Reports

There are two sections of reports - Predefined and Custom.

• Predefined Reports are those provided with your subscription to TrackMyTrains.com. These are reports that have been pre-programmed to provide basic information that a collector might want and also to serve as models for additional reports you may want to create.

Complete Database Listing
Collection Database Listing - Currently Owned Items
Value Summary Report by Category and Type
Physical Inventory by Storage Location
Wish List Report
Listing of Items For Sale

• Custom Reports are those report specifications that you have created and saved. You can create your own custom reports by cloning predefined reports and modifying them to your own preference. You can also create a custom report from scratch or by cloning other custom reports. These report definitions can be used to generate a report one time or saved on your database for future use. Existing reports serve as examples for making new custom reports of your own.

Generating Reports

To generate a predefined report, click on the Predefined Reports button under the Reports heading of the left menu bar. To generate a custom report, click on the Custom Reports button.

At the top of each of the Reports sections is a scrollable display table of the reports that are stored in that section. The display can be sorted by clicking on the column headings or scrolled through using the scroll bar. Reports are selected by clicking on the row arrows to the left of the display. The highlighted row is called the currently selected report.

Choose the report that you would like to run from the list by clicking on the row arrow at the left of the display to designate it as the "currently selected" report record.

Next, click . A new window will pop asking you to wait while the report is being generated and then, when it is done, another will pop up display the report. You can subsequently print the report using the print feature on your web browser or save it using the file features of your browser.

For reports containing long detail lines, reducing the font size or choosing a landscape orientation with your printer options may result in a better looking printed report. We accommodate changing the font options within the report writer. Due to the many different printers, we must refer you to the documentation of your own system for more information on choosing a landscape orientation.

Report Specifications

Reports are defined by specifying six aspects of the report:

• "Title" assigns a name to the report that will also appear at the top of the report and as a reference name for the report in the Report Selection Display Table.
• "Font Size and Grid Size" specifies the font size and grid size displayed on the report.
• "Selection Criteria" specifies what records will be included and contribute to the content of the report.
• "Sort Criteria" specifies the order in which the information on the report will be sorted.
• "Counting" and "Subtotaling" options allow counting of records and totaling of numeric information within the sort sequence.
• "Display Criteria" specifies which fields from each included record will be displayed in the detail lines of the report.

Report specifications can be created, edited, and stored on your database in a manner analogous to your other information databases and then used to create reports whenever you want to. We will show more on this after we take you through an example of a report.

Example Report

We will now walk you through an example report to illustrate how reports are defined. Look at the report below. It was generated from a small database using a report definition that you can find in your own collection or any of the Free Demo databases by going to the Predefined Reports page and selecting Report ID 2, entitled "Collection Database Listing - Currently Owned Items".

Notice the following things about this report example:

Column Headings:
At the top of each column is a name for the field contained in that column.

Fonts & Grids:
The size of the print font can be varied. The grids separating the fields can also be varied or suppressed.

Sort Sequence:
The report is primarily sorted by Category (the first column) from A to Z. The secondary sort field is the Catgy Type, (the 2nd column) and is organized in A to Z order under each Category. This sorting hierarchy continues on through the columns to the right as was specified in the report definition.

Break Lines:
Notice the colored lines on this report. We call these "break lines" because they signify a break in the value of the field(s) on which the report is being sorted. They can occur at as many levels as you have sort fields or not at all. When they do occur, they display the value of the field(s) in the sort sequence that are changing on the left side and counts and subtotals as specified on the right side. We will explain how these are specified below. Here they are displaying the Category (Yellow), which is the primary sort field, and, within these, the Category and Type (Pink), which is the secondary sort field, as the sort fields that are changing.

Count Information:
Located at the bottom of the report is the grand total (green) line, which contains a count of all items that matched the search criteria of the report. The count refers to the total number of items that match the search criteria and that are shown in this report. In this case, the total number of items is sixteen (16). The count in the pink lines refers to the number of pieces that match the search criteria for this report that are of a certain item type within a certain item category. For example, in the first pink line, there are four (4) items that are in Car-Freight (category) that are Box Cars (type).

Finally, the count in the yellow lines refers to the number of pieces that match the search criteria that belong to a certain category. In the last yellow line, there are seven (7) pieces that fall into the "Structure - Building" category.

Subtotal Information:
The Base Cost and Value amount totals are displayed at the end of each line in which the category changes (yellow break lines) and the grand total line (green line).

Fields on Report:
The detail lines of the report (no color) show the fields in each selected record in the order requested on the report. The report writer calculates an optimum display of these fields and may, when necessary, cause fields to be broken into multiple lines in order to fit.

Example Report Definition

Next, look at specifications for this report by selecting Report ID 2 on the Predefined Reports page of your collection or any of the demo databases. Right below the Reports Selection Display Table you will see a block of information entitled "Specifications For," which contains the specifications for the report.

The first line of the section gives the title.

The font size and grid size are not displayed unless you are in an "add" or "edit" mode.

The first definition block under the title specifies the record selection fields defining which database records the report should include. This example includes all records with a non-blank purchase date and a blank sales date (That is, it includes only those items that have been bought but have been not sold.) This process is similar to "Selecting a Record" in the View Screens.

The next definition block tells the report writer how to sort the information that it retrieves. In this report, we selected "Item Category" under Sort Fields as the primary sort field and selected "A..Z" under Order. This instructs the report writer to first sort the information by Item Category in ascending alphabetical order (from A to Z). We have also selected five other sort fields to be organized in ascending alphabetical order. These additional fields (Item Catgy Type, Item Catgy Sub Type, Item RR Abrev, Item Road Nbr, and Item Mfg Mod Nbr) are subordinate sort fields, which tell the report writer to first sort by Item Category and then sort the items in each category by these additional fields in the order that they are listed.

You will also notice the checked boxes under Count for Item Category and Item Category Type sort levels. This tells the report writer to count how many selected records exist of each Item Category and to count how many selected records exist of each Item Category Type within each Item Category. These are the counts displayed on "break lines" which are the colored lines in the above example. There are two levels of break lines and counts because two of the sort fields were checked for counting.

In this report definition, one of the Subtotal boxes has been checked - the one corresponding to Item Category. Checking the subtotal boxes causes the report writer to add up the values in the fields designated under Subtotal Fields and display the totals each time the value of the sort field changes at or above the checked level. In this example, we specified the inventory purchase cost (base cost) and the inventory value as the fields to subtotal by including these field names in the "Subtotal Fields" block. Basically, the check marks indicate the sort level breaks where the subtotals should be displayed and the Subtotal Fields" indicate which things to subtotal. It only makes sense to specify numeric fields for subtotaling.

When checked, these counts or subtotals will appear below all items in the corresponding sort group and on a grand total line.

In this example, there is a break line created every time the type or category changes in the sorted report. The count is shown at both levels because two levels were checked, but the subtotals only occur at one level because only one level was checked.

The last section, "Fields on Report", specifies the fields to be displayed on the detail lines of the report. These fields appear left to right for each record in the same order they are listed here.

If you want a report that only counts and totals without showing any detail, just don't specify any fields here. Report ID 3 of the predefined reports is an example of such a summary report.

Defining Your Own Custom Reports

One way to define your own custom reports is to clone a predefined report. At the top of the Predefined Reports page, you will notice two other buttons on the top right side of the screen in addition to the Generate Report button.

The fields you need to specify, once you are in an add or edit mode are:

• The report title, which will identify your custom report in the custom report display table and will appear at the top of your report when it is generated.
• The font and grid size, which specifies how large the characters will appear on the generated report and how prominent the grid will appear. The default font and grid size is 3. You can vary the font size from 1 to 7 and the grid size from 0 to 5. We suggest you use the largest size that will fit in the space you have available and that you try different sizes and look at the displayed reports before you finalize your selection. The grid can be made to disappear by choosing a grid size of zero (0).
• The selection criteria are specifications in which the contents of selected data fields in a record must have a specified relationship to a chosen value for the record to appear on or contribute to the output of a report. Multiple fields may be specified to narrow the selection further. A field may appear more than once as it would when attempting to restrict the report to include only records where a field has contents greater than one value and less than another.
• The sort criteria are one or more fields on which the report output should be sequenced. Request multiple levels of this sequencing by selecting multiple fields in this portion of the specification. The primary sort sequence is the first data field named. The data field selected in the second entry of the sort specification table specifies a secondary level of sorting within the primary level. Additionally sort levels are processed in the order specified by the rows of this table.
• Break lines may be requested by checking either the count or subtotal boxes next to the sort level specifications. A break line will appear when the value of the sort key changes at the lowest level check marked and levels above that. The break line will always show the value of the key prior to the change in value of the sort key. If the checkmark is in the count column, it will also show the count of records matching the value of the displayed sort key. If the subtotal column is checked, it will display the sum of the contents of all fields specified in the subtotal table for the displayed sort field(s) value. Summary Reports can be created to count or price groups of items by requesting only break lines, but not detail lines.
• Detail lines contain the data fields selected in the "fields on report" section. These fields will be presented from left to right on the page in accordance with the order they are specified here. The system will calculate a "best fit" depending on the data contents and, if necessary split longer fields over multiple lines.

The buttons at the right side of these definition blocks provide a feature that makes it easier to reorder sort sequences or display order of the report fields. Both sets of buttons work similarly. These buttons let you insert, delete or change the order of the fields.

To use them, first click on the row selection arrow of the report definition field line display table to make it the "currently selected" field and then click on the icon one giving you the action you want:

If you are in one of the add modes, your choices will be: