# Report Writer

Report Writer Security |

For security purposes, an alternate user interface is available for designing reports. This interface acts as a front end to both the Report Designer and Report Wizard and addresses security concerns on two fronts:

> Limiting Access to Input Sources - For new reports, the user must pre-select an input source from a restricted selection of Views based on the Views System groupings. For existing reports, the input source cannot be changed.

> Restricting Access to Other Report Definitions - The user is restricted to a specified directory for creating, modifying and saving report definitions.

The interface may be invoked in an application using the PROCESS directive:

> PROCESS "Main","*rpt/rpt.en", %directory$, groups$

Where:

directory$ | Directory where report definitions are created, modified and saved. Relative or absolute paths may be used. If null, then the current directory is used.
groups$ | List of Views system groups that will be displayed for selection. The list is comprised of group descriptions; the last character in the list will serve as the list separator. For example, AR/AP/ uses the "/" character as a separator and would allow access to Views in the AR and AP groups.

When invoked, the security interface presents a Report Maintenance panel that displays a list of report definitions that exist in the specified directory.

To update an existing report definition, select a report by double clicking on the list item, or highlight the item and click the Update button. This will invoke the Report Designer and load the selected report definition. Once in the Report Designer, you can only modify and save the current report -- menu items and toolbar shortcuts for selecting new or other reports are disabled, as well as the menu item for selecting a different input source.

The Delete button can be used to delete report definitions. However, you can suppress this button by setting the global variable %RW_SUPPRESS_DELETE=1, which also suppresses the Delete item in the Report Designer File menu.

To create new report definitions, click the New button to invoke the New Report panel. The New Report panel requires that you pre-define the report name and simple file name for identifying and saving the definition and pre-select the input source from the Views groups specified. This information will be pre-loaded into the Report Designer or Report Wizard to create a new layout. Menu items and toolbars shortcuts will be disabled in the designer as described earlier. In the wizard, the file selection will be disabled; a report definition will be created using the given simple file name, which can then be loaded and modified using the Update button.

If further security measures are necessary, it is possible to write your own front-end user interface to pre-input information before invoking the Report Designer or Report Wizard. See Security Interface.

As well, you can create your own object classes with logic procedures associated with Views and Views Data Sources to suppress data elements. See Logic Object.