How To Import A Report

Related Information See Also

Examples And Tutorials Get Started Creating Reports And Letters Format Reports And Letters Pull Information For Reports Or Letters Use Lists And Loops Use Where And If Conditions Perform Calculations On Data Use Variables In Reports Print Statements - Reports - Letters Batch Process Letters Create Reports And Letters Import, Export Or Copy Reports Design Reports For Envelopes And Labels Create Advanced Reports Create Web Host Reports Find More Information

This topic gives you the steps to import a report into your database. Importing a report takes only seconds and saves you from having to enter the code manually. You can import, test and see results within minutes. If the report is exactly what you want, great. If not, delete it and import another very quickly.

You can get report codes from several sources:

* Collect! has many sample reports in the Demo database. You can export them and then import them into your Master database.

* Collect!'s website has a great many reports that you can download and import.

* Comtech Systems support team may send you a custom report or a report that you are having a problem with.

* You may receive a report from another Collect! user.

To use these reports, you import them into your database.

Is the report attached to an email from Comtech Systems? Then please save this attachment to a location on your computer where you know you will be able to find it. For example, save it to your Desktop.

Are you downloading the report from Collect!'s website? Then you will be prompted to save it when you do this. So please make note of where you save it on your computer. Also, make note of the name you save it as. Save it with the *.rpt extension.

Collect! can only read *.rpt files. If you save to file as *.txt, please right-click on it, select rename and either take off the .txt, or replace it with .rpt.

When you have the report on your computer and you know where to find it, proceed with the steps below to import your report into Collect!

1. Sign into Collect! as you would normally and select Print from the top menu bar.

Print Menu

2. Then select Report Import Export from the drop-down choices. This will display a submenu.

Report Import Export Submenu

3. Select Import Report. The Import Collect! Report dialog pops up.

Import Collect! Report Dialog

4. Locate your report file. If you know the location and name, you can type this into the File name: box. Or, you may use the down arrow next to the Look In: box to navigate to the Desktop or to the folder where you saved your *.rpt file. When you see your *.rpt file, click on it and the name will appear in the File name: box.

Report File To Import

5. Select Open to import the report. You may be asked: "Printer codes detected. Do you want to overwrite your printer control codes?"

Prompt to Import Printer Control Codes

Select NO unless you are sure you want to overwrite your current printer control codes.

If you are importing a report that has updated Printer Control Codes, please select YES here to overwrite your report codes with the new updated set.

6. Your report will be imported immediately and a message will show the full name of the report you imported on the very first line.

Imported Report Confirmation Message

Please make note of the full name of the report you just imported. This is the name that you will use to locate it in the Report Definition list. Select OK to close the window.

7. Now check out the report's results! Print a sample to make sure the output is what you expect. Please see How To Print A Sample Report Or Letter for more details.

@include files

If the report you are importing uses an @include file, make sure that you save the @include file to your Collect! application's STYLES folder, (e.g. CVxx\styles) so that your report can load it when you print the report.

Viewing a report outside of Collect!

If you try to open your report, or print it, and you generate an error message or see gobbledy-gook, it may be that the report was opened in a word processor and is corrupted. Collect! imports ASCII text report files. If you need to open an *.rpt file outside of Collect!, please open with a text editor that will not change the format. If you open with a word processor, MAKE SURE you save it as a text file and not in the word processor's default format as this will make the file unusable by Collect!.