Method:Classic General Q&A

Re: Edit a report that exports to PDF

Method_Ashur — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 17:54:13 GMT

Yes you can do this with more customization within your Generate Report action. Use the filter option to select the data you want to filter based on your specified date range.

- Ashur

Re: Edit a report that exports to PDF

Denice — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:56:39 GMT

WAIT! I did it, it works. Now I just need to get the report to pull a date range. Any ideas for that???

Re: Edit a report that exports to PDF

Denice — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:48:28 GMT

This was a huge help, I created a report in the report designer, but I get stuck when I get to the action- I know what report to select but what about the rest of the fields:

Override with Report(optional):
Filter Report
Tables of Report
Fields in Table
Condition Statement
From

Use Advanced Script | and Where
Filter Safegard
Report Type
Action Result name
Show In New Window

Re: Edit a report that exports to PDF

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 18:58:40 GMT

Denice:
but is there a way to edit what is exported permanently so I don't have to do that every day?

Not exactly - the only way to acheive this without editing your grid would be to build a custom report using the report designer. While possible, it's certainly more customization than adding an export to pdf action.

Here's an option that might work (depending on your needs). You could hide the fields by default that you're hiding now so your export only contains the columns you want. To see those additional columns you'll need to use the same process used for printing to hide/unhide columns. It's six of one and half a dozen of the other, do you want to hide before or unhide after?

If you want to hide before, while editing your grid columns on step 2, click the advanced link and then check Hidden when screen first loads? This will keep the field hidden until you click the gear icon to unhide it.

Re: Edit a report that exports to PDF

Method_Ashur — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 18:41:36 GMT

Yes if you're using the Windows operating system you can create your own custom reports using the Method Report Designer. I've added a button to one of my custom screens and applied the Generate Report acion to it. When editing the action you have the option to choose from a list of current reports or to use the Report Designer(underlined in red).

If you don't already have the Report Designer downloaded and installed, you will be prompted to download it once you click the Open Report Designer... link. When the download is complete install the Report Designer then run it. It takes some getting used to but you can make a basic report fairly quickly and easily. I used a table with 4 columns and 1 row in the Detail section, each column in the table was binded to a column in my project table which I have created in Method, and then I added 4 labels to the PageHeader section to act as my column labels. However, my custom table actually has 6 columns but I only associated 4 of them using the Report Designer. There are many customization options available which can keep you working on your report pretty much all day, however I kept mine very basic and similar to the standard Export to PDF action.

Once you save your report you have the option to select it from the drop down list via the Generate Report action in Method and have it generate exactly as you set it up, see the screenshots below for my example from stock to custom reporting.

1. Standard Export to PDF action
2. Custom Report layout in the Report Designer
3. Selecting the custom report in the Generate Report Action
4. After generating the custom report in Method

Hope this helps!

- Ashur

Re: Edit a report that exports to PDF

Denice — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:50:29 GMT

Thanks, this is a great work around, but is there a way to edit what is exported permanently so I don't have to do that every day?

Re: Edit a report that exports to PDF

Method_Ashur — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 18:46:38 GMT

Hi Denice,

Correct me if I'm wrong but from what I understand you have an action setup to export your workorder list to PDF. If you want to edit what columns show up on your report you can click the little gear icon on the bottom right corner of your grid and deselect whatever you don't want to show on the report, then click Update. This isn't actually going to delete the column, it will just hide it from view until you choose to show it again.

Let me know if I'm not understanding what you're asking and please provide as much details as possible.

- Ashur

Edit a report that exports to PDF

Denice — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:44:35 GMT

I create an export to PDF for my workorder list. I can't remember where I go to edit which feilds pull over to the the export. HELP!

I need to remove some fields form the export but not th screen.