How to Create a Report Interconnect

General Information

The Report Interconnect function can be used from Form Design Aid or Report Design Aid. The function is found in Event Rules in the Toolbar.  

When using Form Design Aid, if an interactive application needs to generate a report based on values generated within that application, simply use the Report Interconnect function to call and generate the report. This can be done in Synchronous or Asynchronous mode. (See explanation below) If it is a requirement to pass values to the report, it would be necessary to define a report data structure for the report.

The Report Interconnect function in Report Design Aid is used when  a second report is called  from a first report at runtime. This is useful when  a report based on calculations or results from another report is created. When using a report interconnect to automatically execute a report, the current event rules might continue processing or might wait for the completion of the report based on whether synchronous or asynchronous processing is selected.

Asynchronous Processing - The first process initiates and starts the second process and the first process continues to run. The two processes run separately.

Synchronous Processing -  The first process initiates and starts the second process and waits until the second process has completed before it continues running.

This document makes the following assumptions:

• There are two existing reports that work correctly on their own
• The first report will be the report that is doing the calling. The second report will be the report that is called from the first report. 

Defining a Data Structure 

If it is a requirement to pass values to a report from either an application or a calling report, it is necessary to define a Data Structure for the second (called) report to include any fields for which values will be passed. If no values need to be passed to the called report then no Data Structure is needed.

To create a Data Structure:

1. Choose Report Data Structure from the Report drop down menu.
2. Enter Data Dictionary fields into the Report Data Structure. These fields will be used to pass values from your application or report to the second report and they should correspond to the field types from your first report.

Defining a Report Interconnect within a Report - Steps on First Report (Calling Report) 

3. Enter the Event Rules for your Driver section of the First report. In a section level Event Rule such as "After Last Object Printed" set up the Report Interconnect to pass values from the first report to the second report. At this point, if needed, conditional statements can be created to set the condition for when the first report should call the second report.
4. Click on the Report Interconnect Icon from the toolbar and  a screen asking for the Batch Application name will show. Once  the template name is entered for the second report, the  version needs to be selected. The second report must have at least one version in order for the Report Interconnect to work.
5. Once  the template and version are selected  the values passed from the first report to the second report need to be mapped  as shown in the example below.