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Run Inquiries

When all of the filters have been defined, click on the Run button (on the Home menu in the Documents group) to run the report. The result set is shown in the panel in the bottom half of the screen. Alternatively, you can add the Run button to your Quick Access Toolbar and use this instead.

Tip: Hotkey for running an inquiry: The F5 function key is a shortcut for running an inquiry.

Titles

The report designer must first create a title on the report, which Viewer users can then edit. Once a title is displaying in an inquiry, you can access the Inquiry Title dialog by double-clicking on the title itself.

You can edit a title in your inquiry, and within that title you can use either static text or dynamic text. Static text is text that always stays the same, whereas dynamic text is based on filter selection and updates according to the filter selections. For example, if you select the dynamic selection of <Period> in the title, each time the Period filter data changes, the title will be dynamically updated to display that period. If you filter on the period of March, the title would display “March”; if you filter on the period of April, the title would update to show “April”. In the Inquiry Title dialog, any dynamic text is denoted with the < > characters.

To set static text in the Inquiry Text dialog, manually type in the text you wish to display in the title. To add dynamic text to your inquiry title using the dynamic selections:

  1. In the Inquiry Title dialog, put your cursor in the title section at the top of the dialog. You will see a preview of the title, as you are creating it, in the window at the bottom of the dialog.
  2. Some templates have a default title, such as Saved Report Name. (This is available via the Special Dynamic Selections drop-down menu.) You can leave this or change it, if desired.
  3. If you wish to use values from other filters in the title, choose the appropriate filter field in the drop-down menu.
  4. Click Add next to the designated item.
  5. If you wish to use a Special Dynamic Selection, such as RunDate, select the appropriate value in the drop-down menu. In some cases you will need to select how you want the data to display, so you will do this in the drop-down field to the right of that.

  6. Click Add.
  7. Check the box to Show Title if you wish to display it on the inquiry.
  8. Click OK to exit the dialog and return to the inquiry.

In the example below, we have added three lines of dynamic text. Below are the steps on how this was done.

  1. Select Saved Report Name from the Special drop-down in the Dynamic Selections of the dialog and select Add.
  2. Add the run date by selecting RunDate from the Special Dynamic Selections drop-down menu. Next to that, select Short Date.
  3. Click Add.
  4. Add the run time by selecting RunDate from the Special Dynamic Selections drop-down menu. Next to that, select Short Time.
  5. Click Add.
  6. To format any of the dynamic text, highlight the specific text and choose the formatting you wish for that text.
  7. Check the box to Show Title to display it on the inquiry.
  8. Select OK.

The below example on a Profit and Loss report shows the static text “Profit and Loss Report” on the first line, and on the second line the Business Unit filter is a dynamic selection. In this case, there are two business unit values in the Business Unit filter, so both display in the actual title:


Formatting an Inquiry Title

To format an inquiry title, follow the below steps.

  1. Double-click on the existing title to open the Inquiry Title dialog.
  2. Here you can set a font, font color and alignment of the title text. Note that different formatting can be used throughout the title.
  3. A preview is shown at the bottom of the dialog.
  4. Click OK to exit the dialog and return to your inquiry.

Below is an example of different formatting being used throughout a title:


Status Bar

Once you have run an inquiry, you can see detailed information about the results that were returned via the Status Bar. This is a customizable bar that displays at the bottom of the screen, showing specific details about the current inquiry: