You can place the column anywhere on the header. If the Customization window does not appear, right-click on the column header and select Column Chooser from the menu that appears.

• Grouping Columns

  To group the data in your report by the items in a column, use the ‘Drag a column header here to group by that column’ area. For example, to group a report of product items by brand name, drag the Brand column header to the Drag a column header here to group by that column area described above. The PRV (Personal Report Viewer) A STORIS printer output option that allows you to customize report results, for example to rearrange data columns. groups the report alphabetically by brand name. That is, all products associated with brand A are listed first, followed by brand B, then brand C, and so on. To expand the row and view the items associated with a brand name, click on the right arrow next to the brand name. To collapse the row and hide the items associated with the brand name, click on the down arrow next to the brand name.

  

• Sorting Columns

  If you click on a column header, the PRV sorts the column in descending order. An arrow appears in the box indicating the sort order. If you click on the column header again, the PRV sorts the column in ascending order. When sorting a report with a row selected, the PRV notes the item in the selected row, sorts the report, and scrolls to the point in the newly sorted column where the item from the selected row now resides so that portion of the report is displayed. If no row is selected when you sort a report, the PRV notes the top item in the sort column and scrolls the report so that item remains on top of the column.

  To sort a report so that the beginning or end of the sort column is displayed, before you sort make sure no row is selected and the report is scrolled all the way to the top or bottom, respectively.

• Right-Click Menu

  If you right-click in the header area of a column, a menu appears. The following is a description of the menu items.

  

  • Sort Ascending – Sorts the column in ascending order

  • Sort Descending – Sorts the column in descending order

  • Clear Sorting - Return to the unsorted view

  • Group By This Column – Groups the report by this column (this is the same as dragging the column header to the "Drag a column header here to group by that column" area). See Grouping Columns above.

  • Hide Group By Box – To hide the column header boxes that were copied to the "Drag a column header here..." area for grouping, select this option. Grouping remains active, but the area is collapsed, hiding the column headers selected for grouping.   

  • Remove This Column - Select this option to remove the current column from view. You can also use the column chooser to hide multiple columns or un-hide columns.

  • Column Chooser - Select this option to hide or restore columns in the grid. The Customization window appears. Any columns already hidden appear in the window in alphabetical order. Click on the header of the column you want to hide and drag it into the Customization window. The column is now hidden.
    
    To restore a hidden column, select it from the Customization window and drag it to the column header. You can place the column anywhere on the header. If the Customization window does not appear, right-click on the column header and select Column Chooser from the menu that appears.

  • Best Fit – Adjusts the column width to best accommodate the width of the column header and the contents of the column

  • Best Fit (all columns) – Adjusts the column width to best accommodate the width of column headers and their contents

  • Clear Filter - If a filter A pattern through which data is passed. Only data that matches the pattern is allowed to pass through the filter. has been applied to this column, Clear Filter removes the filter. Filters for other columns remain active

  • Filter Editor - Access the Filter Editor window where you can apply conditional filters to the column. For example, you can access the filter editor in the Product Number column and apply a filter that displays only data for product numbers beginning with "ASH".

  • Show/Hide Find Panel - Use this option to display or hide the search entry box. When you choose to show the find panel, the entry box appears below the tools ribbon.   

  • Show/Hide Auto Filter Row - Select this option to display or hide the filter row that is just below the header row. See also: Filtering Columns.

  • Expression Editor - To edit only the expression you defined for the new column, select this option.

  • Add New Column - When you select this option, the New Calculated Column window displays, where you can create or change a new column and define the actions that the PRV is to take on that column. You specify the new column header, data type (decimal, string, etc.), and how the output data is to be formatted. The formula builder assists you in designing the action to be taken in order to produce the output for the new column.

  • Edit Column - Select this option to access the Edit Calculated Column window, where you can edit the new column you added.  

  • Delete Column - To delete the column you added, select this option. A confirmation message displays asking if you want to delete the current column; answer Yes or No.

  • Condition Editor (n) - Use this option to create style conditions for any column in the view.  The ability to change the style of a cell is based upon the data value contained within the cell after any calculations are made. For example, you can establish the condition that if the value in the cell equals "Good", the background color of the cell changes to green.

• Filtering Columns

  Filtering a report by an item in a column removes (or filters out) all records in the report except those associated with the filter item you selected. For example, you can filter a sales order report so that only orders for a certain customer appear. You can apply multiple filters to a report. For example, you could filter the above report by order type to find out how many deliveries were made to the customer.

  To apply a filter, click on the Filter button in the column-header above the column containing the filter item. The following filter options appear:

  • Custom – Accesses the Custom AutoFilter where you can filter records with sophisticated expressions

  • Blanks – All records appear for which this column is blank

  • Non blanks – All records appear for which this column is not blank

  In addition to the above filter options, you can also filter your report by a selected item in a column. These items also appear on the filter list when you click on the filter button in the column header area. For example, from a sales order report you can filter out all orders except those from a selected selling location. To do so, click on the filter button above the Selling Location column and choose the selling location from the filter list that appears. The PRV filters out all other locations.

  To select a filter factor, you can also click on the area in the Filter Row above your column and enter your filter factor into the text box that appears.

• Calculating Columns

  To perform a calculation on a column, right-click on the bar at the bottom of the column (the "Total Footer" bar) and choose an option from the menu that appears. To perform a sub-total calculation on a group, right click on the bar at the bottom of the group (the Group Footer bar) and choose an option from the menu that appears.

  

  You can perform the following calculations on either an entire column (totals) or, if you group your rows, on each individual group in a column (subtotals):

  • Sum - performs a summation

  • Min - displays the lowest value

  • Max - shows the largest

  • Count - counts the number of records

  • Average - performs a sum, then divides by the count

Using Tools on the PRV Ribbon

The ribbon contains tools that you can use to save the report, save your customized view, print or export, and manage grid settings. You can also add ribbon functions to a Quick Access tool bar. (See Quick Access below.)  

To hide the ribbon, right-click inside the ribbon and select Minimize the Ribbon from the menu that appears. To restore the ribbon, right-click on a Quick Access "button" and remove the check mark from the Minimize the Ribbon option.  

• Open Report

  To view a previously saved report, select this option. A browse window opens to the default location, where you can specify the location and file name you want to open.

• Save Report

  The system writes the report, including view settings and data, to a file that you can archive and view at another time. The system creates a Windows® directory for your PRV reports called

  C:\Users\user name\Documents\My STORIS Documents\Reports   

  However, you can specify another location at the time you are saving the report.

View

• Save Personal View

  The system saves your changes so the next time you generate the report it appears in the same format. Your data files, of course, will presumably change. Choosing this option does not exit you from the report, so you can continue to make further changes. The final version you save becomes your default view for the report. Your personal view is used when you run that report, unless a corporate view exists that is newer than your personal view. (See below.)

  You can remove all new formatting for a report and start over by checking the Reset Default View field in the Output Settings window when you send a report to the PRV.

   

   

• Save Default View (STORIS ONLY)

  (STORIS access only.) If there is no personal (user) or corporate view for the report you are running, the STORIS default view is used. This view can only be modified by STORIS.  

• Save Corporate View

  If you have security via your user/user group system security setting, Edit Personal Report Viewer Corporate Views, you can select this option to save your changes to the report view as the new Corporate View. When saved, the corporate view is uploaded for distribution to other users. Then when another user runs the same report, the corporate view is downloaded to their PC, replacing their personal view if one exists.

• Delete Corporate View

  If you have security via your user/user group system security setting, Edit Personal Report Viewer Corporate Views, you can select this option to delete the current corporate view.

Print and Export

• Print to PrinterThis option opens the Windows® Print dialog box.

• Print PreviewThis option displays a preview of your print layout without sending the report to the printer.

• Save to PDF

  The system writes the report to a PDF file you can view later in Adobe Reader® and/or attach to an email.

• Save to HTML

  The system writes the report to an HTML file.

Grid Settings

• Show Filter Row

  The Filter row appears immediately above the first row of data and contains the filter factor (if any) selected for the column below. To show the filter row for all columns, click on Show Filter Row until a check appears. To hide the filter row, click on Show Filter Row until the check disappears.

• Show Group Panel

  This area appears just above the column headers. If empty, the words "Drag a column header here to group by that column" appear. Otherwise, any column-headers selected for grouping appear in this area. To show the group panel row, click on Show Group Panel until a check mark appears. To hide the panel, click on Show Group Panel until the check mark disappears.

• Expand All

  If you have grouped any rows together, you can click here to expand all rows and thus view the contents of each grouping.

• Collapse All  

  If you have grouped any rows together, you can click here to collapse all rows and thus hide the contents of each grouping.

Quick Access

If you right-click in any of the sections on the ribbon (View, Print and Export, etc.), you access the following menu.

• Add to Quick Access Toolbar/Remove From Quick Access Toolbar

  To add this group of tools to the Quick Access tool bar, select this option. The tools can then be accessed by clicking on the round blue button that was added to the Quick Access tool bar. The Quick Access tool bar appears above the ribbon, but you can change the position by clicking the Show Quick Access Toolbar... option on this menu.

• Show Quick Access Toolbar Above/Below the Ribbon

  Select this option to display the Quick Access tool bar above or below the ribbon.

• Minimize the Ribbon  

  Select this option to hide the ribbon. To restore the ribbon, right-click on a Quick Access "button" and remove the check mark from the Minimize the Ribbon option.

Saving Reports and Exiting the Personal Report Viewer

When you are finished with the present report and want to exit the PRV, you have the following options:

• Save your customized view

  Use the options in the ribbon to save the view you just customized. You can save it for your PC only or, if you have the necessary permission, you can save it for yourself and others in your company. (See Save Personal View and Save Corporate View above.)

• Close (Exit PRV)

  Click the X (close) button in the upper right corner of the window to close the PRV and exit. If you made changes to the view, a message asks if you want to save the report view. Click Yes to save your current view or No to exit without saving. If you choose No, the next time you run the same report the PRV reverts to the previously saved (default) view.