The Order Manager includes a number of standard reports but you can build your own custom reports from scratch or modify the standard reports to suit your needs. You can also "customize" reports by entering selection criteria such as date ranges when prompted.
In the Order Manager, the term "reports" refers to any printable document type such as invoices, packing slips, and mailing labels in addition to detailed or summary reports. All of these document types are called reports because you must run queries to gather the information you want to see on the printed output. Finally, the information is presented in a particular format which is determined by how it will be used.
There are system parameters in the Order Manager that tell the program which template to use when printing reports (e.g. InvoiceTemplate). When setting one of these parameters to a use a specific report template, the user can select any of the standard reports for that report type from the drop-down box. If a custom report is to be used instead, manually type in the name of the report as it will not be included in the drop-down box. The Reports system parameter group is where you tell the Order Manager to show or hide fields on standard reports or to use a custom report instead.
Tips
Include your company name in the titles of your custom reports, e.g. Ajax Sales by Product. This helps distinguish them from the Order Manager’s standard reports and it will also group them together in lists which makes them easier to maintain.
Always save your custom reports to the Custom Reports.mdb file. This file does not get replaced when the Order Manager is updated to a new version. For details on how to do this, see Custom Report Maintenance.
This article outlines the basic steps you follow to customize reports. For detailed information, refer to MS Access Help or other resources on the topic. Stone Edge Technologies, Inc. will build custom reports for a fee; email us or call 1-877-StoneWeb.
IMPORTANT: These steps require knowledge of the report generation system in Microsoft Access. That subject is beyond the scope of this document. There are many books available that teach Access report generation.
1. Go to the Main Menu.
2. Press F11. The database objects window opens.
3. Click on the Reports button in the Objects column.
4. Proceed to one of the sections below.
1. Click on the report you wish to customize.
2. Press Ctrl^C or right-click and choose Copy.
3. Press Ctrl^V or right-click and choose Paste. Enter a file name.
4. Modify the report as needed.
5. Save the report.
6. Go to Custom Report Maintenance and export the file to Custom Reports.mdb.
7. Click the Add to Custom Reports Menu button.
8. You can now print the report from Main Menu>Print Reports.
1. Click the New button and enter a file name.
2. Modify the report as needed.
3. Save the report.
4. Go to Custom Report Maintenance and export the file to Custom Reports.mdb.
5. Click the Add to Custom Reports Menu button.
6. You can now print the report from Main Menu>Print Reports.
See Also
Changing Fonts, Sizes and Adding a Logo to an Access Report
Set Report Specific Printer Settings