Auto Build Report Generator¶

New in Vinyl 3.3, the Auto Build report generator is available as an option for creating embedded reports from Vinyl app pages. The Auto Build feature has support to leverage Vinyl styles to theme headings and some elements of the report.

Auto Build reports are an alternative to using Crystal Reports, and is intended for use with non-pixel perfect reports, or reports that are not considered perfect design fidelity as we may improve or make adjustments to how they are rendered in future Vinyl versions. If pixel perfect reports are a business requirement, you will want to use Crystal Reports instead. Auto Build uses the Fast Reports library.

All internal reports available in Vinyl have been converted to use Auto Build reports.

How to Create an Auto Build Report¶

1. From the Vinyl page where you wish to create a report, go to the Action Drawer > Live Designer
2. Select the Edge Case tab from the selected Page
3. Select Report as the Page Type
4. Select Auto Build as the Type
5. Click the Save button
6. Vinyl will now display the embedded report on the page

How to Edit an Auto Build Report¶

If you need to make edits to elements (like Controls or Page Name) in an Auto Build report, you can do so in either of the following ways:

Modify the Auto Build Report using the Page Designer¶

In this method you will edit the report using Vinyl's classic Page Designer (vs. the Live Designer).

1. From the Vinyl page with the embedded Auto Build report, go to the Action Drawer > Design This Page
2. Make any required edit
3. Save and return to the application view, refresh the web browser and confirm the update

Convert an Auto Build Report to Dynamic Page¶

In this method you will convert the report back to a Dynamic page, make the required edits, and then change the page back to an Auto Build report.

1. From the Vinyl page with the embedded Auto Build report, go to the Action Drawer > Live Designer
2. Select the Edge Case tab from the selected Page
3. Select Dynamic Page as the Page Type
4. Click the Save button
5. Vinyl will now display the dynamic page and you can make any required edits
6. After making edits, repeat the process outlined in How to Create an Auto Build Report

How to Theme an Auto Build Report¶

If you are looking to adjust the theming (colors, fonts, etc.) for an Auto Build report you can access the Theme following these steps:

1. From the Vinyl page with the embedded Auto Build report, go to the Action Drawer > Live Designer
2. Select the Edge Case tab from the selected Page
3. Click the Alternate Theme field and select the default theme created named "report v1"
4. Click the chevron icon button to go to the Theme Editor
5. Click the Copy button and save the copied theme to a Collection your app has access to
6. Make any modifications needed to the theme and Save
7. Return to the app page with the report and update the Alternate Theme to use the copied version you modified
8. Click Save and exit out of the Live Designer

How to Add an Image to a Report¶

If you want to add an image to an Auto Build report, such as a company logo, follow these guidelines:

• The image must reside on the Business Object of the panel creating the report
• To properly load the image you must include an image column in the Business Object sourced from a table
  • For example, you could add a column named Logo with Logical type of Photo to the Parameter table. Assuming the report Business Object is designed off a different table than Parameter, you would then add the Parameter table to the Business Object and expose the Logo column.
• Store the image in the defined image column. Here you can expose the image column to the UI on a Configuration page and set the Control Type to File so that you can upload the image.
• After the image is stored in the column and Business Object, you can add the image control to your report panel. Be sure to set the column as the new column created to store the image, and set the image purpose to Photo.