1. Report Builder Third party Banded Report writer coded in Delphi
Available in four versions from Digital Metaphors
Integrates into the Delphi environment
Delphi 4 to Rad Studio
Supports external templates to allow user customisation
Very powerful
Working with Professional Version today
Current US pricing is $495

2. Report Builder Why do I use this product
Tired of Borland changing the reporting tool from version to version - Report Smith, Quick Reports, Rave Reports
Needed to be able to offer our customer base an easy way to personalise their reports with out attending a major training course
Easy for support guys to whip up a change that looks good and is chargeable

3. Report Builder Why do I use this product
Tired of Borland changing the reporting tool from version to version - Report Smith, Quick Reports, Rave Reports
Needed to be able to offer our customer base an easy way to personalise their reports with out attending a major training course
Easy for support guys to whip up a change that looks good and is chargeable
Major benefit is that, with a minimal amount of programming, printed reports e.g. invoices can be personalised by client or other appropriate records

4. Report Builder Why do I use this product
Tired of Borland changing the reporting tool from version to version - Report Smith, Quick Reports, Rave Reports
Needed to be able to offer our customer base an easy way to personalise their reports with out attending a major training course
Easy for support guys to whip up a change that looks good and is chargeable
Major benefit is that, with a minimal amount of programming, printed reports e.g. invoices can be personalised by client or other appropriate records
Handles complex form like reports such as payslips with multiple datasources placed beside each other

5. Report Builder How to use the Report Builder Create a new form
Select the Rbuilder tab
Insert a ppReport component

6. Report Builder How to use the Report Builder Create a new form
Select the Rbuilder tab
Insert a ppReport component
Set up a data source such as a table or Query

7. Report Builder How to use the Report Builder Create a new form
Select the Rbuilder tab
Insert a ppReport component
Set up a data source such as a table or Query
Now add TppPipeLine component which can be
A TppDBPipeLine (which is what I use)
A ppBDEPipeline for BDE use
A ppTextPipeline (data from an Ascii text file)
A ppJITPipeline (data from Delphi objects)
Beware of getting all the relevant fields

8. Report Builder How to use the Report Builder continued
Now double click on the ppReport component and the layout screen appears
Next insert the appropriate components as in a typical report generator via the Command bar at the top
The icons on the left of the double bar || are the ‘Static’ items such as labels, memos, pictures, bar codes

9. Report Builder How to use the Report Builder continued
Now double click on the ppReport component and the layout screen appears
Next insert the appropriate components as in a typical report generator via the Command bar at the top
The icons on the left of the double bar || are the ‘Static’ items such as labels, memos, pictures, bar codes
The next set of icons are the database components

10. Report Builder How to use the Report Builder continued
Now double click on the ppReport component and the layout screen appears
Next insert the appropriate components as in a typical report generator via the Command bar at the top
The icons on the left of the double bar || are the ‘Static’ items such as labels, memos, pictures, bar codes
The next set of icons are the database components
All the ‘static’ items can be programmed to different values as the report transverses the data stream use the alignment tools to position the components

11. Report Builder How to use the Report Builder continued
The three icons after the second double bar || are the most interesting
Regions
Used to group components which must move together
Can contain anything and can stretch or be of fixed size
Can be set to move relative to another stretching component
Use region to contain non stretching components and then reference this region

12. Report Builder How to use the Report Builder continued
The three icons after the second double bar || are the most interesting
Regions
Used to group components which must move together
Can contain anything and can stretch or be of fixed size
Can be set to move relative to another stretching component
Use region to contain non stretching components and then reference this region
Subreports
This function the same way as other report writers

13. Report Builder How to use the Report Builder continued
The three icons after the second double bar || are the most interesting
Regions
Used to group components which must move together
Can contain anything and can stretch or be of fixed size
Can be set to move relative to another stretching component
Use region to contain non stretching components and then reference this region
Subreports
This functions the same way as normal
Cross Tabs
This functions the same way as other report writers

14. Report Builder How to use the Report Builder continued
Report can be called via Show or ShowModal (I use Show) e.g.
Spa_print := true; // flag to skip on re-activating calling form InstNetForm.Show; InstNetForm.Close; Then, inside the report.onActive have code of the form if scn_flg then ppReport1.DeviceType := dtScreen else ppReport1.DeviceType := dtPrinter;
ppReport1.Print; // while not CloseQuery do Application.ProcessMessages;

15. Report Builder Tricks Emailing
Achieving a different look for each record reported on