Creating Recipe Reports

You may want to create a recipe report to document the changes you have made or for subsequent printing. A recipe report is a text file that lists each column present in the recipe and the data in each column. By default, the columns appear in the text file in the same order as they appear on the screen.

When the Recipe Builder creates a report, it starts with the data from the current recipe and stores the report in a file named recipe.RCR, where recipe is the name of the open recipe. The path that the report is stored in depends on the type of recipe opened.

When the open recipe is a...

The Recipe Builder stores the report in...

Master recipe or master text recipe

The master recipe path

Control recipe or control text recipe

The control recipe path

To create a report, select the Report command. This command enables you to select and arrange the columns for the report using the Report Format dialog box. When you select the Report command, this dialog box appears and displays the following controls:

Available Columns list box — lists the columns you can add to the report. If the list box is empty, all the available columns are in use.

Column Layout list box — controls which columns appear in the report and the order that these columns appear. By default, all the columns currently displayed in the recipe appear in the same order that they appear in the recipe.

Using this dialog box, you can customize the report by selecting only those columns you want to include, changing a column heading, or changing a column width. When you change a column heading for a report, the corresponding heading in the recipe does not change. This means if you close and re-open the Report Format dialog box, the Recipe Builder re-reads the recipe column headings and any changes you made are lost.

Similarly the width of each column in the report is independent of the display format column width. This means changing either column width does not affect the other.

NOTE: When the report is created, the Recipe Builder uses the last character of each column to separate the individual columns. It does this by placing a space in this position. This means that if you specify a column width of 15 only 14 characters appear in the report. To display the 15th character specify a width of 16.

To create a report from the current recipe:

  1. On the File menu, click Report. The Report Format dialog box appears.
  2. If necessary, add or delete the columns to include for the report. Use the following table as a guide.
  3. If necessary modify the column widths and heading, and arrange the columns for the report. Use the following table as a guide.
  4. Click OK. The Recipe Builder creates a report from the current recipe and stores it in the appropriate recipe path.

    Report Format Procedures 

    To...

    Then...

    Add a column to the report.

    1. From the Available Columns list box, select the column you want to add.

    2. Select the Add button. The selected column appears in the Column Layout list box and disappears from the Available Columns list box.

    If you prefer, you can add a column to the report by double-clicking a column in the Available Columns list box.

    Remove a column from the report.

    1. From the Column Layout list box, select the column you want to remove.

    2. Select the Delete button. The selected column disappears from the Column Layout list box and appears in the Available Column list box.

    Arrange a column in the report.

    1. In the Column Layout list box, select the column you want to move.

    2. To move the column up in the list box and to left in the report, select the up arrow button. To move the column down and to the right, select the down arrow button.

    Change a column heading in the report.

    1. In the Column Layout list box, select the column you want to modify.

    2. Select the Modify button. The Report Column Details dialog box appears.

    3. In the Column Heading field, type up to 39 characters for a column heading and select the OK button. The Report Column Details dialog box disappears and the Recipe Builder changes the heading in the Column Layout list box.

    Change a column width in the report.

    1. In the Column Layout list box, select the column you want to modify.

    2. Select the Modify button. The Report Column Details dialog box appears.

    3. In the Column Width field, type the column width you want and select the OK button. The Report Column Details dialog box disappears and the Recipe Builder changes the column width in the Column Layout list box.

    NOTE: A width of less than two does not show any characters.

How Do I...