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Running reports is different in Spire compared to BusinessVision.
Where to access reports in Spire
Reports in Spire are accessed via the Printer icon within each
module or screen.
As an example, here is the printer icon in the Customers module.
Filters and the Search box
Only the records that are visible on screen will be available to
reports. If you have a Filter in place, or have narrowed your
selection by typing in the Search box, then only those records that
are shown on screen by the Filter or Search box will be available to
the report. This is true EVEN IF the report itself is configured to
draw upon ALL records; it will nevertheless only have access to the
records visible on screen (this includes the records that become
visible when you scroll down or up the screen - all of these are
available to the report).
For example, if you have filtered the Customer list on screen to
only show only Toronto Customers, then only Toronto Customers will
be available to the report.
If you wish to report on all records, then you must first remove all
Filters and clear the Search box.
Individual record selection
A second level of selection involves records that you have selected
on screen. Here is an example of some records having been selected
in the Customer module. For what this means when you produce a
report, please read on ...
Print Selected vs Print All
Note the small down-arrow beside the Printer icon. It presents the
choices of Print Selected or Print All.
- Print All: all records on the screen will be available to
the report
- Print Selected: only the selected records will be
available to the report
Simply clicking the Printer icon itself is the same as selecting
Print Selected
To review...
- Only the records shown on the screen will be available to
the report
- Print Selected will cause only the selected records to be
available to the report
- Print All will make all records that are visible on the
screen available to the report
Standard Spire output selection screen
When you click on the Printer icon or one of the choices of Print
Selected or Print All, a box will display which gives you your
report choices and output options.
Here is where you select from the available reports and decide
whether to print, email, or display the report. You may select more
than one report at once. This is the standard Spire output box, and
I won't go into more detail here.
File, Run Reports
There is one other option to print reports in Spire, and that is
from the menu: File, Run Reports.
This is an alternate way to run reports, in which the report is
NOT subject to Filters or the Search box. ALL records are available
to the report. This section of Spire is still under development -
many reports will soon be made avaulable here.
Report Parameters
Once you start running the report, the report itself may display
additional parameters for you to select. Here is an example of a
parameter selection screen:
After you fill in the necessary parameters, the report will then
be produced.
Differences from BusinessVision
BusinessVision reports are entirely parameter-driven. That is, they
only use either the BusinessVision "Tempate" selection boxes, and/or
a Crystal Reports parameter selection box.
Spire reports offer much more flexible choices as to what records to
make available to the report by means of Filters, the Search box,
and individual record selection on screen. | 
