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Doing More with the Report Engine

Opening and Using the Report Engine Window

To open the Report Engine window, follow this selection path:Tasks [arrow] Report Writing [arrow] Design Report [arrow] Report EngineYou also can open the Report Engine window by following this selection path:Tasks [arrow] Data Management [arrow] Query [arrow] Query and Reporting [arrow] Report EngineThe Report Engine window appears.

Report Engine Window

[Report Engine Window]

When you open the Report Engine window, the last report that you created appears. Select New from the File menu to clear the window. You can use New to clear the Report Engine window at any time.

You use commands and make choices from selection lists to produce reports in the Report Engine window. When you press TAB, your cursor moves to any field that contains text that you can edit. The fields in the Report Engine window are described in the following table. Type a ? in any field and press ENTER to list possible selections for that field.

Fields in the Report Engine Window
Field Description
Data
lists the name of the data source. Fill in the Type field before you select the data source.
Type
lists the type of data, such as a SAS table or query, or a query on a DB2 table that you saved from the SQL Editor or the Query window. The default value is SAS .
Report
controls the type of report you want to generate. The default value is LIST .

To produce a report, first select the type of data in the Type field. You can select SAS tables or views (type SAS), a query that was created by using the Query window (type QUERY), or a query that was created by using the SQL Editor window (type SQL). Queries do not contain any data but rather point to one or more tables.

After you select the type of report, type the name of the data source in the Data field. If you type a ? in the Data field and press ENTER, the window that appears depends on what is in the Type field:

After you select the data source, type of data, and report, the Report Engine window shows you the columns for the data you selected. For example, the following display shows the columns for the AIRLINE.MARCH SAS table. See Creating the AIRLINE Sample Tables for more information on the AIRLINE sample tables.

Report Engine With AIRLINE.MARCH Table

[Report Engine With AIRLINE.MARCH Table]

To customize your report, you make modifications as described in the rest of this chapter. To run the report, follow this selection path:Run [arrow] SubmitThe report appears in the Report Output window. To return to the Report Engine window after viewing your report, follow this selection path:File [arrow] Close

You can use the fields described in the following table to manipulate your report in the Report Engine window.

Fields in the Report Engine Window
Field Description
Row
indicates the number of the first line of column information shown in the window. If the table has more columns than will fit in the window, the row number is in a different color, and you can type a new number in the Row field to begin the display at the specified row number.
to
indicates the column number of the last column shown in the window.
of
indicates the total number of columns in the data source.
Cmd
enables you to specify commands to manipulate the columns in the report. Type a ? and press ENTER to list all of the commands, which are described in Cmd Field Commands.
No
indicates the order of the columns. (No is an abbreviation for Number). You can change the column order by typing a new order number over the old order number. To drop a column from the report, delete (or type blanks over) the number in this field. The column header and length remain in the window. See the D command in Cmd Field Commands for an alternate method of dropping columns from the report.
Order
sorts the column data in the specified order. Type A to sort the column data in ascending order. Type D to sort the column data in descending order.
Usage
defines what a column represents. Usages change the appearance of the report. You can type the usage into this field or type a ? for a list of the possible usages. To produce reports other than lists, you must define at least one usage such as GROUP, ACROSS, BREAK, or PAGE. See Usages for a list and description of the usages.
Column Header
indicates the column label. You can change the column label by typing over the existing label. To reset the label to its original value, type an I in the Cmd field to display the Column Information window. In the Column Information window, select Reset and OK to return to the original column label value.
Length
indicates both the SAS format and data type of a specific column. You can use any SAS format in this field. The format changes how the column looks on your report. Type a ? to list SAS formats. A C to the right of the column length indicates a character column, whereas an N indicates a numeric column.

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