Report Designer

Menu Options

The Report Designer menu bar provides an alternative method to access Report Designer functions that are also available on the Tool Bar. A list of menu bar options is provided below in their order of appearance: File, Edit, Data, Format, Options, Projects and Help.

File	Drop-down menu of options for defining a report.
New	Define a new report or define elements in a new Report Writer Library.
Report Wizard	Launches the Report Wizard for creating a new report.
Open	Open an existing report or library file.
Save	Save the report definition. See Saving the Report Definition.
Save As	Name and save the report definition. See Saving the Report Definition.
Restrict Access	Set up NOMADS Security system for restricting or allowing access to reports. If the NOMADS security classification file does not exist, a message will display.
Delete	Delete a selected report definition. See Deleting Report Definitions.
Associate a Library Disassociate a Library	See Associating Other Report Writer Libraries.
Output Destination	Select an alternate default destination: Clipboard, Custom Output, HTML document, PDF document, Printer, Tab delimited file, Viewer. See Setting the Report Destination.
Specify Custom Destination	If Custom Output is selected as the report Output Destination, a specific custom output object may be specified for the report. See Custom Output Object Interface.
Generate Report	Send the generated report to the designated Output Destination. See Generating a Report.
Page Setup	Set up page settings for printer output. See Page Setup.
Print Preview	Preview the report output. See Testing the Report.
Print	Send the report to a printer.
Exit	Close the Report Designer.
(Files list)	Displays a list (up to 10) of the most recently selected or saved reports.

Edit	Drop-down menu of options for editing the report layout.
Cut	See Editing the Layout.
Copy	See Editing the Layout.
Paste	See Editing the Layout.
Clear area	Clear all data from the highlighted cells. This function also resets the cell formatting to default settings. This differs from selecting cells and pressing Delete, which only clears the data.
Insert Line	Insert a line below the current line.
Delete Line	Delete the current line.
Insert Column	Insert a column to the right of the current column. If the Inherit attributes from column on left when inserting a column designer option has been turned On, then when a column is inserted, the cell attributes (i.e. font, colors, alignment, word-wrap and borders) from the previous column (on the left) are inherited on a cell-by-cell basis. If column 1 is inserted or the option is not selected, then the column cells will be assigned default attributes. Note: If the cell to the left is a joined cell (see Join), the inherited attributes would be those of the cell if it were not joined and therefore may not match the attributes displayed when joined. The Inherit attributes from column on left when inserting a column option is at the bottom of the main Report Designer panel and in the Designer Options window, which is accessed through the Options menu. (The Inherit attributes from column on left when inserting a column option was added in PxPlus 2023.)
Delete Column	Delete the current column.
Find Text	Find the specified text value in the layout. Find will search data items, formulas and fixed text within the cells.
Groups	Create, update or delete a group. See Grouping the Data.

Data	Drop-down menu of options for defining the input source, sort sequence and fields to display.
Input Source	Determine the source of the data to be displayed in the report. See Input Source.
Related Sources	Select additional related data sources, if applicable. See Related Data Sources.
File Link Maintenance	Launches the File Link Maintenance utility. (File Link Maintenance was added to the Data menu in PxPlus 2021 Update 1.)
Sort Sequence	Define Sort Sequence.
Calculated Fields	Define Calculated Fields.
Parameters	Set up report Parameters.
Filters	Define Data Filters.

Format	Drop-down menu of options for formatting cells in the report layout.
Formula	Define Formulas.
Image	Add or update Images.
Hyperlink	Add Hyperlinks.
Display Format	Define a format mask, either a Fixed value or an Expression. See Display Format.
Bulk Edit Cell Format	Set formatting attributes in a range of cells simultaneously. See Bulk Edit Cell Format.
Word Wrap	Set Word Wrap to On/Off.
Text Alignment	Set text alignment horizontally (Left, Center or Right) *and* vertically (Top, Middle or Bottom). Click the drop-down arrow for a list of selections: Left Top, Left Middle, Left Bottom, Center Top, Center Middle, Center Bottom, Right Top, Right Middle, Right Bottom. (Compound text alignment options were added in PxPlus 2019.)
Text Font	Set the Font and font attributes (i.e. style, point size, orientation).
Text Colour	Select the Text Colour.
Background Colour	Select the Background Colour.
Border Size	Adjust the border width to Thin, Medium or Wide. The width must be set prior to adding the border. The currently selected width is displayed on the Border width button on the Report Designer tool bar.
Borders	Set preference for displaying Borders. Available selections are Full grid; Edges Only, Inside only, Left Edge, Right Edge, Top Edge, Bottom Edge, No Borders. All borders are black.
Alternate Cell Condition	Launches the Define Filters dialogue for specifying the conditions under which an alternate cell definition will be used. See Alternate Cell Condition.
Switch Cell Definition	Switch between two cell definitions if an alternate cell definition has been created. See Switch Cell Definition.
Add/Modify Line Condition	Launches the Define Filters dialogue for adding a condition to a line. See Conditional Lines.
Join	Join highlighted cells.
Unjoin	Reset joined cells to individual cells.

Options	Additional Report and Report Designer options.
Report Options	Launches Report Options.
Designer Options	Launches Designer Options.

Projects

Drop-down menu for projects.

Create New Project

Launches the Create Project dialogue for entering a new project for the current working directory. Click the Query button to select a different working directory.

Add to Project

Launches the Add to Project dialogue for adding the current task to an existing project that is selected from the Project drop box.

To manage all the tasks within a project, see Project Maintenance. For information on adding tasks to a project from other locations, see Adding Tasks to Projects from Other Locations.

*Help*	Miscellaneous information.
About	Report Writer version information.

Report Designer

Note: If the cell to the left is a joined cell (see Join), the inherited attributes would be those of the cell if it were not joined and therefore may not match the attributes displayed when joined.

Note:
If the cell to the left is a joined cell (see Join), the inherited attributes would be those of the cell if it were not joined and therefore may not match the attributes displayed when joined.