Re: Report API and Catalog

I appreciate your input, Aaron. This is still a work in process. Did you notice the tab labeled "Parameters" on the Work With Reports screen? I'm just starting to implement that.

I envision a programmer adding a report definition record for every report program written. And if the report program is able to receive parameters then the programmer could define them (data type, data length, prompts, etc.) using the Parameters tab. And create a generic report launcher to prompt users for parameters - before submitting the job.

Those are the ad-hoc features that I've planned so far, anyway.

Nathan M. Andelin


On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 5:43 AM, Aaron Bartell wrote:

The one thing I didn't understand is how input data was mapped to the
various programs (in potentially a dynamic fashion). So for instance let's
say a HighSchool teacher wanted a listing of all students with a grade A
average or better for the honor roll, she would want to enter a date range,
maybe a class level (freshman, sophomore, etc), and the grade level to
include (i.e. A and above).

What I have found in open source report tooling is that the power of the
tool is it's ability to have reports built by a power user that have
dynamic-ness built in (i.e. criteria fields).

Aaron Bartell
http://mowyourlawn.com