Graphical representations of data are always useful, especially when preparing monthly, quarterly, and annual reports. While attending a conference last month, I learned about a great new feature in the Report Wizard that not only generates a standard chart, but it also allows users to select an element in the chart to break down the data even further. I was blown away, and I know that you'll be, too.
Here is an example: I want to see enrollments by subject (main report) between two dates as a pie chart, and then I want to see enrollments by course within that subject (sub-report). Enrollments by subject is shown first:
Then I can select just the Computer subject from the total pie chart to see courses within that subject:
To do this, you'll first create the sub-report. In this case, I want a count of registration SSN/IDs (my Y axis) and course numbers (my X axis). For the filter, I need to query by subject. (I'm also filtering by Begin Date between 2 dates, but that isn't crucial to the sub-report setup and it isn't an ask at runtime condition.) Really, the only thing out of the ordinary with the setup of this report is the filter on subject and it is set to ask at runtime.
Then I set up the main report.
I want a count of registration SSN/IDs (my Y axis) and subjects (my X axis). (I'm also filtering this report by Begin Date between 2 dates, but that isn't crucial to this.) On Step 3 - Chart Layout, I need to get into the properties of the subject code and go to the Link tab, which is where I link to which report I want to run (my sub-report) and the filter value I want to pass. It looks like this:
Try it out for yourself and contact me if you need any help. If you don't have the Report Wizard, contact me for a demo or to set up a trial.
Note: The latest release of the Report Wizard is 7.2. To get it, just go to Tools -> Check for Updates. We've updated the online help. Check that out here.
Contributed by Matthew Olson