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Copying a Report Design

An Actuate report design (ROD) file can be copied to a new file (with a different name) using Windows Explorer or the File > Save As option in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional. Actuate treats the new design as independent from the original, but maintains all relationships with included libraries.

This is a desirable approach when you wish to reuse many of the design elements in an existing report design, but have various modifications to make. This is a common situation, and you will find this technique valuable.

After you copy an existing report design, make the following modifications to the new report design:

• Make a copy of the original report design definition with a new name, as described in Copying a Report Object Definition. Remove the existing datastream from the report design, and drag and drop the new one onto the report design from the new data supply library file. This is an important step because it is impractical to have two report designs sharing a single datastream and a single report object definition.

  NOTE:  When copying a report design, make sure that the datastream being added is using the same business component as the report object definitions for the new report. Errors will occur if the datastream being replaced is based on a different business component than the datastream that is being added to the new report.

• Make sure that the report object definition has the correct settings in the Template Design, and that the Access Base DB Name properties correspond to the new report design.
• Rename the top-level report component. This is not a critical step, but it helps you orient yourself when you are working on each report in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional.