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Chapter: Managing Reports
Chapter Contents
Managing Reports
The Monitoring & Report Viewer component of ACS collects log and configuration data from various ACS servers in your deployment, aggregates it, and provides interactive reports that help you analyze the data. The Monitoring & Report Viewer provides you integrated monitoring, reporting, and troubleshooting capabilities to efficiently manage your network and troubleshoot network-related problems.
The Monitoring & Report Viewer offers you a powerful dashboard that you can use to monitor the health of all ACS servers in your deployment. The dashboard also provides information on network access patterns and trends in traffic that you can use to administer your network efficiently.
The Monitoring & Report Viewer provides you real-time data and vital statistics that help you proactively manage your network and prevent any attacks.
ACS comes with a set of predefined reports that you can run to obtain meaningful information from the log and configuration data obtained from ACS servers.
lists the reports that are available in ACS under various categories. These reports provide information related to authentication, session traffic, device administration, ACS server configuration and administration, and troubleshooting. You can view these reports as tables, graphs, or charts and drill down further for more granular data.
Further, ACS allows you to:
oFilter the data in your report based on your requirements
oExport the report in a CSV format and print it
oAdd the report to your list of favorites, from which you can access them frequently
oShare the report with other users
oCustomize reports using the Interactive Viewer
The Monitoring and Reports drawer appears in the primary web interface window and contains the Launch Monitoring & Report Viewer option.
Click Launch Monitoring & Report Viewer to open the Monitoring and Reports Viewer in a secondary web interface window, which contains the following drawers:
oMonitoring and Reports
oMonitoring Configuration. (See .)
You can run reports from any of the following pages:
oFavorites—Monitoring & Reports & Reports & Favorites
oShared—Monitoring & Reports & Reports & Shared
oCatalog—Monitoring & Reports & Reports & Catalog & &report_type&
For easy access, you can add reports to your Favorites page, from which you can customize and delete reports. You can customize the reports that must be shared within your group and add them to the Shared page. The Catalog pages provide a rich set of reports on log, diagnostic, and troubleshooting data retrieved from the ACS servers in your deployment.
The reports that reside in these pages can be:
oSystem reports—Preconfigured with the ACS you can view the list of system reports in the Reports & Catalog pages.
oCustomized reports—System reports that you have configured and saved (see ).
Note Performance of reports in Internet Explorer (IE) 7.0 is slow because of a phishing filter, which is a new feature in IE 7.0. To resolve this issue, you must get the latest security updates from Microsoft. For more information on this, go to .
In addition, ACS 5.2 introduces the Dynamic Change of Authorization (CoA) feature through a new report, the RADIUS Active Sessions report, which allows you to dynamically control active RADIUS sessions. With this feature, you can send a reauthenticate or disconnect request to a NAD to:
oTroubleshoot issues related to authentication—You can use the Disconnect:None option to follow up with an attempt to reauthenticate again.
You must not use the disconnect option to restrict access. To restrict access, use the shutdown option.
oBlock a problematic host—You can use the Disconnect:Port Disable option to block an infected host that sends a lot of traffic over the network.
The RADIUS protocol currently does not support a method for re-enabling a port that is shut down.
oForce endpoints to reacquire IP addresses—You can use the Disconnect:Port Bounce option for endpoints that do not have a supplicant or client to generate a DHCP request after VLAN change.
oPush an updated authorization policy to an endpoint—You can use the Re-Auth option to enforce an updated policy configuration, such as a change in the authorization policy on existing sessions based on the administrator's discretion.
For example, if posture validation is enabled, when an endpoint gains access initially, it is usually quarantined. After the endpoint's identity and posture are known, it is possible to send the CoA Re-Auth command to the endpoint for the endpoint to acquire the actual authorization policy based on its posture.
Legacy NAS devices do not support the CoA feature. Cisco plans to support CoA in all its devices as part of the NPF program.
Note For the CoA commands to be understood correctly by the device, it is important that you configure the options appropriately.
For the CoA feature to work properly, you must configure in ACS the shared secret of each and every device for which you want to dynamically change the authorization. ACS uses the shared secret configuration, both for requesting access from the device and for issuing CoA commands to it.
for more information.
This chapter describes in detail the following:
You can add reports that you most frequently use to your Favorites page so that you do not have to navigate each time to get to your favorite report. The Monitoring & Report Viewer allows you to:
oView the parameters that are set for each of your favorite reports
oEdit the parameters before you run the reports
For example, after you add a report to your list of favorites, the next time you want to view the same report with a different set of parameters, you need not create another report. Instead, you can simply edit the parameters in your favorite report to generate the report with different parameters.
This section contains the following topics:
You can create a list of favorites for reports that you access often, similarly to the way you bookmark your favorite websites in a browser.
To add a report to your Favorites page:
Step&1 Select Monitoring & Reports & Reports & Catalog & report_type &, where report_type is the type of report.
The available reports for the report type you selected are displayed.
Step&2 Click the radio button next to the report you want to add to your favorites. See
for valid field options.
Step&3 Click Add to Favorites.
The Add to Favorite page appears.
Step&4 Modify fields in the Add to Favorites page as required.
Step&5 Click Add to Favorite.
The report is added to your Favorites page.
Related Topics
Before you run your favorite report, you can view the parameters that are set and edit them. To view your favorite-report parameters:
Step&1 Choose Monitoring and Reports & Reports & Favorites.
The Favorites page appears with a list of your favorite reports.
Step&2 Check the check box next to the favorite report whose parameters you want to see, then click Parameters.
A window similar to the one shown in
appears, listing the parameters in your favorite report and their values.
Figure&13-1 Viewing Favorite-Report Parameters
Step&3 Click Cancel or the close button at the upper-right corner of the parameters window to return to the Favorites page.
After you view the existing parameters in your favorite report, you can edit them. To edit the parameters in your favorite reports:
Step&1 Choose Monitoring and Reports & Reports & Favorites.
The Favorites page appears with a list of your favorite reports.
Step&2 Check the check box next to the favorite report that you want to edit, then click Edit.
The Edit Favorite Report page appears.
Step&3 Edit the values for the various parameters in the Edit Favorite Report page.
Step&4 Click:
oEdit Favorite to save the changes that you have made.
oReset to reset the values.
oCancel to cancel the changes that you have made and return to the Favorites page.
When a favorite report is edited, the Monitoring & Report Viewer displays a status message in the Favorite page, stating that the favorite report has been edited successfully.
Related Topics
To run a report in your Favorites page:
Step&1 Select Monitoring & Reports & Reports & Favorites.
The Favorites page appears with the fields described in :
Table&13-1 Favorites Page&
Favorite Name
The name of the favorites report. Click to open a summary of an associated report.
Report Name
The report name associated with a Catalog (Report) type.
Report Type
The general grouping name associated with the report.
Step&2 Do one of the following:
oClick the check box next to the report name that you want to run and click Run.
oClick the name of the report that you want to run.
The report is generated in the page.
Step&3 Click Launch Interactive Viewer for more options.
Related Topics
Note When you delete a system report from the Favorites page, the system report remains in the appropriate Reports & Catalog page.
To delete a report from the Favorites page:
Step&1 Select Monitoring & Reports & Reports & Favorites.
Step&2 Check one or more check boxes next to the reports you want to delete, and click Delete.
Step&3 Click OK to confirm that you want to delete the selected report(s).
The Favorites page appears without the deleted reports.
You can add reports to the Shared folder to make them available for all users. To add reports to the Shared folder:
Step&1 Choose any report that you want to share.
For example, if you want to share the ACS Health Summary report, you would choose Monitoring and Reports & Reports & Catalog & ACS Instance.
The ACS Instance reports page appears.
Step&2 Run the report. See
for more information.
In this example, the ACS Health Summary report appears.
Step&3 Launch the report in the Interactive Viewer.
Step&4 Click the Save icon at the upper-left corner of the Interactive Viewer page.
The Save window appears.
Step&5 Choose the Shared folder from the Choose a Folder list box.
Step&6 Enter a filename of your choice.
Step&7 Click Save.
The report is saved in your Shared folder and is available for all users.
Catalog reports are system reports that are preconfigured in ACS. This section contains the following:
describes the reports available when you select Monitoring and Reports, launch Monitoring & Report Viewer, then select Monitoring and Reports & Reports & Catalog.
Table&13-2 Available ACS Reports &
AAA diagnostics
Provides AAA diagnostic details based on severity for a selected time period.
Policy diagnostics, identity stores diagnostics, authentication flow diagnostics, RADIUS diagnostics, TACACS+ diagnostics
Authentication Trend
Provides RADIUS and TACACS+ authentication summary information for a
along with a graphical representation.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
RADIUS Accounting
Provides user accounting information based on RADIUS for a selected time period.
RADIUS accounting
RADIUS Authentication
Provides RADIUS authentication details for a selected time period.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
TACACS Accounting
Provides user or command accounting information for TACACS+ authentications for a selected time period.
TACACS accounting
TACACS Authentication
Provides TACACS+ authentication details for a selected time period.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
TACACS Authorization
Provides TACACS+ authorization details for a selected time period.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
Access Service Authentication Summary
Provides RADIUS and TACACS+ authentication summary information for a particular access service for a
along with a graphical representation.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
Top N Authentications By Access Service
Provides the top N passed, failed, and total authentication count for RADIUS and TACACS+ authentications with respect to the access service for a selected time period.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
ACS Administrator Entitlement
Shows the role of the administrator in ACS and the:
oTasks in ACS that the administrator is entitled to access
oPrivileges that the administrator has for each of those operations
ACS Administrator Logins
Provides access-related events for administrators that includes login, logout, events, and reasons for failed login attempts.
Administrative and operational audit
ACS Configuration Audit
Provides all the configuration changes done in ACS by the administrator for a selected time period.
Administrative and operational audit
ACS Health Summary
Provides the CPU, memory utilization, RADIUS and TACACS+ latency and throughput (in tabular and graphical formats).
It also gives process status, process downtime, and disk space utilization for a particular ACS instance in a selected time period.
System statistics
ACS Instance Authentication Summary
Provides RADIUS and TACACS+ authentication summary information for a particular ACS instance for a
along with a graphical representation.
This report could take several minutes to run depending on the number of records in the database.
When you reload this report, if rate of incoming syslog messages is around 150 messages per second or more, the total number of passed and failed authentications that appear above the graph and the passed and failed authentication count that is displayed in the table do not match.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
ACS Log Information
Provides ACS log information for a particular log category and ACS server for a selected time period.
All log categories
ACS Operations Audit
Provides all the operational changes done in ACS by the administrator for a selected time period.
Administrative and operational audit
ACS System Diagnostics
Provides system diagnostic details based on severity for a selected time period.
Internal Operations Diagnostics, distributed management, administrator authentication and authorization
Top N Authentication by ACS Instance
Provides the top N passed, failed, and total authentication count for RADIUS and TACACS+ protocol with respect to a particular ACS instance for a selected time period.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
User Change Password Audit
Provides the username of the internal user, identity store name, name of the ACS instance, and time when the user password was changed.
Helps to keep track of all changes made to internal user passwords across all ACS interfaces.
Administrative and operational audit
Endpoint MAC Authentication Summary
Provides the RADIUS authentication summary information for a particular MAC or MAB for a
along with a graphical representation.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
Top N Authentications By Endpoint MAC Address
Provides the top N passed, failed, and total authentication count for RADIUS protocol with respect to MAC or MAB address for a selected time period.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
Top N Authentications By Machine
Provides the top N passed, failed, and total authentication count for RADIUS protocol with respect to machine information for a selected time period.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
Authentication Failure Code Lookup
Provides the description and the appropriate resolution steps for a particular failure reason.
Failure Reason Authentication Summary
Provides the RADIUS and TACACS+ authentication summary information for a parti along with a graphical representation for a selected time period.
Failed attempts
Top N Authentications By Failure Reason
Provides the top N failed authentication count for RADIUS and TACACS+ protocols with respect to Failure Reason for a selected time period.
Failed attempts
AAA Down Summary
Provides the number of AAA unreachable events that a NAD logs within a selected time period.
Network Device Authentication Summary
Provides the RADIUS and TACACS+ authentication summary information for a particular network device for a selected time period, along with the graphical representation.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
Network Device Log Messages
Provides you the log information of a particular network device, for a specified time period.
Session Status Summary
Provides the port sessions and status of a particular network device obtained by SNMP.
Top N AAA Down By Network Device
Provides the number of AAA down events encountered by each of the network devices.
Top N Authentications by Network Device
Provides the top N passed, failed, and total authentication count for RADIUS and TACACS+ protocols with respect to network device for a selected time period.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
RBACL Drop Summary
Provides a summary of RBACL drop events for a selected time period.
SGT Assignment Summary
Provides a summary of SGT assignments for a selected time period.
Passed authentications
Top N RBACL Drops By Destination
Provides the top N RBACL drop event count with respect to destination for a selected time period.
Top N RBACL Drops By User
Provides the top N RBACL drop event count with respect to the user for a selected time period.
Top N SGT Assignments
Provides the top N SGT assignment count for a selected time period.
Passed authentications
RADIUS Active Sessions
Provides information on RADIUS authenticated, authorized, and started sessions.
ACS 5.2 introduces the Change of Authorization (CoA) feature through the RADIUS Active Sessions report, which allows you to dynamically control active RADIUS sessions.
With this feature, you can send a reauthenticate or disconnect request to a NAD to:
oReauthenticate the user
oTerminate the session
oTerminate the session and restart the port
oTerminate the session and shut down the port
Passed authentications, RADIUS accounting
RADIUS Session History
Provides a summary of RADIUS session history, such as total authenticated, active, and terminated sessions and total and average session duration and throughput for a selected time period.
Passed authentications, RADIUS accounting
RADIUS Terminated Sessions
Provides all the RADIUS terminated session information for a selected time period.
Passed authentications, RADIUS accounting
TACACS Active Sessions
Provides information on TACACS+ active sessions.
TACACS accounting
TACACS Session History
Provides TACACS+ session history summary, such as total active and terminated sessions and total and average session duration and throughput for a selected time period.
TACACS accounting
TACACS Terminated Sessions
Provides TACACS terminated session details for a selected time period.
TACACS accounting
Top N Authentications By User
Provides top N passed, failed, and total authentication count for RADIUS and TACACS+ protocol with respect to users for a selected time period.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
User Authentication Summary
Provides RADIUS and TACACS+ authentication summary information for a particular user for a
along with the graphical representation.
Passed authentications, failed attempts
To run a report that is in the Catalog:
Step&1 Select Monitoring & Reports & Reports & Catalog & report_type, where report_type is the type of report you want to run.
The available reports for the report type you selected are displayed with the information shown in .
Table&13-3 &report_type& Page&
Report Name
The available reports based on the report type you selected.
The type of report.
Modified At
The time that the associated report was last modified by an administrator, in the format Ddd Mmm dd hh:mm:ss timezone yyyy, where:
oDdd = Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat.
oMmm = Jan, Feb, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.
odd = A two-digit numeric representation of the day of the month, from 01 to 31.
ohh = A two-digit numeric representation of the hour of the day, from 00 to 23.
omm = A two-digit numeric representation of the minute of the hour, from 00 to 59.
oss = A two-digit numeric representation of the second of the minute, from 00 to 59.
otimezone = The time zone.
oyyyy = A four-digit representation of the year.
Step&2 Click the radio button next to the report name you want to run, then select one of the options under Run:
oRun for Today—The report you specified is run and the generated results are displayed.
oRun for Yesterday—The report you specified is run using the previous day's values and the generated results are displayed.
oQuery and Run—The Run Report screen appears where you can enter parameters to use when generating the report.
Step&3 Click Reset Reports to revert to the default report parameters. A message appears asking you to confirm whether to reset the system report files in the catalog to the factory default.
Step&4 Click Launch Interactive Viewer for more options.
Related Topics
To delete a report from the Reports & Catalog pages:
Step&1 Select Monitoring & Reports & Reports & Catalog & report_type, where report_type is the type of report that you want to delete.
Note You cannot delete system reports from the Reports & Catalog you can delete customized reports only.
Step&2 Check one or more check boxes next to the reports you want to delete, and click Delete.
Step&3 Click OK to confirm that you want to delete the selected report(s).
The Catalog listing page appears without the deleted report.
Use this page to run reports on specific named reports.
Select Monitoring & Reports & Reports & Catalog & report_type &report_name, where report_type is the type of report (see ), and report_name is the name of the report that you want to access or run.
describes the available types and names on which you can run reports.
Table&13-4 Reports & Report Types and Names&
AAA Protocol
AAA Diagnostics
Authentication Trend
RADIUS Accounting
RADIUS Authentication
TACACS Accounting
TACACS Authentication
TACACS Authorization
Access Service
Access Service Authentication Summary
Top N Authentications By Access Service
ACS Instance
ACS Administrator Entitlement
ACS Administrator Logins
ACS Configuration Audit
ACS Health Summary
ACS Instance Authentication Summary
ACS Log Information
ACS Operations Audit
ACS System Diagnostics
Top N Authentications By ACS Instance
User Change Password Audit
Endpoint MAC Authentication Summary
Top N Authentications By Endpoint MAC Address
Top N Authentications By Machine
Failure Reason
Authentication Failure Code Lookup
Failure Reason Authentication Summary
Top N Authentications By Failure Reason
Network Device
AAA Down Summary
Network Device Authentication Summary
Network Device Log Messages
Session Status Summary
Top N AAA Down By Network Device
Top N Authentications By Network Device
RBACL Drop Summary
SGT Assignment Summary
Top N RBACL Drops By Destination
Top N RBACL Drops By User
Top N SGT Assignments
Session Directory
RADIUS Active Sessions
RADIUS Session History
RADIUS Terminated Sessions
TACACS Active Sessions
TACACS Session History
TACACS Terminated Sessions
Top N Authentications By User
User Authentication Summary
Related Topics
Note Not all options listed in
are used in selecting data for all reports.
Table&13-5 &report_name& Page&
Enter a username or click Select to enter a valid username on which to configure your threshold.
MAC Address
Enter a MAC address or click Select to enter a valid MAC address on which to run your report.
Identity Group
Enter an identity group name or click Select to enter a valid identity group name on which to run your report.
Device Name
Enter a device name or click Select to enter a valid device name on which to run your report.
Enter a device IP address or click Select to enter a valid device IP address on which to run your report.
Device Group
Enter a device group name or click Select to enter a valid device group name on which to run your report.
Access Service
Enter an access service name or click Select to enter a valid access service name on which to run your report
Identity Store
Enter an identity store name or click Select to enter a valid identity store name on which to run your report.
ACS Instance
Enter an ACS instance name or click Select to enter a valid ACS instance name on which to run your report.
Failure Reason
Enter a failure reason name or click Select to enter a valid failure reason name on which to run your report.
Use the drop down list box to select which protocol on which you want to run your report. Valid options are:
Authentication Status
Use the drop down list box to select which authentication status on which you want to run your report. Valid options are:
oPass Or Fail
Radius Audit Session ID
Enter the RADIUS audit session identification name on which you want to run a report.
ACS Session ID
Enter the ACS session identification name on which you want to run a report.
Use the drop down list box to select the severity level on which you want to run a report. This setting captures the indicated severity level and those that are higher within the threshold. Valid options are:
End Point IP Address
Enter the end point IP address on which you want to run a report.
Command Accounting Only
Check the check box to enable your report to run for command accounting.
Use the drop down list box to select the number of top (most frequent) authentications by access service on which you want to run your report. Valid options are:
Use the drop down list box to select the type of authentications on which you want to run your report. Valid options are:
oPassed Authentications
oFailed Authentications
oTotal Authentications
Administrator Name
Enter the administrator username, or click Select to select the administrator username, for which you want to run your report.
Object Type
Enter a valid object type on which you want to run your report.
Object Name
Enter the name, or click Select to select the object name, of the object on which you want to run your report.
Authorization Status
Use the drop down list box to select which authentication status on which you want to run your report. Valid options are:
oPass Or Fail
Time Range
Use the drop down list box to select the time range on which you want to run your report. Valid options are:
oLast Hour (for the ACS Health Summary report only)
oYesterday
oLast 7 Days
oLast 30 Days
oCustom—You must configure a Start Date and End Date, or a Day.
Note Some options are not valid for some Time Range entries of the various reports.
Start Date
Enter a date, or click the date selector icon to enter the start date for which you want run your report.
Enter a date, or click the date selector icon to enter the end date for which you want run your report.
Enter a date, or click the date selector icon to enter the end date for which you want run your report.
Click to delete the contents of an associate text box.
Click to run the report for which you have made selections.
Related Topics
To view all the RADIUS Active Session reports you have to enable RADIUS CoA options on the device.
To configure the RADIUS CoA options:
Step&1 Configure MAB, 802.1X and Web Authentication on the NAD against ACS RADIUS Server.
Step&2 Configure CoA on the NAD as follows, which is connected to the supplicant.
aa server radius dynamic-author
client {&ip_addr& - &name&} [vrf &vrfname&] [server-key&string&]
server-key [0 - 7] &string&
port &port-num&
auth-type {any - all - session-key}
ignore session-key
ignore server-key
Step&3 Configure the authentication order (Flex-Auth).
Note Some of the NADs in your deployment do not send an Accounting Stop or Accounting Off packet after a reload. As a result of this, you might find two sessions in the Session Directory reports, one of which has expired. Hence, when you want to dynamically change the authorization of an active RADIUS session or disconnect an active RADIUS session, ensure that you always choose the most recent session.
To change authorization or disconnect an active RADIUS session:
Step&1 Run the RADIUS Active Sessions report under Session Directory.
for information on how to run a RADIUS Active Sessions report.
A report similar to the one shown in
Figure&13-2 RADIUS Active Session Report
Step&2 Click the CoA link from the RADIUS session that you want to reauthenticate or terminate.
The Change of Authorization Request page appears.
Step&3 Select a CoA option from the CoA option drop-down list box shown in .
Valid options are:
oDisconnect:None—Do not terminate the session.
oDisconnect:Port Bounce—Terminate the session and restart the port.
oDisconnect:Port Disable—Terminate the session and shut down the port.
oRe-Auth—Reauthenticate the user.
Figure&13-3 CoA Options
Step&4 Click Run to reauthenticate or disconnect the RADIUS session.
If your change of authorization fails, it might be because of any of the following reasons:
oDevice does not support CoA
oChanges to the identity or authorization policy
oShared secret mismatch
Step&5 See the
to troubleshoot a failed change of authorization attempt.
A failed dynamic CoA will be listed under failed RADIUS authentications.
To customize a system report:
Step&1 Select Monitoring & Reports & Reports & Catalog & report_type & report_name, where report_type is the type of report, and report_name is the name of the report that you want to customize.
The Reports page appears.
Step&2 Click the radio button next to the name of the report you want to customize, or click the name of the report you want to customize.
Step&3 Click Run.
The Run Report page appears.
Step&4 Modify fields in the Run Reports page as required.
Step&5 Click Run.
The report appears.
Step&6 Click Launch Interactive Viewer.
Step&7 Modify the report contents as required and click Save As to save the customized report with the same, or a different, report name in any Catalog & Reports page.
Note If you save the customized report with the same name as the original system report (overwriting the original system report), you cannot delete it. To restore a customized report to the default, preconfigured system report settings, see .
The customized report is saved to your specified location.
Use the procedure described in this topic, to restore a system report that you have customized back to its original preconfigured system report settings.
This procedure resets all reports that reside in a report catalog type. For example, if you want to reset a specific customized report that resides in the Monitoring & Reports & Reports & Catalog & Endpoint page, this procedure completes that task but also resets all other reports within the Endpoint page.
Step&1 Select Monitoring & Reports & Reports & Catalog & report_type, where report_type is the type of report in which the customized report that you want to reset to the original system report settings resides.
Step&2 Click Reset Reports.
Step&3 Click Yes to confirm that you want to reset the System Report files to the factory default.
The page is refreshed, and the reports in Catalog & report_type are reset to the factory default.
This section describes how to view the reports and perform various tasks in Standard or Interactive Viewer. In Standard Viewer or Interactive Viewer, you can navigate to the report, print the data, and export the data to another format. Interactive Viewer also provides the ability to modify the content, organization, and formatting of the report.
This section contains the following topics:
From Standard Viewer, you can open a table of contents, navigate the report, export data to spreadsheet format, and print the report.
You can click Launch Interactive Viewer to close Standard Viewer and view the report in Interactive Viewer. See .
Interactive Viewer provides all the features of Standard Viewer and also supports modifying many aspects of the report's layout and formatting. The Interactive Viewer toolbar is much more extensive than that in Standard Viewer. See .
Interactive Viewer provides context menus that support many of the formatting, sorting, and grouping tasks you perform on data.
shows the context menu for columns. Using this menu, you can add or delete a column, sort data, add or delete a group, and work with fonts and text alignment.
You also can sort and filter data, and create calculations and aggregate rows. To access this context menu, select a column, then right-click the column.
Figure&13-4 Context Menu for Column Data in Interactive Viewer
shows the context menu you use to modify labels in Interactive Viewer. To display this menu, select and right-click a label. Use this menu to edit the label text or change the text alignment or font properties of the label.
Figure&13-5 Context Menu for Labels in Interactive Viewer
If the report contains a chart, you can use the context menu for charts, shown in , to modify the chart's formatting, subtype, and other properties.
Figure&13-6 Context Menu for Charts in Interactive Viewer
In each context menu, selecting an entry with a right arrow provides access to related context menu choices. For example, right-clicking a column and choosing Alignment enables you to choose Left, Center, or Right to specify the desired type of alignment.
When you open a report in the viewer, you see the first page of data. To view or work with data, you use tools that help you navigate the report.
In the viewer, you can page through a report by using the paging tool shown in . Using this tool, you can click an arrow to view the first or last page in the report, or move forward or back through the report page by page.
Figure&13-7 Paging Tool
The viewer also supports going to a specific page by typing a page number in Go to page, as shown in , and clicking the arrow beside the field.
Figure&13-8 Going to a Specific Page
In the viewer, you can open a table of contents to view the report structure and navigate the report. To open the table of contents, choose the table of contents button in the toolbar.
shows a report in Standard Viewer with the table of contents open.
Figure&13-9 Using the Table of Contents to Navigate
Each entry in the table of contents is a link to a page in the report. If an entry has a plus sign (+) beside it, you can expand the entry by clicking the plus sign.
shows an expanded entry.
Figure&13-10 Table of Contents Expanded Entry
To navigate to a specific page, click the related link.
The viewer supports the ability to export report data to an Excel spreadsheet as a comma-separated values (.csv) file, pipe-separated values (.psv) file, or a tab-separated values (.tsv) file. You can select an option to export the column's data type.
The spreadsheet data is formatted like the data in the information object or the template. If you edited column headers or formatted numeric data in the report design, for example, the spreadsheet does not reflect your edits.
shows a sample CSV output file.
Figure&13-11 Report Data Exported to Microsoft Excel
In Excel, you can resize columns and format the data as you would do for any other spreadsheet.
Step&1 In the viewer, select Export Data.
The Export Data dialog box appears, as shown in .
Figure&13-12 The Export Data Dialog Box
Available Result Sets lists the tables in the report.
Available Columns lists the columns you can export from the specified table. You can export any of the data the report uses, including the data in aggregate rows and calculated columns. If the report uses more than one data source, you can export data from each data source separately.
Step&2 In Available Columns, select a column to export and choose the single right arrow.
To select all the columns, choose the double right arrow and click OK.
The File Download dialog box appears displaying the default name assigned to the file and the.csv file extension. You can change the name of the file in Step 4.
Step&3 Click Save.
Step&4 In the Save As dialog box:
oIn Save in, navigate to the folder in which you want to save this file.
oIn File name, change the name of the file.
Step&5 Click Save.
The CSV file appears in the new location.
When you open the file, you see the data as an editable Microsoft Excel worksheet. You might need to expand columns to view all the data.
You can print a report that appears in the viewer in HTML or PDF format. Because you can modify the report in Interactive Viewer, Interactive Viewer supports printing either the original report or the report as you modify it.
Step&1 In the viewer, select Print Report.
The Print dialog box appears.
Step&2 In Format field, select HTML or PDF.
Step&3 In the Page Range field, select the pages you want to print.
Step&4 Click OK.
Step&5 Depending on your format selection in Step 2, you have the following options:
oIf you selected HTML format, a print dialog box appears in which you can specify printer options.
oIf you selected PDF format, the report appears in a PDF viewer plug-in in your web browser. You can review the report then choose Print to specify printer options.
You can save a report design from Interactive Viewer when you are working in the design environment or in Interactive Viewer.
Step&1 Click Save. The Save dialog box appears. An example is shown in.
Figure&13-13 Save Dialog Box
Step&2 Navigate to the location where you want to save the file. Then, type a file name and click Save.
Step&3 Click OK on the confirmation message that appears.
You can use the Interactive Viewer to format reports.
This section contains the following topics:
Labels are fields that can contain static text, such as the report title and items of the footer. In a typical report, some labels are editable and others are not editable.
For example, a template might provide a label to display a confidentiality statement and a label to display the report author's name in the report footer. The confidentiality statement is not editable but the author can insert his or her name in the footer.
If a label such as a column header is editable, you can modify properties such as the font, the font size, the background color, and so on. You also can edit the text of the label.
The text of a column header comes from the data source. If the data source displays column headers in capital letters with no spaces between words, the report design displays column header names in the same way. You can change the content of the column header by using a context menu.
The formatting of the column header comes from the report template or from the theme. If the formatting comes from a report template, you cannot change the formatting. If the formatting comes from a theme, you can change the formatting by changing the theme.
Step&1 In Interactive Viewer, select and right-click a label.
The context menu appears, as shown in .
Figure&13-14 Interactive Viewer Context Menu
Step&2 Select Change Text.
The Edit Text dialog box appears.
Step&3 Modify the text as desired and click Apply.
To modify the formatting of a label:
Step&1 Click on the label and then select Style & Font.
The Font dialog box appears.
Step&2 Select the formats you desire, then click Apply.
There are several ways to modify how the report data is formatted. You can:
oResize a column.
oChange the alignment of data in a column.
oHide, show, delete, or reorder columns.
oSpecify that repeat values do not appear consecutively in a column.
oFilter the data values.
oSort the data values.
oModify the font, color, style, and other properties of the text.
oSpecify that the column displays uppercase or lowercase.
oModify the default formatting of the data value in an aggregate row.
oFormat the data type. For example, if the column displays numbers, you can format the data as currency, percentages, or scientific numbers.
In the Interactive Viewer, you can change the width of the column and the alignment of the data in the column.To change a column's width:
Step&1 Select and right-click the column.
Step&2 Select Column & Column Width from the context menu.
The Column Properties form appears.
Step&3 In Column Properties form, type the new column width, then click Apply.
To change the alignment of data in a column, right-click the column and select Alignment from the context menu. Then, choose one of the alignment options: Left, Center, or Right.
The default formatting for column data comes from the data source. Typically, you modify the formatting of column data to enhance the appearance of the report. When you format column data, you create the same format for the entire column, except for the column header and aggregate rows. You cannot modify the data itself.
Step&1 Select and right-click a column.
The context menu appears.
Step&2 Select Style & Font.
Step&3 In the Font form, modify any of the style properties you want to change.
You can see your changes as you make them in the Preview field.
Step&4 Indicate whether to apply the new text style to all columns in the report or to the selected column.
The default setting is to apply the new style to the column you selected.
Step&5 Click Apply.
An aggregate row displays a total, average, or other summary data for a column. You learn how to create an aggregate row in a later chapter.
shows an aggregate row at the end of a report. Typically, the default formatting of the aggregate row comes from the template or the theme.
You can modify the formatting of the aggregate data value and the formatting of the label that precedes the data value. You cannot modify the text of the label or the data value.
Figure&13-15 Formatting Data in an Aggregate Row
Step&1 Select an aggregate data value, then click Font. The Font dialog box appears.
Step&2 Modify the settings as desired, then click Apply.
In an information object, as in the relational databases on which information objects are based, all the data in a column is of the same data type, excluding the column header. The column can display numeric data, date-and-time data, or string data.
Each data type has a range of unique formats. Numeric data, for example, can appear as currency, percentages, or numbers with decimal values. Similarly, dates can be long dates, which include the full name of the month, or short dates, in which the month is represented by a number.
shows the data type formats you can use. Most of the examples in the table reflect the U.S. English locale. If you work in a different locale, you can use the Custom format option to format data for your locale
Table&13-6 Data Types and Formats&
Date and Time
Unformatted
The data retains the default format set by the template or theme.
General Date
June 5, :00 AM GMT +00:00
June 5, 2006
Medium Date
Jun 5, 2006
Short Date
12:00:00 AM GMT +00:00
Medium Time
12:00:00 AM
Short Time
The format depends on a format code you type. For example, typing yyyy/mm results in 2006/10. You learn more about custom formatting later in this chapter.
Unformatted
The number retains the default format set by the template or theme.
General Number
6066.88 or 6067, depending on the decimal and thousands separator settings
$6,067.45 or &6067, depending on the locale and optional settings
6067 or 6,067 or 6067.45, depending on optional settings
45% or 45.8%, depending on optional settings
Scientific
2E04 or 2.67E04, where the number after the E represents the exponent of 10, depending on optional settings. For example, 2.67E04 means 2.67 multiplied by 10 raised to the fourth power.
The format depends on a format code you type. For example, typing #,### results in a format with a comma as a thousands separator and no decimal points. You learn more about custom formats later in this chapter.
Unformatted
The string retains the default format set by the template or theme.
The string displays in all uppercase, for example GREAT NEWS.
The string displays in all lowercase, for example great news.
The format depends on the format code you type. Use custom formatting for postal codes, telephone numbers, and other data that does not match standard formats.
Numeric data can take several forms. A column of postal codes requires different formatting from a column of sales figures.
shows the numeric formats you can use.
Figure&13-16 Formats for Numeric Data
The data type of a column is determined by the data source. Keep in mind that a text or string data type can contain numeric digits. A telephone number, for example, is frequently string data in the data source. The title of the formatting dialog box tells you what data type the column contains.
Step&1 Select a column that contains numeric data, then select Format.
The Number column format dialog box appears.
Step&2 In the Format Number as field, select General Number, Currency, Fixed, Percent, or Scientific.
The bottom section of Number column format displays fields that support that type of formatting.
Step&3 In Symbol field, select a currency symbol.
Step&4 In Symbol Position:
oSelect Before to place the currency or percentage symbol before the number.
oSelect After to place the symbol after the number.
Step&5 In Decimal Places, select the number of places after the decimal marker to display
Step&6 Select Use 1000s Separator if you want to use a thousands separator such as a comma (,) or a period (.).
Your locale settings determine the separator character.
Step&7 In Negative Numbers, select an option for displaying negative numbers, by using either a minus sign before the number or parentheses around the number.
Step&8 Click Apply.
Step&1 Select a column that contains numeric data, then click Format.
The Number column dialog box appears.
Step&2 In Format Number as field, select Fixed, Scientific, or Percent.
Step&3 In Decimal Places field, select the number of decimal places to display.
Step&4 Select Use 1000s Separator if you want to use a thousands separator such as a space, a comma (,), or a period (.).
Step&5 In Negative Numbers, select an option for displaying negative numbers: use a minus sign before the number, or use parentheses around the number.
Step&6 Click Apply.
To define a custom format, you use special symbols to construct a format pattern. A format pattern shows where to place currency symbols, thousands separators, decimal points or commas.
shows examples of custom format patterns and their effects on numeric data
Table&13-7 Results of Custom Number Format Patterns&
0012.500124.501240.55
100100.25100.2567
100.000100.250100.257
2000.0020000.00
$2,000$20,000
Step&1 Select a numeric data column, then click Format.
The Number column format appears.
Step&2 In the Format Number as field, select Custom from the drop-down list.
A second field, Format Code, appears.
Step&3 In Format Code field, type a format pattern similar to those shown in .
Step&4 Click Apply.
Step&1 To define the format for a column that contains string data, select the column, then click Format.
The String column format appears.
Step&2 Select an option from the drop-down list. See
for the standard string data type options.
Step&3 Click Apply.
You can format string data to include special formatting, such as a space or a punctuation mark at a specific place in the string. For example, you can display telephone numbers in one of the following formats.
(415) 555-2121 ext. 2296
415.555.2121
415-555-2121
You can create custom formats for string data.
describes the symbols you can use to define custom string formats
Table&13-8 Symbols for Defining Custom String Formats&
Character placeholder. Each @ character displays a character in the string. If the string has fewer characters than the number of @ symbols that appear in the format pattern, spaces appear. Placeholders are filled from right to left, unless you specify an exclamation point (!) at the beginning of the format pattern. See
for examples.
Same as @, except that if the string has fewer characters, spaces do not appear. See
for examples.
Specifies that placeholders are to be filled from left to right. See
for examples.
Converts string characters to uppercase.
Converts string characters to lowercase.
shows examples of custom string format patterns and their effects on text data.
Table&13-9 Results of Custom String Format Patterns&
(@@@) @@@-@@@@
(617) 555-1007(&&&) 555-1007
(&&&) &&&-&&&&
(617) 555-1007() 555-1007
!(@@@) @@@-@@@@
(617) 555-1007(555) 100-7
!(&&&) &&&-&&&&
(617) 555-1007(555) 100-7
!(@@@) @@@-@@@@ + ext 9
(555) 100-7&&&&+ ext 9
!(&&&) &&&-&&&& + ext 9
(555) 100-7 + ext 9
&&&&-&&&&&-&&
D1234567xy
D12-34567-XY
&&&&-&&&&&-&&
D1234567xy
d12-34567-xy
Step&1 Select a string data column, then click Format.
The String column format window appears.
Step&2 In Format String as field, select Custom.
A second field, Format Code, appears.
Step&3 In the Format Code field, enter a format pattern such as those shown in .
Step&4 Click Apply.
The appearance of date and time data depends on the locale in which you are working. For example, the following date and time are correct for the U.S. English locale for Pacific Standard Time zone:
March 5, :00 AM PST
The following example shows the same date and time for a French (France) locale:
5 mars :00 HNP (&EUA)
In a date-and-time column, a data source can provide both a date and a time, or only the date, or only the time. If the data source provides both date and time data, you can format the column to display only a date, only a time, or both a date and a time. You also can select the exact format for the date or time. For example, if the data column displays the following value:
selecting the Short Date format for the column displays only the date portion of the data, in the following format:
shows the standard date-and-time data type formats.
Step&1 Select a column that contains date or time data, then click Format.
The Date and Time Format window appears.
Step&2 In Format Date or Time As field, select the desired option.
Step&3 Click Apply.
You can set custom date formats. Use custom date formatting, however, only if your report will be viewed in a single locale. Custom formats always display dates in the format you set and that format might not be clear in multiple locales.
For example, if you use the format MM-dd-yy, the date January 10, 2006 always appears as 01-10-06, regardless of the locale in which the report is viewed. For locales in which dates are displayed in date-month-year format, a 01-10-06 date is interpreted as October 1, 2006.
shows examples of custom formats and their effects on a date that is stored as 4/15/2006 in the data source.
Table&13-10 Results of Custom Date Formats&
E, M/d/yyyy
Fri, 4/15/2006
3 (the week in the month)
14 (the week in the year)
105 (the day in the year)
To create a custom date or time format,
Step&1 Select a date-and-time column, then click Format.
The Date or Time column format window appears.
Step&2 In Format Date or Time As field, select Custom.
A second field, Format Code, appears.
Step&3 In the Format Code field, type a format pattern such as those shown in .
Step&4 Click Apply.
A Boolean expression evaluates to True or False. For example, you create a calculated column with the following expression:
ActualShipDate &= TargetShipDate
If the actual ship date is before or on the target ship date, the expression evaluates to True. If the actual ship date is after the target ship date, the expression evaluates to False.
If you do not format a column of Boolean data type, the column displays the values True and False. To specify different labels, select the column and choose Format Data. Then type the labels in Boolean Column Format, as shown in .
Figure&13-17 Specifying Display Values for True and False
Conditional formatting changes the formatting of data when a certain condition is true. For example, in a report that shows customers' past-due invoices, you can highlight in red any customer name that has an invoice 90 days or more past due. Then, you can highlight in blue any customer name that has an invoice 60 days or more past due.
To set conditional formats, open the Conditional Formatting dialog box by right-clicking a column and selecting Style & Conditional Formatting. You can set up to three conditional formatting rules for a single column. You also can remove or modify conditional formatting.
On Conditional Formatting, you create a rule, or condition, for displaying the data in the column you selected. The rule includes both the condition that must be true and the formatting to apply.
shows Conditional Formatting.
Figure&13-18 Conditional Formatting in Interactive Viewer
You can affect the formatting of one column based on the value in another column. For example, if you select the CustomerName column, you can base the condition on the creditRank column so that conditional formatting applies to the customer name if the customer's creditRank is a particular value.
You set various types of comparisons, such as whether the data in the comparison column is null or False. You can also compare the column value to one or two other values. For example, you can specify that data that is less than or equal to a value triggers the conditional formatting.
You also can check whether a value is between or not between two values. For example, you can specify conditional formatting to apply if the order total is between $10,000 and $100,000. With this setting, the names of all customers whose orders total between $10,000 and $100,000 take the conditional formatting.
After you create the condition, you set the format in which to display data that meets the condition. The format applies to the column in Select Column, not to the column you use to set the condition.
You can set conditional formatting or modify conditional formatting for a column.
Step&1 Right-click on the column that you want to display the conditional formatting.
The context menu appears.
Step&2 Select Style & Conditional Formatting.
The Conditional Formatting dialog box appears. The Selected Column field displays the name of the column that will display the conditional format.
Step&3 Set the conditional formatting rule:
a. In the first drop-down list, select the column that contains the values that determine whether the conditional format takes effect. For example, if the condition is that customer names should appear in blue if customer numbers are between 1000 and 1999, select CustomerNumber.
The column you select in this field can be the same as or different from the column in Selected Column.
b. In the next field, use the drop-down list to select the operator to apply to the column you selected. You can select Equal to, Less than, Less than or Equal to, and so on.
Depending on your selection, zero, one, or two fields appear to the right. If you selected Is Null, Is Not Null, Is True, or Is False, zero fields appear to the right. If you selected an operator that requires a comparison between two values, one or more additional fields appear.
c. Enter a comparison value in each field that appears to the right, if any.
For example, if you selected Less than or Equal to, a third field appears, as shown in . In this field, you type the comparison value. All data that is less than or equal to your value triggers the conditional formatting.
Figure&13-19 Comparison Value Field
If you selected Between or Not Between, two fields appear to the right. In these fields, type the lower and upper values, respectively. For example, in the third field, type an order total of 10,000 and in the fourth field, type an order total of 100,000, as shown in .
The names of all customers whose orders total between $10,000 and $100,000 take the conditional formatting.
Figure&13-20 Two Comparison Value Fields Appear for the Between Operator
The values for the comparison can be typed in directly or derived from the specified report column. Select Change Value to display the Value dialog, as shown in .
Figure&13-21 Specifying Literal or Column Values
A literal value can be directly typed or chosen from a list of values in the specified column. They also can be derived from the values in another specified column in the report.
Step&4 On Conditional Formatting, choose Format, and set the formatting for the conditional text. You can set the font, font size, font color, and background color. You also can specifying displaying the data in bold, italic, or underlined font style.
Step&5 You set the formatting by using the same Font dialog box used for formatting labels, as shown in .
Figure&13-22 The Font Dialog Box
After you set the format, the Preview section of the window shows the formatting you selected.
To add additional conditional formatting rules, select Add Rule and repeat steps 3 and 4 for each new rule.
Step&6 Click Apply.
The report design appears with the specified conditional formatting applied.
To remove conditional formatting for a column:
Step&1 Select and right-click the column.
Step&2 Select Style & Conditional Formatting.
Step&3 In the Conditional Formatting dialog box, click Delete Rule for each conditional formatting rule you want to delete, as shown in .
To remove all conditional formatting for a column, delete all the conditional formatting rules.
Figure&13-23 Removing a Conditional Format in Interactive Viewer
Step&4 Click Apply.
In Interactive Viewer, you can force page breaks after a preset number of rows.
Step&1 Select and right-click a detail column.
Step&2 From the context menu, select Group & Page Break.
The Page Break window appears.
Step&3 In the Interval field, enter a numerical value for the row after which you want to force a page break.
Step&4 Click Apply.
In Interactive Viewer, if your report design has grouped data, you can set page breaks before or after the grouped data.
Step&1 Select and right-click a grouped column.
Step&2 From the context menu, choose Group & Page Break.
The Page Break window appears, as shown in .
Figure&13-24 Setting a Page Break
Step&3 Specify whether to set a page break before every group, or for every group except the first or last groups.
To delete an existing page break, select None in Before group or After group.
Step&4 Click Apply.
You can use Interactive Viewer to organize report data.
This section contains the following topics:
After you access a data source and select the data set to use, you determine the best way to display the data in a report. There are several ways to organize data sets:
oSort a data column in ascending or descending order.
oOrganize data into groups. A group displays all the information about a type of item in one place. For example, you can display all the information about one customer, then all the information about the next customer, and so on.
oCreate aggregate data. At the end of a customer group, for example, you can display the total amount of the customer's purchases or the average amount of each order. You can also create calculations, such as sums, standard deviations, rankings, and differences.
To reorder columns:
Step&1 Select and right-click a column.
Step&2 From the context menu, select Column & Reorder Columns.
The Arrange Columns window appears
Step&3 Select the column you want to move.
Note You can select only detail rows, not groups or sections.
Step&4 Click the up or down arrows at the right until the column is in the correct position.
Step&5 Click Apply.
You can move data values from the details rows of a column to column headers.
Step&1 Select and right-click on a column.
For example,
shows the customer Name column as the selected column.
Figure&13-25 Report Displaying Customers Grouped by Country
Step&2 Select Column & Move to Group Header.
The Move to Group Header window appears, as shown in .
Figure&13-26 Move to Group Header Dialog Box
Step&3 From the Move to Group field, select a value.
Step&4 In the Header row field, select the row number in which to move the value you selected in Step 3.
Step&5 Click Apply.
The data value from the first detail row in each group appears in each group header, as shown in . The Name column displays one customer name beside each country group header.
Figure&13-27 Report Displaying Customer Name in Each Group Header
To remove a column, select the column and click Delete. When you remove a column from the report, you are not deleting the column from the information object or other data source.
To remove multiple columns, press Ctrl and select the columns to remove. Then, click Delete.
To hide or display report items:
Step&1 Select and right-click a column.
Step&2 Select Hide or Show Items.
The Hide or Show Items dialog box appears, similar to .
Figure&13-28 Hiding or Displaying Report Items
Step&3 Select any items you want to hide or Deselect any hidden items you want to display.
To display all hidden items, click Clear.
Step&4 Click Apply.
To hide or display columns:
Step&1 Select and right-click a column.
Step&2 Select Column & Hide Column.
Interactive Viewer displays the report without the hidden column.
TO display hidden columns:
Step&1 Select and right-click a column.
Step&2 Select Column & Show Columns.
The Show Columns dialog box appears.
Step&3 Select any items you want to display. Use Ctrl to select several columns.
Step&4 Click Apply.
You can merge the data from two or more columns into one column. For example, in
the columns under the City and state or province column header are separate.
Figure&13-29 Separate Columns
In , the data from these two columns is merged into one column.
Figure&13-30 Merged Column
To merge data in multiple columns:
Step&1 Select and right-click the columns
Step&2 Select Column & Merge Columns.
You can aggregate, filter, and group data in a column that contains data that is merged from multiple columns. You must first select one of the columns on which to aggregate, filter, or group data.
To select one column from a merged column,
Step&1 Select and right-click the merged column, then select a command to apply from the context menu, such as Aggregation, Filter & Filter, or Group & Add Group.
The Select data item dialog box appears.
Step&2 From the Select data drop-down list, select the column name to which you want to apply the command, then click Apply.
If you must provide more information to apply a command, Interactive Viewer displays a dialog box. For example, if you choose Aggregation, the Aggregation dialog box appears.
When you place data in a report design, the data source determines the default sort order for the data rows. If the data source sorts a column in ascending order, the column is sorted in ascending order in the design. Typically, however, data appears randomly in the data source.
A column is likely to display customer names, for example, in the order in which the customers were added to the database, rather than in alphabetical order. Sorting data, therefore, is an important task in creating a useful report.
There are three ways to sort data:
To perform a simple sort on a single column, select a column and select either Sort Ascending or Sort Descending. All the data rows in the report adjust to reflect the new sort order.
To return the data to its original order after performing a simple sort, choose Undo.
You can sort multiple columns in a report.
Step&1 Select and right-click a column.
Step&2 From the Context menu, select Sort & Advanced Sort.
Step&3 Select a column from the first drop-down list and choose either Ascending or Descending order. Select the next column and choose a sort order, and so on.
When you sort multiple columns, it is important to understand the order of precedence for the sort. In Advanced Sort, the first column you select is the primary sorting column. Report data is sorted first by this column.
If the primary column is Customer and the order is Ascending, for example, the report displays customers in alphabetical order. If you select Location as the next column and the order is Ascending, then within each Customer entry, the locations are sorted in ascending order.
If the third column you select is Order Number and the order is Ascending, then within each location, the order numbers are sorted in ascending order.
shows the result of this multiple-column sort.
Figure&13-31 Sorting Multiple Columns
If the report uses grouped data, the drop-down lists in Advanced Sort show only the detail columns in the report, not the columns you used to group the data.
A report can contain a great deal of data. Consider the task of listing every item a corporation owns, along with information such as the purchase price, purchase date, inventory tag number, and the supplier for each item.
If a report presents all these items in an unorganized list, there is no way to determine how much the corporation spends for heavy equipment because heavy equipment items are scattered throughout the report.
The report cannot help you see which supplier sells office furniture at the lowest prices. Nor is it easy to tell which inventory items are located at a field office and which items are in the warehouse.
shows the first page of an ungrouped report.
Figure&13-32 Ungrouped Data
To organize all this information into a useful inventory report, you create data groups and data sections. Data groups contain related data rows.
For example, you can create a report that lists all heavy equipment in one group, all office furniture in another group, all telephony equipment in a third group, and so on. For each group, you can show aggregate data, such as the total purchase price or a count of the items in a group.
Grouping data gives your report a more polished, organized look and makes it easier to create useful comparisons and calculations.
shows the same inventory, grouped according to the category, with one category on each page.
Figure&13-33 Grouped Data
You can group data in the report design editor or in Interactive Viewer. The changes you make in the viewer do not affect the report design. If you work in Enterprise mode, you can save report output that reflects your changes.
You can add or remove data groups in Interactive Viewer if the report design does not contain the grouping desired during that use of Interactive Viewer.
To add group}