User manual

Chapter 2
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Creating databases 55
About layout types
The following sections describe each of the layouts that you can create
with the New Layout/Report assistant.
Standard form
A Standard form layout is a good choice for data entry or onscreen
browsing. It contains the fields you select, each on a separate line, in
the order you specify, with field labels to the left of the fields. In
Browse mode, you see one record, or form, at a time (unless you have
switched from
View as Form).
Columnar list/report
Use a Columnar list/report layout when you want to view or print
multiple records in rows (a list of records). You can define many
variations of a
Columnar list/report with the New Layout/Report
assistant. You can create a layout with simple rows and columns of
data or a complex report with data grouped by specified values with
subtotals and grand totals.
A Columnar list/report layout contains the fields you select, in the order
you specify from left to right across the page, with field names as
column headings.
In the New Layout/Report assistant, you can choose to:
1 Limit the number of fields across the layout to the width of the page
(defined by the page margins, page orientation, and printer). Fields
wrap to multiple lines.
1 Group records by sorting. You can then subtotal, or subsummarize,
data in the groups (for example, group sales data by region, then group
subtotal sales for each region).
1 Add header and footer parts with static text (like your company’s
name), dynamic text (like the page number or current date), or a
graphic (like your company logo).
1 Save information in a script to re-run the report (for example,
switch to the report layout, sort the data, and pause to let you preview
the report).
You can modify any of these options after you complete the assistant.
Field labels
Fields you defined, in the order they appear in
the Define Database dialog box
Simple columnar report layout
Columnar report with grouped data