How Do I Add New Reports to Prime 14?

James Spencer

How Do I Add New Reports to Prime 14?

There are multiple ways that you can run custom reports from Prime 14. The method you choose is dependent upon who will be running the report, the type of report, how often you need to run them, and how important they are. A custom report is one that you created or one that was added later to the system. When we speak about a report, it is an object in Access that can be a Form, Report or Query. These are all used to get information out of Prime.

No matter what method you use, to work correctly your report must follow a strict naming convention.

  1. Queries must begin with a ‘q’, e.g., QReport.
  2. Forms must begin with a ‘f’, e.g., FReport.
  3. Reports must begin with a ‘r’, e.g., RReport
  4. Report Creator reports must have a name that begins with an ‘rc_’ followed by the name of the table used, e.g. Clients, then the name of the report, e.g., rc_ClientsClosedOffice. Since the Report Creator makes  Access compatible reports, they can be run as normal reports or off the Report Creator screen.

Nine Ways to Run Reports

This is not as complicated as it might sound.  Reports can be run from:

  1. The Navigation Pane
  2. Manually, using  the Criteria (QBF) Screen
  3. The Report
    1. Preview Search
    2. Treeview
    3. Selector
  4. The Custom Report Page
  5. Your Frequent Reports
  6. Daily Worksheet Management suggested Reports
  7. Daily Worksheet PBI suggested Reports
  8. Daily Worksheet for everyone
  9. The Report Creator

The Navigation Pane

This requires no steps on your part. All that is necessary is that you open the Navigation pane on the left, type the name into the search box, and open the report. The limitation in doing this is that it only works with reports that prompt for criteria, e.g., ‘Enter beginning date open’. If the search box doesn’t show on the Navigation pane, right click on the pane and click the box that shows it.

Manually use the Criteria (QBF) Screen

If your new report runs using a criteria screen, its name can be typed into the Criteria Screen and run. If your custom report is called fAgeRace14 and uses the Client table, you could choose to run the FBasicCl1 report. When the Criteria (QBF) Screen opened, go into the lower right corner and erase FBasicCl1 next to Form Pick and type in fAgeRace14.

The Report Screens

If you set a report to run under one of these screens it will show up under all three.  There are two methods for doing this. One is to use a form and the other is to directly modify the table.

  1. Using a Form

If you choose the Report Selector from the top line menu, there is a group that says Search/Add Reports. Under this section is a button that says ‘Add your Query/Form/Report.’ Pushing the button brings up a form that allows you to add your report by filling out the blanks on the form, including the name of the object, your description and how the report is to run. The two major ways a report runs is either by ‘Prompt’ or by a Criteria Screen, ‘qbfClientsC’ (for Client reports). You can also use this screen to integrate a preview screen by including a jpg file of a screen capture you previously made.

You could also do the same steps by going to the report Preview Search screen, previewing a report, press the ‘Toggle Buttons’ button. Then go to the bottom of the screen and press the navigation arrow pointing at an *, which mean a new record. This screen also allows you to integrate a screen capture into your report.

  1. Directly Modifying the Table

Earlier versions of Prime distributed reports across five tables. Now they are stored in a single table, subReportList. Use the Navigation Pane to open that table up. Find a row that lists a report that runs under the table you need using the necessary method (Prompt, qbf screen). Copy this row and then click on the arrow pointing at the * in the lower left part of the screen. This brings up the bottom empty row. Paste your row into this and then change the name of the report and the description. It should now work. However, you might need to use one of the two forms mentioned above to modify the screen shot.

The Custom Report Page

This page is like the book page in the old versions of Prime that only had a book for a main menu. You can easily modify this page by opening it in design and adding buttons, option groups, etc. to run your report. This a good choice for special reports that might not run correctly from a prompt or a criteria screen. Explaining the details on how to do this is beyond the scope of this article, since there are so many ways and choices on how to do so.

Worksheet Suggested Reports

The next four methods (5, 6, 7, 8 above) share the same way of being added. This can be done by pressing a button or by modifying a table. In order for these to work, it is necessary that the report first be added to the Report Screens as mentioned above. This is necessary since frequent and suggested reports get the information about how to run the report from that table.

  1. Pushing a Button for Your Frequent Reports

If you added the report to the Report screens, it becomes easy to add it to your own personal frequent reports. Use the Preview Search or Treeview  methods of  looking at and running a report. Find your report in the list and select it. Then press the ‘Add to Frequent’ button. This will now show up on your list of frequent reports on the ‘Today Screen’.

  1. Modifying a Table

Open up the subFrequentReport table from the Navigation Pane. If you want to add a report, type in the information on the blank row at the bottom of the table (press the arrow pointing at the * to go there without scrolling). You enter the report name, the staff number and your description. The staff number you enter determines where the report shows up. If you choose:

Your Staff Number – It will show up on your list of Frequent Reports

9999 – It will show up on the list of suggested reports on the staff daily worksheet

8888 – It will show up on the list of suggested reports on the management daily worksheet

7777– It will show up on the list of suggested reports on the PBI daily worksheet

If you want it to show up on several of these, you have to add a separate row for each. The management, staff and PBI lists are sorted by their description. This means you can determine the order they show up in by how you describe them or by changing an existing description.  For example,

  1. My report on open cases
  2. Cases closed prompt

The order these appear in could be switched by changing the numbers that begin their description.

The Report Creator

This is the easiest of the group to add to a list. If you name the report with a rc_TableYourName format, it will automatically show up in the list of reports under the report creator. Preview this list to see the format followed for your particular table, e.g., rc_ClientsClosedByAdvocate.

Remember, the reports you create here can also be added to the Reports Screens mentioned above, since they are Access compatible reports.