Report Control Maintenance

Solomon developed all of the standard reports using Crystal Designer. In fact, every Solomon install included an OEM copy of single user Crystal Designer, and with this product you can customize any standard Solomon report. In addition, you can create completely new Crystal reports using this tool. Examples of simple customizations which we have helped our clients with include: simplifying reports by removing fields, enhancing reports by adding user defined fields to reports (note: these fields were typically populated by adding the user defined field to a data entry screen with the Solomon Customization Manager module.). Examples of completely new reports include: examining AP check numbers and seeing which accounts were originally charged on the vouchers being paid and changing the sort logic and/or grouping logic on the report.

Clearly the inclusion of Crystal is a great tool to make the out of the box Solomon system even a better fit for your company. All custom crystal reports are typically stored in the folder: Solomon Iv\usr_rpts folder (see diagram below). Reports in this folder can be named the same as the original Solomon report, because the processing sequence when a report is launched from within Solomon is to first look up the report number for the desired Crystal report, then to examine if that report number is located in the usr_rpts folder and if it is this version of the report is launched. If the requested report is not located in the usr_rpts folder, then the search for the desired report is continued typically in the module sub folder related to the report (i.e. ap folder, gl folder etc.).

When we are creating custom reports which are not reusing existing report numbers, these reports are always stored in the usr_rpts folder with a unique crystal name. Solomon provides up to eight reports to be launched from a typical report screen as shown below:

In the above screen, under the report tab, there is a combo box called report format, which when open displays names of reports which can be launched. Each line on this combo box typically launches a new crystal report. There can be up to 8 reports which can be launched. Prior to version 5.5 of Solomon, the modification of the combo reports which could be launched was done via back door updates (i.e. query analyzer tools and sql query update statements). One of the new features of version 5.5 was to allow users to more easily modify entries into the report format fields for a given report. In this article you will see how easy this change has become.

Navigate from the main menu as follows: Utility >> Report Control Maintenance

This screen below opens up.

At the field called report number, use the F3 field to display and select the report number within Solomon that you want to modify the report control parameters. (Note: the name report control is actually a table within the system database that stores much of the logic as to how a ROI screen (report options interpreter screen) will look and function).

Typically to add a newly created crystal report, you either modify an existing line or use one of the blank lines to describe the report name(report format name) and the associated report number (i.e. report format column). Save your changes (i.e. Cntl S) and exit this screen and go check out your results in the appropriate Solomon reporting screen.

As a side note, should you ever need to launch more than 8 reports, Solomon has the ability to easily modify the menus structure for the typical reports and allow another 8 reports to be launched from within Solomon.