This article will walk you through the ins and outs of Logiwa's Report Designer, which is a tool that allows you to customize your printouts. Printouts in Logiwa come with premade templates that contain commonly used components in warehouse printouts. These templates can be used directly, without requiring any manual effort. However, if any customization is needed for your printouts, that's where the Report Designer comes in handy.
Finding the Report Designer
The Report Designer can be accessed while creating a new printout or editing an existing one. On Step 3 of the printout creation process, the option to Design Your Printout becomes available. The Report Designer will automatically open at this point; if it does not, click the Go to Logiwa Report Designer button to open it manually.
When editing an existing printout, the Report Designer can be found at the same location (Step 3) in the Edit Printout sidebar.
Capabilities of the Report Designer
The Report Designer allows you to make adjustments to customize your printouts.
Printouts are created based on prepared templates, so you will initially see various default components based on the selected template added to your printouts. The structure of printouts is entirely customizable, within the following capabilities:
Adding or removing components such as text, images, shapes, or barcodes
Component explanations
Modifying component properties
Other component adjustments like relocating components, adjusting sizes, and setting component properties (shrinkable, auto-size, enlargeable, etc.)
Defining the components' content and linking them to data fields
Designing the layout by using bands to add headers, sections, data fields, footers, and additional pages
The primary tabs you will be using when designing reports are the Components and Bands tabs. The following sections go in-depth to these capabilities. The other tabs (Home, Report, Layout, and View) are explained here.
Adding and Removing Printout Components
Components are the elements that will be available in the printout, which includes all visible printed materials on the printout. These components can be found in the top navigation bar of the Report Designer, under the Components section.
All available components are listed in this section. By hovering over them, you can learn more.
See section below to see an explanation of each component.
Component Explanations
Text: Displays various types of text data, including text lines, data columns, report parameters, total values, expressions, or any combination thereof.
Picture: Displays graphics in the following formats: BMP, PNG, JPG, GIF, TIFF, ICO, EMF, and WMF. Enables you to print your company logo, a photo of an employee, or any other graphic.
Shapes: Displays a shape that can be placed on the report for design or emphasis purposes. Currently can be used to create rectangles and pentagons.
Line: Displays a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line.
Please note, it's recommended to use an object's border rather than the Line object if possible. This will streamline the report and prevent potential issues with exports.
Sub-report: Selecting this option will take you to a separate section where you can add components that will be displayed in a small section on the main report.
To return to the page you added the sub-report to, use the Report Tree option on the left sidebar to find it.
Table: Composed of rows, columns, and cells, serving as a simplified analog of a Microsoft Excel table.
Matrix: Similar to the Table object, consists of rows, columns, and cells. However, the specific number of rows and columns in the matrix is not predetermined; it will vary based on the data it is associated with. Right click or drag data to change the data source.
Barcode: Displays barcodes based on the selected data source or setting.
Rich Text: Displays text that has been formatted in RTF format, which allows for links.
When using the Hyperlink option, select "Modify the object's appearance so it will look like a clickable link" to make the link visible to customers (in digital documents).
CheckBox: Displays a checkbox in the report. The object can display two states: checked or unchecked. This can be managed in the following ways:
Set the state to Checked to always display it checked
Bind the object to a data column using the DataColumn property
Set an expression that returns true or false using the Expression property.
Cellular Text: Displays each character of a text in an individual cell. Often used to print forms in financial applications. Right click to link it to a data source or hyperlink.
Gauge: Displays a graphical representation of a value within a specific range. Can be used to visualize data such as progress or temperature.
Container Object: Provides a customizable rectangular object used to group and arrange the layout of report elements.
Digital Signature Object: Provides a visual representation of a digital signature.
HTML: Allows for HMTL to be added, which can be used to format and display content, including formatted text, images, and links.
SVG: Displays SVG (scalable vector graphics) on the label. Unlike raster images, SVG images are resolution-independent, which means they can be scaled to any size without losing quality.
To add any component, click on the component's icon and it will be added directly to the relevant page section.
For example, if you would like to add another barcode, click the barcode button and another barcode will be added to the printout layout.
If you'd like to remove a component, right-click on the component and select the Delete option from the list. Alternately, left-click on the component and press Delete on your keyboard to remove the component.
Modifying Component Properties
Each added component has a number of properties that can be customized. In order to view the component properties, please select a component on your printout layout and click the Properties button.
In the Properties section, you can make the following adjustments:
Appearance: This section contains the visual properties of the added component, such as text color, border fillings, text filling, drop shadow, etc. Additionally, this section may contain special properties specific to the component (e.g. type selection, which is available for barcodes only).
Behavior: This section has several options that affect the behavior of the component.
Some frequently used features are listed below:
Auto Size: When enabled, the component always maintains the resolution proportion when resized.
Can Grow: When enabled, allows the component to exceed its border limits if the content is larger than the component boundaries.
Can Shrink: When enabled, allows the component to shrink if the content within it is smaller than the component boundaries.
HideIfNoData: When enabled, the component will not be shown if the component's linked data field is empty.
PrintOn: When enabled, the page selection that applies to the component is visible on the printout.
Data: This section explains the data-related properties available.
Design and Layout & Navigation:
Design: Allows you to impose certain restrictions on the component's design.
Layout: Defines the component's position and alignment.
Navigation: Defines a navigation link/bookmark for a data source, system variable, total, parameter, or function.
Hyperlink: Allows you to add a hyperlink, like a URL, page number, report, report page, or other custom link, to the component.
Other Component Adjustments
This section explains how to further manage and customize components in a printout page, such as dragging and resizing them, and adjusting their visual and behavioral properties.
Relocating Components
Added components can be dragged and dropped within the printout page to be relocated.
Adjusting Component Size
To adjust the size of a component, first left-click on the component to select it. Once selected, sizing dots appear on the edges of the component. By using these sizing dots, you can alter the size of the component.
Please note that all added components have the Auto Size toggle enabled, if you'd like to edit your component's size freely, you need to disable the Auto Size toggle.
In order to do this:
Select the component first, then click on the Properties button.
Disable the Auto Size function.
You can now freely adjust the size of the component by using the sizing dots.
Defining Component Content and Linking with Data Fields
Printout components can contain content such as plain text, an image, a calculated field, or data-based information. After adding your components, you need to set the content of each manually.
To do this, left-click on the component, then click the Home tab in the navigation bar at the top of the screen. At the far right, there is an Expression Field where you can define the component's content.
If you click the 3-Dots button, the Edit Expression pop-up opens.
In this step, you have several options:
If you enter plain text, this text will remain constant and will be always appear in the printout as written.
If you need to create a data-based variable, take the following steps:
Click on Data Sources
Select "D"
Drag and drop the desired data field or select from the list and click the Add button.
IMPORTANT: Please be aware that each printout type is linked only with the relevant data set.
For instance, if you are creating a product label, you will see product-related data fields (e.g., barcode, sales price), but if you are creating an LP label, you will see LP-related data fields (e.g., dimensions, empty weight, max weight).
You may also create functions in the expressions screen by using data fields.
For instance, say you want to show a product's barcode only if it is filled. Otherwise, the SKU will be the basis of the barcode.
A formula like this would meet your needs: [IIf(Length([D.ProductBarcode])>0,[D.ProductBarcode],[D.SKU])]
To put that in words, this formula can be read as: "If a product is created in Logiwa with the barcode field filled, then the created label will show the product's barcode. However, if the product has an empty barcode field, then the product's SKU will be entered as the product's barcode. "
Designing the Printout Layout
The Report Designer allows you to create your printout in individual bands, which all build up into the final printout layout. These bands, which include the report title, summary, headers, footers, and data fields, are dedicated segments in the printout where you can place components.
To add a new band, click on the Bands button on the top navigation bar and click the band you wish to add.
If you'd like to remove an added band, right-click on the band name located in the orange sidebar and click Delete.
Home, Report, Layout, and View
The Home, Report, Layout, and View tabs are smaller, but no less important parts of the report designer, and are explained in brief in the sections below.
Home
Home is used to perform tasks such as copying, cutting, pasting, deleting, formatting fonts, applying different colors, adjusting grid appearance, layering elements, and setting page size. The functions available here are similar to those in typical word processing programs.
Report
This section is primarily for previewing, saving, adding, or deleting pages.
Additionally, the New Dialog button can be used to create a custom prompt that appears with OK/Cancel buttons already added, though these can be customized. This prompt will display when employees view this report.
Layout
Most layout changes to reports are handled under the Bands tab. This section instead offers the Group/Ungroup function, which can be used to separate or link parts of the report that have been designed, allowing for redesign of the layout if needed.
View
Used to adjust the grid measurements and language used for the guides that outline and back the designed reports.
Since accuracy for report size is especially important, please note that the default display size is centimeters. If using other measurements, like inches, change them using the Grid dropdown menu.
Couldn’t Find What You Were Looking For?
Visit our Help Center to find more support documents!