Supplemental field controls are exposed by clicking the
icon at the left end of a row on the “Field Display Details” tab of the report wizard. The additional controls are presented directly below the selected row.
All rows will display the “Is Groupable,” “Sorting Options,” and “Column Formats” options. Additional options may be displayed depending on the specific format selected.
There are several Column Formats available. Their use depends on the type of data being reported. Usage is outlined in the following table.
| Format | Used with Data Type | Usage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decimal_2 | Numeric | Numeric values are displayed with two decimal places | |
| Currency | Numeric | Numeric values are displayed in a selected currency format. See Note 1 below. | |
| Date | Date or DateTime | Displays date values in a selected format. See Note 1 below. | |
| DateTime | DateTime | Displays date/time values in a selected format. See Note 1 below. | |
| Text | The data is treated as an email address and presents a “link” with the value. Clicking on the link opens the default email client on the user’s device and passes the text as the “To” address. | ||
| File | Text | The data is treated as a Windows file path to a specific file and presents an icon with an underlying link with the value. Clicking on the link causes the system to attempt to download the file to the user’s device. See Note 2 below. | |
| URL | Text | The data is treated as a URL and presents a link with the value. Click on the link opens the default browser on the user’s device and passes the URL to the browser. |
Note 1
An additional column named Culture is displayed when the Currency, Date, and DateTime options are selected. This column has a drop-down list of formatting options for the data type. This allows the presentation to be easily tailored to different locations. The current culture designation is for this value in this report. It cannot be set to change based on the user. So, a user in the United States and a user in Great Britain will see whatever format is selected even through their local cultures use different formats.
If you need to report date and time values in a specific format, it may be necessary to use the SQL Convert function in the SQL Select for the report and present the value as a text value. More information on the SQL CONVERT function, and available formats, can be found here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/functions/cast-and-convert-transact-sql.
Note 2
Any files that are to be accessed using the “File” option must be in a folder location that can be accessed by Versago and Windows IIS. What this means is that files will need to be in a network share (e.g. \\ShareName\Files) that can be accessed by Versago, not in a typical file path like “C:\Data\File.txt”.
Also, keep in mind that any user that has access to the report can download any file listed in the report. If certain files should be available to certain group(s) of users, different reports may be needed.
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) types identify the types of content that can be served to a browser or a mail client from a Web server. Since Versago is a browser-based application, any file types that may be downloaded must be defined to the web server.
The most common file types (PDF, XLXS, TXT, DOCX, etc.) are already defined in IIS (the Windows web server). The general process to add/maintain MIME types is described here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725608(v=ws.10).aspx.
One MIME type that is not defined by default is for Outlook email messages. These files have the extension .msg. Specific steps to add this MIME type are found here: http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/rhutton/archive/2013/10/25/unable-to-open-outlook-message-file-in-web-browser-msg/.
It is possible to calculate values at the time a report is executed and present them as a new column. This is done using the [Add Calculated] and [Update Calculated] buttons on the “Field Display Details” page.
See the Calculated Fields section for more information.