RtReports editor user interface

The RtReports editor user interface is powerful, versatile, and complex. It consists of a variable number of panes and tabs that you can rearrange, resize, float, and dock, as well as a system menu and a toolbar, which provide access to frequently used file and view commands.

The interface includes an auto-hide push pin option that enables you to hide a window.

Screen configurations

The system default view of the editor has two panes.

Each time you open the RtReports editor, the window opens as defined in the user defaults. You can modify this layout and define a user default view to meet your needs:

• You can alter the layout of the panes, but he footer remains constant.

• You can return to the system default view by clicking Windows > Doc Settings > Reset System Default.

• You can return to your user default window view by clicking Windows > Doc Settings > Reset User Default again.

Panes

The left pane of the editor system default view is the Template Tree pane, which has two tabs.

• The Data Template tab shows a hierarchy of data specifications.

• The Format Template tab shows a hierarchy of the formatting structure.

The right pane of thee editor system default view is the Preview pane, which has two tabs.

• The Journal tab generates and shows a preview of the report data based on the criteria defined in the Data Template tab. The data displays hierarchically in an unformatted state.

• The Report tab shows a preview of the actual, formatted report.

Toolbox tabs

The Data Toolbox tab contains context and data objects that you can drag and drop into the Data Template tab.

The Format Toolbox tab contains formatting objects that you can drag and drop into the Format Template tab.

You click the tab to view its contents. You can dock, move, and resize the toolbox windows.

RtReports editor inserts objects at the same level as the target tree node when you drag and drop them from a toolbox to a report.

Note: The RtReports editor inserts objects below the target tree node when you use the system or context menu Insert option.

Status bar

The status bar shows:

• Current action

• Report template name

• Check in and check out status

• Version

• Report template status

• Report template PI Server

• Icon representing the report template type

• Icon that indicates whether you are using test data or live data

You can always tell the current opened report template and the status by looking at the status bar on the bottom of the editor.

Formatting toolbar

You can edit elements with font characteristics using the formatting toolbar.

After editing, click View/Refresh to see the results.

Auto-hide mode

Note: You can also toggle the auto hide or docked state by double-clicking the title bar.

Auto hide frees space in the development environment for other windows by hiding the contents of an open window. You have the option of temporarily displaying the contents of the hidden window as necessary. This feature is useful when you want to occasionally check information in a window that you are not working in.

When you enable auto hide, the window retracts into a tab in the upper left on the screen. In this mode you cannot dock or float the window.

You can view the contents of the retracted window by hovering the mouse over the tab without clicking. This causes the window to expand so that you can see the information, just as you would in an open window. The tab retracts when you move your mouse away.

To work in a window, you must click the push pin icon to dock the window.

RtReports saves where the pane was last floated, docked, or hidden.

Unavailable menu items

Several items that are visible on the menus are not implemented in this release, including: Tools-Options, Tools-Customize; Window-Arrange All, Window-New Window, and Window-Cascade.