Tabular Reports
Tabular Reports list all the fields from the data source horizontally across the page. Each record forms a new line on the report. Typically, these are used where there are a large number of records in a table. For example: you might want to print out a sales report, showing sales by month by various customer groups and products.
Sample Table
Here's a typical table that can be printed out in this format - it shows the sales made by a computer products company:
| MANUFACTUR | PARENT_CAT | CHILD_CAT | SALES |
| 3Com (Comms & Networking) | Network Interface Cards | Network Interface Cards - Wired | 1361.78 |
| 3Com (Comms & Networking) | Network Interface Cards | Network Interface Cards - Wireless (WiFi, Bluetooth & IrDA) | 377.15 |
| Abbyy Software Europe GmbH | Graphics and Media | Scanning & OCR | 361.89 |
| Abbyy Software Europe GmbH | Home and Reference | Foreign Language | 34.07 |
| Abit | Components & Memory | Motherboards (Mainboards) | 990 |
| Acclaim | Gaming/Entertainment Software | Sports | 30.96 |
| Acer | Cables | Terminators & Adaptors | 35.25 |
| Acer | Computers | Desktops & Workstations | 1232.56 |
Sample Report - no options
And here's what it looks like in OOoReport (click on the graphic to
download the report in .pdf format)
Sample Report - Summary Field specified
OOoReport has a number of options with Tabular reports. To suppress
repeating values, you can specify Summary Fields - here, we've
asked for all fields up PARENT_CAT to to be Summary Fields
(click on the graphic to download the report in .pdf format)
Sample Report - Subtotals specified
Next, you can also ask for any numeric fields to be subtotalled. Notice
how OOoReport produces subtotals every time PARENT_CAT or
MANUFACTUR changes. However, if a group only contains one
record, OOoReport suppresses the sub-total (click on the graphic to
download the report in .pdf format)
The subtotals are created as calculations in the Calc spreadsheet, so
if you edit the data, the totals will be updated automatically.
Sample Report - Summary Fields in-line
Finally, sometimes the Summary Field option gives a report with a lot
of empty space. In this case, a more compact report can be produced by
specifying that the Summary Fields should be printed in-line (click on
the graphic to download the report in .pdf format)
