HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
Planning Ahead
Before you attempt to create a report with HP ALLBASE/BRW, you need to
have a plan for the report. The following table shows the steps you need
to take to plan the report and shows how the plan can be implemented in
HP ALLBASE/BRW.
Planning and Implementing
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| Planning Steps | Implemention in HP ALLBASE/BRW |
| | |
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| Find out where the information you need is | Use the Define Table screen to identify the |
| stored. | data source(s) for your new table. You |
| | need a complete path to the data. |
| HP ALLBASE/BRW can use IMAGE data sets, HP | |
| ALLBASE/SQL tables, KSAM files, MPE files, | In addition to the path to the data, you |
| or other HP ALLBASE/BRW tables and | also need to confirm that the necessary |
| intermediate files as data sources for the | data sources are defined in your data |
| report. | dictionary. |
| | |
| To effectively plan your report, you need | |
| to know how the data source tables are | |
| structured: For instance, the types of | |
| data in each column of the table (customer | |
| name, address, and so on). | |
| | |
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| Decide if more than one data source is | The sources can be combined on the Define |
| needed. | Table by indicating a Join or a Merge. |
| | Join and Merge are discussed in Chapter 2 |
| | . |
| | |
| | To join data sources, you need to find a |
| | relation between the data sources by |
| | identifying one ore more common items |
| | (columns) in each table: for example, the |
| | customer name. Define the common items on |
| | the Define Relation screen. |
| | |
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| Decide on which information you need from | You can qualify the data you select by |
| the tables. For instance, do you want | specifying a relation condition on the |
| records on customers who have past due | Relation Condition screen. Only those |
| accounts, or records on customers with | records that satisfy the condition are |
| orders over $1000? | selected from the data source(s). |
| | |
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| Plan how you want the data to appear on the | You can use the Define Lines screen, the |
| printed page: Do you want headings or | Define Breaks and Pagination screen, and |
| footings? How many lines of data do you | other report layout screens to manipulate |
| want? Do you want the customers to appear | the data in many ways. Use the Review |
| in alphabetical order, or in order by | Layout screen to look at the resulting |
| customer number? | layout. |
| | |
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| Do you want to perform calculations on the | There are four screens that let you perform |
| data? Do you want running totals? Do you | calculations on your report: Layout Calc |
| want to create a new column from two more | Item screen, Layout Calc Item Formula |
| more existing items or from an existing | screen, Layout Function screen, and Layout |
| item and a formula? | Function Formula screen. |
| | |
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