OpenRPT Product Guide

The best way to illustrate report writer functionality is to work with an existing report definition—rather than create a new one from scratch. So, for this first exercise we will be modifying a report definition called UsersMasterList. The UsersMasterList report definition is a stock xTuple report designed to provide information about xTuple users.

To begin, we must first log in to xTuple. By logging in, we automatically connect to an xTuple database. The user information we will be working with is stored in the xTuple database.

We can access the UsersMasterList report by selecting the Reports option from the Master Information section of the System module. Scroll down the master list of report definitions until you reach the UsersMasterList report. Highlight the report, then select the EDIT button. The following screen will appear:

Users Master List report definition

In the Report Writer Basics chapter, we discussed the importance of grades—and how multiple versions of the same report may be stored on a database using different grades. By default, xTuple uses the report definition having the highest grade.

To differentiate our working version of the UsersMasterList report definition from the standard version, we will save it with a different grade. To save a report definition with a different grade, select the Save to DB option from the Database menu. The following screen will appear:

Save Report to Database with a higher grade

We will keep the same name, but change the grade to "50". When we select the OK button, the report definition is saved to the database.

We have now made a copy of the report definition—and assigned it a high grade ("50"). When xTuple runs the report, it will use our version of the report definition because ours has been assigned the highest grade in the sample database.