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Reports, Dashboards and Print Layouts
The Reports branch of the Explorer holds five working nodes: Reports (banded, printable listings), BI Reports (ad-hoc group, pivot and aggregate queries), Dashboards, Print Layouts (documents for one record) and Printers. Charts, Labels and Export Templates are marked "coming soon" in the Explorer; labels are currently made as print layouts in the Labels categories. For an overview see Reports and print templates.
Reports
Where to find it
Workspace > Reports > Reports. New report name creates one (for example monthly-sales) and opens the Report Designer.
Key concepts
A report is a stack of bands over the rows of one entity, like a classic banded report writer.
| Band | Repeats |
|---|---|
| Report header, Report footer | Once at the start and end of the report. |
| Page header, Page footer | On every page. |
| Group header, Group footer | For each value of a group level. A group band belongs to one group level. |
| Detail | For every row. |
Designer tabs
| Tab | Content |
|---|---|
| Data Source | The entity, the fields selected for the report (a subset of the entity's fields, in order), group levels and sort levels. |
| Layout | The band stack. Each band has a Name, Height (px) and, for group bands, the group level it repeats for. Elements are placed on a band with a position and size, and can be locked. |
| Preview | The report with sample rows, showing how bands repeat and paginate. |
| Settings | Page size A4, Letter or Legal; Orientation Portrait or Landscape; margins. |
Data source
| Part | Description |
|---|---|
| Entity | The entity the report lists. Only entities are supported as a source. |
| Fields | Which fields can be used on the report. |
| Group levels | A field and a sort direction (Ascending or Descending) for each level; levels nest in order. |
| Sort levels | The sort of detail rows within groups, independent of the group levels' own direction. |
Elements
An element fills in one of three ways.
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Field | Prints a column of the current row, with an optional format. |
| Block | Embeds a catalog block (grid, pivot, chart, QR code, barcode, shape, line) with its own properties. |
| Literal | Static content: text, image, shape, line, page number, date. |
Problems and warnings
| Message | Cause |
|---|---|
The report has no Detail band — it will never repeat per row. | No detail band. |
The report has <n> Detail bands — almost always an authoring mistake. | More than one detail band. |
Band "<name>" has a non-positive height (<n>px). | A band with no height. |
No data source is configured yet — the report can still be saved as a draft. | No entity chosen. Publishing needs one. |
Group level references field "<field>", which isn't in the data source's selected fields. | A group field that is not in the field list. |
Permissions
Designing reports is an authoring action on the report artifact type. Rules named report:<name> can be written under Report Permissions, but there is no step that enforces them yet.
API and CLI
/api/v1/authoring/reports. erp artifact ... --type reports. Schema: Reference: report definition.
BI Reports
Where to find it
Workspace > Reports > BI Reports. The designer is a single form with a result table.
What it does
A BI report is an ad-hoc analytical query against any entity: group the rows, optionally pivot, and aggregate values. It runs live and the result can be exported to CSV.
Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Report name | Required. |
| Source entity | Choose source entity.... |
| Group by | One or more fields. |
| Pivot column (optional) | Turns the values of one field into columns. It requires exactly one value field. |
| Value fields | Field, Aggregation (SUM, AVG, COUNT, MIN, MAX) and an optional alias. |
| Filters | Field, Operator (EQ, NEQ, GT, GTE, LT, LTE, CONTAINS) and Value. |
| Sort | Field and Descending. |
Run and export
POST /api/v1/authoring/bi-reports/{id}/execute returns the rows. GET /api/v1/authoring/bi-reports/{id}/export?format=csv downloads CSV. erp artifact ... --type bireports.
Dashboards
Where to find it
Workspace > Reports > Dashboards.
What it is
A dashboard is a page with the same content model: rows, columns and items, usually KPI cards, charts and data grids. It has the whole Page Designer feature set: per-breakpoint arrangement, templates, variants, overlays, translations, history and where-used. The difference is the artifact type, dashboard, so dashboards are listed apart from pages and can be placed on an application's home. A dashboard date filter block and the business cards in the Block catalog are the usual contents.
API and CLI
/api/v1/authoring/dashboards, POST /api/v1/authoring/dashboards/ai-generate for an AI draft. erp artifact ... --type dashboards. For a worked example see Add a KPI or aggregation.
Print Layouts
Where to find it
Workspace > Reports > Print Layouts. Category and New print template name (for example customer-invoice) create one.
Key concepts
A print template produces a document for one record: an invoice, a payslip, an offer letter, an ID card, a label. Unlike a report it previews one sample parent record, and only its child rows repeat. It describes a physical page in millimetres.
Categories
Payslip, Invoice, Tax Invoice, Purchase Order, Sales Order, Quotation, Delivery Challan, Goods Receipt Note, Purchase Requisition, Expense Voucher, Payment Voucher, Receipt, Credit Note, Debit Note, Employee ID Card, Visitor ID Card, Offer Letter, Appointment Letter, Confirmation Letter, Promotion Letter, Transfer Letter, Experience Letter, Relieving Letter, Salary Revision Letter, Warning Letter, Termination Letter, Employment Contract, Joining Kit, Leave Approval Letter, Attendance Certificate, Training Certificate, Performance Letter, Asset Handover Form, Exit Clearance Form, Certificates, Labels, Barcode Labels, QR Code Labels, Custom Document. The category sets the default page size, for example ID cards use the ID card size and labels a custom size.
Designer tabs
| Tab | Content |
|---|---|
| Data Source | One entity, or a parent entity with a child collection. Selected fields, group levels, sort levels. |
| Layout | The band stack on the physical page. |
| Preview | One sample parent record; child rows repeat. |
| Settings | Page and locale. |
Settings
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Page size | A4, A5, Letter, Legal, Thermal-58mm, Thermal-80mm, ID-Card, Badge, Custom. |
| Orientation | Portrait or Landscape. |
| Width (mm), Height (mm) | Editing either switches the size to Custom. |
| Margins, bleed | In millimetres. |
| Locale | Text direction for text content: English, French and Spanish (left to right), Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi and Urdu (right to left). Page geometry is not mirrored. |
Element content
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Field | A value of the record. Optional format and value type (date, datetime, currency, number, percent) that formats with the workspace localization. |
| Merge text | Free prose with entity field tokens, for letters (example below). Only token substitution: no functions, arithmetic or conditions. |
| Formula | A calculated value in the print engine's own small language: + - * /, comparisons, SUM, AVG, MIN, MAX (over a child collection), COUNT, CONCAT, ROUND, UPPER, LOWER, ABS, IF. |
| Table | A repeating table over a child collection with chosen columns. |
| Repeating section | A small layout repeated once per child row, one level deep. |
| Literal | Text, image (a source that can itself contain tokens for a per-record photo), shape, line, page number, date, checkbox, rich text, HTML (sanitised), attachment placeholder. |
| Dynamic QR and barcode | Codes computed from record values. |
| Block | A catalog block. |
text
Dear Employee.Name, we are pleased to offer you the position of Employee.Title.In a real merge text each token is written as the entity and field name between double curly braces.
Template variables are named formulas defined once, for example grandTotal = SUM(amount) + SUM(tax), and used in several elements. An element can have a visibility condition (a field comparison) so it prints only when it holds. Style settings: text color, background, font size, bold, align, font family, and opacity (low opacity with an image makes a watermark).
Export
A published template exports to PDF, Word, Excel and thermal printer output. PDF is rendered by the backend's headless browser from the template's own print pages, so it needs PDF export switched on and a browser engine available to the backend. The workflow node document.generate can render a template for a record and store the result in document management; see Node reference.
Permissions
Designing is an authoring action on print-template. Exporting and printing are governed by Print Permissions (print_template:<name>, export or print).
API and CLI
/api/v1/authoring/print-templates; POST /api/v1/authoring/print-templates/by-name/{name}/export-pdf with recordId. erp artifact ... --type print-templates. Schema: Reference: print template definition.
Printers
Where to find it
Workspace > Reports > Printers.
What it does
Registers network thermal and label printers that thermal print output is sent to.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The printer's name. |
| Host / IP | The printer's network address. |
| Port | The printer's raw print port. |
| Command language | ESC-POS (thermal) or ZPL (Zebra). |
| Paper width (mm) | The paper width. |
Each printer can be edited or deleted. The screen shows the number of printers.
Related
Reports and print templates overview, Page Designer, Business Logic screens, Print Permissions.