There are four settings in report designer to change cell value: form, style form, new value attribute in condition attribute and custom display in advanced attribute of data column.We’ll study one of them: Form in our business intelligence tool.

1. Description

A cell value in report designer is divided into two parts: actual value and display value. Actual value means the actual value of cell, while display value is the value displayed after setting of form and style.

There are four settings in the designer to change cell value: form, style form, new value attribute in condition attribute and custom display in advanced attribute of data column. Among these four settings, some changes display value, and some changes actual value of a cell.

Description will be made to form below. For other three setting methods, refer to Style, Condition Attribute-New Value and Data Column Custom display.

2. Form setting

Select the cell for setting. Right click and select Form for setting. There are 4 types of forms: data dictionary, formula form, barcode and amount line, which will be described one by one below:

2.1 Data dictionary

In original data, what’s saved is the data of code nature. However, data presentation requires meaningful actual value. That means, corresponding data should be displayed based on a coding table. This coding table is data dictionary. Select Cell Form as Data Dictionary. Based on data source for constructing data dictionary, the data dictionary types include: database table, data query, custom and formula.

For example, if there is only Client ID in the table and the corresponding Client Name is in another table, we can display the Client Name in another table through data dictionary setting.

Select the cell. Right click to select menu Form > Data Dictionary for setting, as shown below:

2.2 Formula form

Some complex data dictionaries are used for switching actual value and display value.

Select the cell. Right click to select menu Form > Formula Form for setting.

For detailed usage of formulas, refer to Function Usage Instructions.

2.3 Barcode

Barcode is a graphic identifier to represent a group of information like certain characters and numbers with several black bars and blanks in different widths based on certain coding rules.

After setting, barcode will be displayed.

Select the cell. Right click to select menu Form > Barcode for setting.

2.4 Amount line

For banking industry, amount lines are used to view amounts in figure. After setting amount lines, the report will display amount line format.

Select the cell. Right click to select menu Form > Amount Line for setting.

2.5 Cancel form setting

Select the cell. Right click to select menu Form > Cancel Form Setting to cancel related form settings.

See %FR_HOME%\WebReport\WEB-INF\reportlets\doc\Primary\DetailReport\Details_1.cpt for completed templates.

3. Priority