Report Object - but where's the columnar report

[Richard Gaskin]

Barry Levine wrote:

> Thanks for the pointer. But I am a bit confused. What does the Report
> Object give me except a means to print all of the cards of a stack
> (given certain parameters) in a slightly more automated manner than one
> might do with Transcript itself?
> 
> Where is the tabular (columnar) report? Am I still forced to generate
> tab-delimited data and open it in Excel?

Not unless it's practical to bundle Excel with your app.

While the Report Builder makes a good step toward providing parity with the
only other xTalk that ever shipped with a report generator (HyperCard), I
don't think any of them provided a built-in solution for columnar reports.
It would be a nice addition, but until they can get to that there's nothing
stopping us from making just about any report we need.

Revolution's printing method is very much like SuperCard's, with some
additional functions that make it even easier.  The basic overview is:

1. Create an 8.5" by 11" stack (550x720).

2. Place fields there to contain the info you want to print.

3. In your Print script, write a routine that:

   - opens printing
   - populates the fields with the data you want to print
   - prints the card
   - close printing

If your data contains more than will fit on one card, see the pageHeights
property to obtain a list of scroll values  --  print, scroll by the next
value, print again, etc.

If you have specific questions as you go, please consider posting them here
so you can get answers quickly and we can all benefit from the discussion.

-- 
 Richard Gaskin 
 Fourth World Media Corporation
 Developer of WebMerge 2.2: Publish any database on any site
 ___________________________________________________________
 Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com
 Tel: 323-225-3717                       AIM: FourthWorldInc