Arctic reports (reporting system - Windows)

[Marco2007]

Incredible work!!!
Very well done! thx

[srod]

Thanks Marco.

A quick note to say that the online manual has been updated to reflect the huge changes since the original version of the manual was created. There is also now an off-line version available (in .chm format) through the Artic Reports download section.

I will continue to work on the manual as I now turn to upgrading the core nxReport module and will start uploading some video tutorials very soon, as soon as I get my grubby hands on a microphone in fact! I can create the videos okay, but without a voice commentary, they are pretty much worse than useless! The Pyrex designer is now sufficiently complex that some video tutorials seem appropriate and would be the obvious medium through which to get people started.

[srod]

25th July 2010.

I have started adding some basic instructional videos to the Arctic Reports website which will take the user through the basic steps of creating reports with the Pyrex visual designer. You will have to excuse my voice though as I do sound as though my head is being held underwater as I speak! I am assured that I do not really sound like that! Oh well, could have been worse... thank the stars I do not possess a webcam!

Stephen.

[Rook Zimbabwe]

I am using WINk to make the instructional vids of my software... it is free and as soon as I turned on the microphone boost it worked well... It does NOT sound 100% like me either. I sound like a narrator on the nightly news!!!

http://www.debugmode.com/wink/download.htm


My one request is that the reports could link directly to the database. The I could call them easily in program!

[srod]

Yes, I took a look at Wink but decided it wasn't for me. I prefered a straight video format.

I don't understand your request Rook? Reports already link directly with databases? You can alter the connection settings at run-time easily enough through the core nxReport's API or if you design a parameterised report, for example, then you can alter the connections very very easily.

[Rook Zimbabwe]

I keep having problems making the connection... if I could work straight from the databasse itself I wasas thinking the report would be slightly easier to design.

But I am gonna wait for the instruction video to see what I might be doing wrong!

[srod]

Then you will have to explain what you mean by "...if I could work straight from the databasse itself..." because that, to my mind, is what Arctic Reports does!!!

We found last time that you simply were not following the Arctic Reports way of doing business. Arctic Reports functions very much like the MS Access reporting system in that you are responsible for laying out the design of your report. Arctic Reports will not take a look at some specified database and attempt to second guess which records you might wish to retrieve and how you might want to display them.
Connecting to a data-source is simplicity itself. So far I have worked with local ODBC connections (MDB files), remote MySQL connections (via ODBC), OLEDB providers (Jet), SQLite connections and custom sources, all without a hitch!

Rook, the last time we looked, you hadn't even added a subreport to your report which kind of confirms that you haven't even looked at the online manual... or at least not the pertinent parts of it. I connected to the data-source you sent me without a problem and in about 10 seconds flat! I do advise that you view the instructional videos I now have available. Start at the second video which begins to lay out the design of a simple report. By the time you have finished the 3rd video, you will have been shown how to set up a simple connection. The next video will expand on this connection and I hope to upload that one sometime today.

[srod]

30th July 2010.

Hi,

Pyrex 1.4.1 fixes a number of bugs in the recently released major version 1.4.0 and adds some nice additional features.

You can see the list of bugs fixed in the relevant history file available in the Arctic Reports download section.

New features :

• Added a whole host of toolbar buttons / menu options for formatting controls. This saves having to use the property-window when adjusting control properties etc. and can save a lot of time.
• When dragging a data-field to the design canvas, you now have the option of creating a bound field or automatically average/sum a field etc.

Regards.

Stephen.

[srod]

17th August 2010.

Hi,

this is quite a substantial upgrade to both the nxReport core module and the Pyrex visual designer. A number of bugs have been fixed (details in the relevant history files).

nxReport 1.6.
The most important new features are check-box controls (which can be bound to database fields and the like) and support for PostgreSQL databases.

Whilst working on PostgreSQL support, massive deficiencies with the way nxReport handles remote connections came to light and these have been rectified. nxReport is now better able to handle such connections. These modifications mean that any application using custom data-sources (which will be very few) will need modifying.

I have also altered the rendering of all text based controls by the inclusion of some internal padding. This will mean that some existing reports may require some minor adjustments just to make sure that their textual content fit the controls etc. Nothing major.

Please note that ALL existing applications making use of nxReport will require recompiling before they can be used with the new dll. No modifications are necessary (unless using custom data-sources), but you will need to recompile etc.


Pyrex 1.4.2.
Support added for the new check-box controls and for PostgreSQL data-sources.

Pyrex is now much better equipped to deal with reports taking data from remote sources, e.g. when attempting to preview a report etc. Previously, Pyrex could appear to lock-up whilst awaiting a time-out from a remote connection etc. This has been addressed via separate threads of execution.

When attempting to list a subreport's data-source field list alongside the design canvas, Pyrex will now allow the user to cancel any attempt at a connection to the data-source. Further, Pyrex now caches the list of fieldnames and will only reconnect if the cache does not contain the relevant fieldnames etc. or the user forces a reconnection.

Regards.

Stephen.

**EDIT : a quick note regarding PostgreSQL. Purebasic will incorrectly identify fields of type 'numeric' or 'decimal' as being of integer type. Because of this I have to ask that you steer away from such fields when using Arctic Reports.

[Trond]

Just a hint: Your video links don't work. And generally it's a bad idea to zip compressed video, as it doesn't get much smaller, and it prevents streaming.

[srod]

Just a hint: Your video links don't work. And generally it's a bad idea to zip compressed video, as it doesn't get much smaller, and it prevents streaming.

I took them off line because the new version of Pyrex effectively renders them obsolete. I shall redo them presently.

[Marco2007]

Very cool!! thx!
I love those check-box controls...

[srod]

4th September 2010.

Pyrex 1.4.3 / nxReport 1.7.

Hi,

this is quite a substantial upgrade to both the nxReport core module and the Pyrex visual designer. A number of bugs have been fixed (details in the relevant history files).

This will be the last of what I would term as 'routine' updates as I will now move (after a period spent working on the documentation/tutorials) to the first of the major upgrades; the first being a scripting component for Arctic Reports.

nxReport 1.7.
The most important new features are listed :

• Variable height report sections and growable sections/controls. A much requested feature.
  
  This has been facilitated via a combination of things, namely : a height expression for the relevant subreport sections, vertically anchorable controls, and the ability to determine the exact height required of a given control to house any specified and dynamic text. Combine these 3 elements and you can easily arrange for report sections/controls to dynamically 'grow' to accommodate their content etc.
  
  For an example of this in action, see any of the 'parameterised report' nxReport demos or simply view the 'invoice.nxr' demo report in the Pyrex designer (the demo version will suffice).
  
  Applies to the following subreport sections : subreport headers, group headers, detail, group footers and subreport footers. Applies to all types of report control.

• ExImage controls. (Take images from databases etc.)
  
  These replace (and massively enhance) the 'image from file' controls.
  These new controls take a source expression which can either evaluate to a filename or to a string representation of an image (which can be stored within a database field for example). Currently supported encodings are base64. Currently supported image types : bitmap, jpeg and png.
  
  I shall make available some simple code for creating Base64 representations of images etc. so that users can easily add images to their databases and so on.
  
  For an example of this in action, see the 'image report' nxReport demos or simply view the 'register.nxr' demo report in the Pyrex designer (the demo version will suffice).
  
  Note that I have removed the 'clip image' and 'stretch image' properties. All images will now stretch to fit their bounding rectangle by default.

• Improved nxReport's text rendering engine.
  
  The business of text justification and word wrapping is now far more efficient and operates in a fashion which is much closer to that of MS Word for example.
  
  Existing users may have to adjust a couple of controls as a result of this, though it is unlikely to affect more than a tiny percentage of controls.

• Added a new text padding property to all text based controls.
  
  You can now set the padding of individual controls (in points).

• New standard functions added for use in expressions :
  • Max(a, b)
  • Min(a, b)
  • StrField(argument, index, delimiter$)
  • StrTrim(argument)
  • MinControlTextHeight(controlID, text$)
  This last function is intended for use with the variable height report sections mentioned above in that it can be used to resize a report section so that it can accommodate some text or other etc.

Please note that all existing 'snapshot' type reports will need recreating as this new version of nxReport will not function with 'old' snapshot reports.

Also, older versions of the nxReport module will not recognise reports created with this new version of nxReport. No problem with backwards compatibility however.


Pyrex 1.4.3.
Aside from a bunch of bugs having been fixed, the most important new features are :

• Support added for the new nxReport 'height expression' property which allows for variable height report sections.
• Support added for the new nxReport control 'vertical anchoring' property allowing controls to 'grow' with their parent sections etc.
• Support added for the new ExImage controls.
• Support added for control internal padding. This includes a default padding setting in the settings menu.
• You can now double click an expression item in the main property box to bring up the relevant tool (expression builder, SQLite connection tool etc.)
• You can now select multiple controls by holding down the control key whilst left-clicking etc. This is an alternative to using the shift key.

Phew!

I have now set aside two weeks (at the very least) to work on nothing but improving (and extending) the documentation and adding some additional tutorials etc. I think the time is right since this particular update represents quite a milestone in terms of the collective feature-set offered by Arctic Reports. The system is getting closer and closer to matching a long standing (and expensive) reporting system (no, not Crystal Reports, I'm not daft enough to think I'd ever come anywhere near that monster! ) and the time is right to sit back and take stock (and catch my breath), which is exactly what time spent working on the docs will afford me.

Regards.

Stephen.

[sphinx]

Keep up the great work Stephen

Although I did not use your reporting suite yet but I am planning to do so in the near future.

I never regret the money I paid for this.

Crystal report is BLOATED industry standard reporting system, yours are lightweight, simple and powerful enough to do any job I can think of right now.

Thanks a lot.

[srod]

Keep up the great work Stephen

Although I did not use your reporting suite yet but I am planning to do so in the near future.

I never regret the money I paid for this.

Crystal report is BLOATED industry standard reporting system, yours are lightweight, simple and powerful enough to do any job I can think of right now.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you for the kind words. Much appreciated.