Report Generator for Microsoft PowerPoint - Hints and Tips

Chapter 8 Hints and Tips

You can run PTReportGen from the command line. The format is:
pptreport < ptr file name > [-c] [-d] [-u1 user1] [-p1 pwd1] ... [pa1 pa2 ...]
For example:

pptreport c:\pptreport\monthlysales.ptr -c 199605

PTReportGen can be scheduled with Windows Scheduled Tasks or other tools. The process of generating reports can be fully automated, periodically or on events.

PTReportGen comes with a sample database Sample.mdb and some sample reports. You can use them when learning the program. To use the sample reports, you must add a data source named "Report Sample" to specify the sample database.

You can test SQL statements using Microsoft Query that is a component of Microsoft Office. You can find it under the installation directory of Microsoft Office.

To make a report template, you can use some sample data. It is very useful especially for formatting. After you have made the report template, you delete the sample data.

For a table report, you can format the value from data sources with a format expression. You should write a format expression into a data cell in the report template file first. PTReportGen will get the text of the cell as a format expression before it puts a value into a cell, and output the value using the format expression.

An irregular table does not have the same number of cells for each row or column. It does make it harder to process the document. In an irregular table, you have some difficulty to reference a cell, and an error may occur when you try to work with some rows or columns.

For a form report, you can reference a shape or text box by its name. You can find a PowerPoint add-in "name.ppa" under the PTReportGen's working directory that can name an object in a slide.

For a form report, you can format the value from data sources with a format expression too. PTReportGen will get the text of the object as a format expression, and output the value using the format expression.

You can define the different formats and colors for positive values, negative values and zeros.

To create a chart in the report template file, you can use some sample data. Using sample data, you can set the various chart options. After you have made the report template, you delete the sample data.

PTReportGen is a converter too. Besides Microsoft PowerPoint document, you can generate a report in other file format such as HTML, RTF, GIF, JPG and BMP. You also can convert data from database to other file format.

You can edit a PTR file (.ptr) with a text editor such as Notepad.

If you associate PTReportGen with the file extension ".ptr", a PTR file with the extension ".ptr" will open in PTReportGen when you double-click the file. The information:
File Extension: .ptr
Action: open
Application: "C:\Program Files\LJZsoft\PPTReport.exe" "%1"

For the report template file, report file and log file, it is possible to give a relative path. If it is a relative path, the base path is the path of the PTR file.

In the SQL statements, you can use parameters. To use parameters, you must define them first.

In the paths and names of the report file, template file and log file, you can use parameters. To use parameters, you must define them first.

The default log file is pptreport.log under the PTReportGen program directory. If you do not define the log file name, or can not create the log file defined, you can find log information in the pptreport.log under the PTReportGen program directory.

You should be careful to define a unique name for each parameter, because PTReportGen will replace all strings that are the same as the names of the parameters. It is a good choice a name begins with the "$" character such as "$ReportDate".

In the text editor window, you can use comments. A comment is the "/*" characters, followed by any sequence of characters (including new lines), followed by the "*/" characters. You cannot nest comments.

You can also reference a slide dynamically. "N" means the next slide. "N-1" means the last slide that the previous function processed.

To add totals or subtotals, you can use the aggregate functions in SQL statement.

To group data in a report, you should use GROUP VARIABLE TABLE REPORT function.

In REPORT function, the order of groups should be in accordance with the order of ORDER BY clause in the SQL statement.

For a non-group variable table report, if the length of the range is 1 row/column, you need to reserve 1 or 2 rows/columns. PTReportGen will insert some rows/columns for each record. If the length of the range is more than 1 row/column, you should add PAGEBREAK argument, and the value of PAGEBREAK must be equal to the value of RESERVE. PTReportGen will copy some slides.

For a group variable table report, if the grouprange is not same as the range of the detail, you must add a pagebreak by group, and the length of the range can not be more then 1 row/column. If the grouprange is same as the range of the detail, and the length of the range is more than 1, you should add a pagebreak by record, and the value of PAGEBREAK must be equal to the value of RESERVE.

You can create reports with pictures using PTReportGen. You should store the path and name of the graphics file in the database, identify the image fields in the report function, and specify the size in the report template file.

To convert from pixels to points, it is depend on the screen resolution (DPI). If you have a 96 dpi screen (Windows PC), 4 pixels are equal to 3 points.

It is very useful to create a temporary table. You can prepare data using INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE/INSERT SELECT, and then make a report using REPORT function.

You can write a program to make a PTR file using C, Perl or DOS shell, and then run PTReportGen to generate report. The two steps can be written into a batch file.

If you do not save a password in the PTR file, a login dialog box will appear when you run the PTR file in PTReportGen. You can input password interactively to log on to the data source.