Main Features
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Auto-formatting
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Multiple
data sources per report document
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Cross-database (cross-drivers) data relations
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Linking
(sharing) of Resource Objects
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Output
formats: HTML, RTF, PDF, XML/XSL
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Table
export: CSV, XLS, MDB, DBF, RDBMS
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Advanced
grouping scales
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Arbitrary grouping customization
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SQL and
VB Script calculations
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Recursive Calculated Fields
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Convertible presentation forms
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Programming automation
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Flash Demo
Basic Introduction
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When we created TARGET Reports, our
objective was to create an
application that delivers comprehensive reports solutions in a fraction of
the time required by other reporting systems. You do not need any programming or design skills to produce professional well-formatted reports in TARGET Reports. If you have database and/or VB Script skills (at any level) you will find powerful capabilities in TARGET Reports that are not available anywhere else.
Enhanced Productivity now and in the future
The magic of fast
and painless reporting is achieved through separation of data access, report
definition and visual representation. Many existing report writers mix all three
aspects of the report creation procedure together making modifications to
report's definition or visual appearance extremely cumbersome after the initial
setup.
TARGET Reports
provides the ability to create complex, professional reports in a few
steps all of which are accomplished with simple user interface techniques like
drag and drop, visual connectivity, and the editing of properties.
Most reporting tasks are
based on data aggregation so the process of configuring a report can be
divided into the three major steps:
1. Data Source Access - Indicate where to get the data that will be used to generate the report(s) (database tables, views, stored procedures, etc.)
2. Report Data Setup - Indicate which fields will be used for grouping and reporting, and what records will be taken from the data source (scope definition). Then, specify the report type (summary, detailed)
3. Visual Appearance - Decide on the type of visual representation to be used for
displaying the information (Plain table, Hierarchical table, Cross-Tab table,
Charts.)
TARGET Reports offers a different reporting
paradigm than wizard-based report writers. Wizard-based report writers (most competing products) do allow simple initial report setup, but they do not
provide easy means for modifying any of the three reporting aspects after the report is designed. In contrast to these tools, TARGET Reports allows simple manipulation of all properties during the full lifecycle
of your reporting project.
The primary object
for setting up a TARGET report is a report page element (or Report
Setup). A report page element can be connected to
virtually any kind of data source. One of the distinguishing TARGET
Reports features is the ability to fetch data from heterogeneous data sources.
For example, you can have one SQL Server table linked to a table from ORACLE or
a flat DBase file. The power and flexibility of TARGET Reports allows you to
change the input data source at any time and the report setup will automatically
adapt to the change.
After an input data
connection is established, you can define other reporting properties: custom
terms, scope, reporting fields, report type and layout. Any of these properties
can be easily modified allowing iterative development of your report with
instant feedback.
As
a result, complex, professional reports can be created in minutes, not hours or
days.
Another unique
TARGET Reports' feature is variable connectivity. This provides an ability to
link multiple variables of the same type to each other, ensuring that their
values will always be the same.
Various
output formats
provide an ability
to observe the final reports in viewers most suitable for your needs: MS Word,
HTML browsers or PDF viewers. The reporting results can also be saved to a
database table for further analysis, exported to a file or returned as a stream,
which can be incorporated into your own visualization tool.
The TARGET Reports user
interface has four main parts:
1. The working
area displays a collection of pages contained in the document. Each page
contains page elements (report elements, texts, images, etc.).
2. The Property
editor pane displays property editors for the currently selected page element.
Each page element type has its own assortment of properties. Each property is edited with a dedicated property editor.
3. The Document
tree displays the hierarchical structure of the final document. It allows document
structure modification and page navigation.
4. The Resources
pane contains various resources for report creation (document resources, page
resource, resources for report elements, etc.).
The TARGET
Reports Developer Edition supports
programming automation and can be used from any development environment.
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