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Visual Report
Design
The print4mobile™ Designer allows
you to interactively assemble and visually layout
reports. The entire process of creating and testing
a report can be done on a standard desktop PC. When
you have completed the design of your reports they
can be saved as report specification files and
deployed to mobile computing devices that run the
Microsoft Pocket PC operating system.
Mobile computing devices
supported by print4mobile™ include standard PDA as
manufactured by Hewlett-Packard as well as other
handheld computers such as those manufactured by
Intermec Technologies and Symbol. (See the
print4mobile™ Engine
and the print4mobile™ Viewer for more information
on how these report specification files are used on
a mobile computing device.)
Create Flexible and
Dynamic Reports
Each report can be assembled from
various elements including static text and variable
fields. Variable fields include database fields
selected from records in the Microsoft SQL Server CE
data source installed on a mobile computing device.
You can create your own variables as parameters that
can be used at run-time to modify the selection of
database records that will be included in a given report.
Because the report specifications are stored in a
separate file from your mobile software application, you can open
and modify these reports in the Designer at any time
without impacting the functionality of your mobile
software application.
Versatility
The Designer is a comprehensive
report building application that can be used by a
mobile software developer to create virtually all
outputs to be sent to a portable printer. You can
use the Designer to create simple forms with several
variable fields such as may be used in mobile
applications that produce parking tickets. However,
the Designer can also fulfill the need to produce
complex printed reports such as invoices, sales
tracking summaries and service activity reports as
are often needed in Field Service and Route
Accounting applications. The Designer allows you to
produce multi-section, multi-page reports with
multi-variable and complex database record selection
queries, and apply a variety of formatting options
and calculations to
achieve the desired method and style of report
output. (See
the Report Gallery for a visual overview on the type
and style of reports that you can create with the
Designer.)
Ease of Use
To install the Designer all you
need to do is run the print4mobile™ setup application
on your PC. Then connect to your own Microsoft SQL
Server CE database or download the sample database
and report specifications from the trial download
page on this website to begin
working with the Designer. After becoming
comfortable with the layout and features of the
Designer and after reviewing some of the sample
report specification files to see how reports are
assembled and how to interact with report elements,
you should be able to begin
designing your own reports. The print4mobile™
solution makes it easy to become proficient in
designing reports for use on mobile computing
devices.
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The Truth
on Mobile Reporting
While most
software developers use some report generation software to
create printed reports for their PC based
applications, most mobile software application developers
still resolve to hard-coded report generation and
printing. Why?
Every mobile business software
developer knows that when it comes to creating
hard-coded reports to meet customer needs, even
detailed specifications often result in tedious,
frustrating and costly rework of mobile application
source code and software release retesting. However,
due to
the resource constraints of mobile computing devices
and special requirements to control industrial
portable printers, there was, until now, no easy
alternative.
Now, with the print4mobile™
solution you can visually design your report using
the schema and data from your Microsoft SQL Server
CE database, create variable parameters to modify
how a report will be generated at run-time on a
mobile device, and easily, visually modify a report
at any time without having to reopen your mobile
application's source code. Its faster, more
reliable, more flexible, less costly, less prone to
error, interactive, and allows you to provide your
customer with a higher quality, higher value
solution for their changing business needs.
Designer Features
To learn more about print4mobile™ Designer features
click here. |
Features