Building Report Template (RTF)

You can build a Rich Text Format (RTF) template and upload the template to your Custom Report in Unifier, and generate live reports.

Using Invoice as an example, the following explains how to build a simple RTF template (non-tabular report).

To create a simple RTF template:

  1. Open Microsoft Word.

    The application must have the Microsoft Word BI Publisher plug-in installed. See Download and Install BI Publisher Desktop for Microsoft Office.

  2. Click the Word BI Publisher ribbon.
  3. Click Sample XML to import your sample data and wait until the data is loaded successfully.

    Note: Alternatively, you can use a template file (for example, A Word template file from your customer).

  4. Click Repeating Group to generate a loop on each Invoice. The Repeating Group window opens.
  5. In the For Each field, enter a value in the Data Set Name for each of the Invoices that you chose, when defining your Custom Report (for example, inv). This does not apply to the Invoices Line Items.
  6. In the Group By field, select a field for your Invoice loop. Use the INV_ID because it is a unique identifier for each Invoice.
  7. (Optional) Insert a page break after each Invoice to keep your report formatted.
  8. (Optional) Select the Data already sorted option. You can select this option because you have already sorted your data in your SQL statement, using: ORDER BY.
  9. Click OK.

    The BI Publisher plug-in application adds a code to the document which includes: a start (for-each), a page break (page break), and an end (end) for your Invoice loop.

  10. Add a blank line after "for-each" operator to make room for your Invoice information.
  11. Click the field icon (ab|Field) to open the field browser.

The field browser window enables you to add fields from your XML sample data file.

  1. After each "for-each" operator, double-click Inv_Record_No in the field browser.
  2. Add a hyphen ( - ) [n-dash] after the record number.
  3. Double-click Inv_Title to add the Invoice title.

    Example

    for-eachINV_RECORD_NO-INV_TITLE

    page breakend

  4. (Optional) Run the report by clicking PDF on the Word BI Publisher Ribbon (Word will prompt you to save your RTF file if you have not, already).

The first report is now ready.

The report only has the Invoice record number and title for each Invoice in your sample XML (the approved and pending ones because: WHERE inv.STATUS = 'Approved' OR inv.STATUS = 'Pending' in our SQL statement).

You can continue to build on the generated report by adding additional fields from the Upper Form of the Invoices BP, as well as headers, footers, formatting, and so forth.

In This Section

Creating a Report with Line Items

Advanced BI Publisher Functions


Last Published Saturday, July 13, 2024