Mastering PowerBuilder

Powersoft Reports

With version 4.0, Powersoft introduced a new format in which you export a DataWindow, that is, PSR ( Powersoft Report ). You will find a choice "PSReport!" for this export type in the SaveAs() function, PowerBuilder saves the file with .PSR extension.

What's the use of exporting into this format. Well, there are a lot. When you double-click on a file with .PSR extension either in the File Manager/Explorer, MS-Windows invokes InfoMaker automatically and displays the report. You can also e-mail a PSR file in any mail system such as Microsoft Mail/Lotus cc:Mail that supports MAPI. You can also use the PSR file in the OLE.

InfoMaker is a subset of PowerBuilder, designed for the end-user. End users use InfoMaker to create reports. As you know, you can manipulate the data when you are in the DataWindow preview mode at design time. But, in InfoMaker, user can't make any changes to the data. Its whole purpose is just reports.

After exporting the DataWindow in PSR format, if you double-click on the file in the File Manager/Explorer, it won't invoke any application, instead it prompts you for the application with which you want to associate the report. This is because, when you install PowerBuilder, PowerBuilder won't register for .PSR type in the registry. If you install InfoMaker, it registers automatically for you.

If you want to create a report at design time, you don't have to install InfoMaker, instead, you can invoke the Report painter. In the standard PowerBar, you won't find any icon for the Report painter. Customize and add icon. You will find two of these icons. The one which has blue color on the top is the "Report" painter. In this you can paint the report. The other one with green color is the "Run Report" icon. In this you can just run the report and you can't design a report using this icon.

Unlike a DataWindow painter in which you can set the update properties, you can't set the update properties in the "Report" painter.

If paint a report with nested reports, PowerBuilder doesn't save all the nested reports a single report, instead, it saves the names of the nested reports with the main report. To run the main report, the user should have the nested reports available in the Library Search path.

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