Creating a Report in Design View

[jaleks]

All external references I've found about creating a report say there are two methods, Design View and Wizard.
How does one get to the Design View if it is present? In my copy under Tasks, there is only the Wizard
and I would like to do something different than what is available. Thanks for any help rendered.

[Villeroy]

Each object in either container tables, queries, forms and reports have "Edit..." in their context menues.

[jaleks]

Thanks Villeroy for this response also. By Editing, I can eliminate the lines, position the columns, position
the rows. However, I have yet been able to eliminate the LABELS without losing the formatted placement
of the data. When the labels are removed, the columns adjusted the way the data is desired to be displayed,
and the report is "opened" to see the data as it would be printed, everything moves to the left of the screen
and the items on the right of the screen disappear completely. The only thing I want to see in the dynamic
report is the data, no labels, no lines. The data is self explanatory and requires no labels to identify it. I
will keep trying though and if I find a solution, I'll edit this post to include it.
Thanks again for the suggestion.

[DrewJensen]

I believe you are being confused by the addition of the SUN Report Builder. This is an extension for Base, after the extension is added then under reports you will have two options - Wizard and Design.

You can download the extension from http://extensions.services.openoffice.org

When you create a report under the original report Wizard it is possible to edit the report definition, but what you can change is quite limited. Going forward that report wizard will be replaced with a new wizard that will use the SUN Report Builder - what will happen to the OpenOffice.org Report Wizard I do not know - but it is my belief that it will only be maintained if someone from the community offers to take on the task. I do not believe the core development group will do so.

[jaleks]

Thank you DrewJensen. I have downloaded eSun Report Builder extension and when I get it installed and working
I'll write back as solved. Just not yet though:-)

[jaleks]

Well, I've followed instructions. I have the file downloaded, and have attempted to install it. The instructions call for
opening a terminal, typing unopkg, clicking on My Extensions, click on Add, then close. I have clicked on My Extensions
and there is nothing there. I did a CD to the directory .openoffice.org2 and did an ls. The downloaded extension is there.
It just cannot be found via gui. Can it be installed via terminal? Aptitude install doesn't work, neither does apt-get.
Does anyone have any more suggestions?

[DrewJensen]

Well, actually you don't need to open a terminal or use apt-get ( with a few exceptions ). All you need do is:

Download the oxt file.
Run OpenOffice.org
Select Tools>Extension Manager
Select Add
Browse to the oxt file you downloaded and select it.

That's all. The extension is installed for your profile.

The steps you outlined above are if you are installing an extension for shared use on a server, or for multiple profiles on a single machine.

Now the exception I mentioned above - and this may only be for SUN Report Builder - if you are using one of the Linux Distro versions of OpenOffice.org then you may need to install a version of Report Builder also built by that distro - the reason is the java support. One example of where you must do this is the 64bit Ubuntu ( in my case Kubuntu ) version of OO.o. The version of the extension from SUN will not function - but in this case a separate build of the extension is available from the normal ubuntu repository and this version does work - this even when I use the SUN JRE, it was some dependency at compile time that caused the problem.

[jaleks]

Thanks Drew, I have it installed so that when I select "My Extensions" a tree evolves which includes JRE and all are enabled. However, as in
your installation, I think I will have to find the Ubuntu repository for Sun Extensions and enter that in my sources list, or at the minimum try
to download it. I opened OOoBase and tried to build a report in Design View and the computer just stares back at me with a questioning
look. Thanks again. I appreciate the help available from the folk on this forum.

[TerryE]

Your reference to Ubuntu makes me wonder. Are you running a standard OOo build (that is one obtained from OpenOffice.org or a shadow), or are you running one of the go-oo variant builds such as the Ubuntu bundled build? (You can tell by doing a Help->About)

The reason that I ask is that go-oo / oo-build work with a code base that is 99% the same as standard OOo, but add their own bits (for example screen drivers optimised to their Desktop environment), and sometimes miss new bits of OOo for a dot release or two. What you may be experiencing is just such gap.

[jaleks]

Thanks Terry for the response.
I have OpeOffice.org 2.3.0 and the splash screen has -"OpenOffice.org 2.3.0, Copyright 2000-2007 Su Microsystems Inc. This product has been created by Debian and Ubuntu based on OpenOffice.org. OpenOffice.org acknowledges all community members, especially those mentioned at http://www.openoffice.org/welcome/credits.html. opeoffice.org-core 1:2.3.0-ubuntu5.3, Tue Nov 27 18:52;42 GMT 2007" so I believe it is the original.

I have it so that sun report builder shows up in Extension Manager under My Templates. Clicking on the + twice, yields first "su-report-builder_0.oxt" and then clicking on the + again yields "sun-report-builder.jar". Both these items are enabled. I believe at this point I should be able to click on the Reports icon and then Create Report in Design View and have something open so I could create the desired report. Alas, nothing happens except the line Create Report in Design View dims a bit. By clicking on Insert - Report (and then the name of the Table, Query, or View desired) I think something should happen here also but it does not. I just wish I had studied programming when I was first exposed to computers (1960s) but hind-sight is always better I've heard. I have a book on C++, and a "dummies" book on SQL but they don't help with this. Thanks again for the help given. Since writing the above, I've downloaded 2.3.1 from OpenOffice.org. I'll try to get it installed and see if that is the problem.

[TerryE]

... the splash screen has -"OpenOffice.org 2.3.0, Copyright 2000-2007 Su Microsystems Inc. This product has been created by Debian and Ubuntu based on OpenOffice.org. OpenOffice.org acknowledges all community members, especially those mentioned at http://www.openoffice.org/welcome/credits.html. opeoffice.org-core 1:2.3.0-ubuntu5.3, Tue Nov 27 18:52;42 GMT 2007" ...

This is the go-oo variant. The one you've downloaded from OOo is the standard version. You can go into the Synaptic package manager to uninstall the Ubuntu kits before installing the OOo ones. I use an Ubuntu sandpit for doing my OOo debugging and development, but I do this with a standard OOo compile, so I've done this myself. You just need to uninstall any of the OpenOffice related kits. If I remember there is also a "Desktop" package that you also need to uninstall. You can do this safely. Then you install the std OOo kits. This process is reversible.

In opinion C++ is a bit heavy if haven't been dipping into programming after a long break. Java is a slimmer functional vehicle if you want to start extending or playing with OOo and the way to do this is with java coded extensions rather than jumping into one million odd lines of C++ that make up the OOo code base.

[jaleks]

OK. Since my last post: removed EVERYTHING from the computer, reformatted hard drive, reinstalled everything (except Windows) fresh
from CD or web. I'm back to:
when I cd to OOG680_m9_native_packed-1_en-US.9238, which is the file
resulting from untarring the 2.3.1 tar ball, I try to get past the point of
./ configure. The program return is bash: ./configure: no such file or
directory. It matters not if I use ./configure, ./ configure (there is a space
difference here) or anything else...it just won't configure...yet. Any help you may have would sure be appreciated.
Now I have jre 1.6 installed.

[TerryE]

Urrrrggghhh! Sounds like you're trying to build from source, instead of of installing from the deb kit which includes just the binaries. If you really do want to build the binaries see my Ubuntu Build in a VMware_Appliance, but this was tweaked for Edgy and OOo 2.2.1. I'd stick with the Linux Binaries: OOo Linux x86 deb 2.3.1.

[jaleks]

1/1/2008 - I have used Synaptic Package Manager to remove all files labeled openoffice...anything. Then, I downloaded OOo_2.3.1_Linuxintel_install_wJRE_en-US.tar.gz. Next, I untarred the ball and have a directory labeled OOG_m9_native_packed-1_en-US.9238. Next, I downloaded alien. Then I did a CD to OOG...RPMS and used alien to convert all the files from RPM to Deb. Next I installed the .deb files. Going to Synaptic Package Manager I see all the files have been installed because their icon is solid green, except a couple that show they are upgradeable. I upgraded them and now all are solid green. Either the 2.3.1 version of open office uses some of the old files, or alien won't install all of them
because in "Manager" some of the files are still the Ubuntu files. I have
installed the latest JRE files, and the sun report builder. Still, when
I click on an OOo Base file (admittedly previously created with Ubuntu
version) and try to get the Create a Report in Design View to open, I can see the harddrive activity light operate a while and the title of Create Report...View dims a bit but then all stops. (I completely removed everything from my hard drive and reinstalled Ubuntu so now I have about 70 GB with which to play, and perhaps not run short of disc space) Now, I need help, if a Design View Report can be built that will work with OpenOfficeorg Base. Does anyone have any more suggestions?

[jaleks]

This problem is solved! Thank you all for the help. The final problem was a contaminated
download of java. The Design View works Thanks again

[TerryE]

glad to have helped. It's been a long journey.

[Hacker John]

I'm using the Windows version of OO 2.3 with the Report Design extension installed. It is a bit wierd, I must say. I added a Formatted field in the header and bound it to a date field. I set the format to MMMM YYYY but it always displays in decimal. To cap it, a date field on the left of the Detail section always displays as YYYY-MM-DD no matter how I set the formatting.

Am I stuck with this, or does anyone have any idea how to fix this?