In
ContactsLaw, a
report is a mechanism for exporting data in a useful format, for printing or saving. Reports differ from
documents in that their content is largely hard-coded, and typically numeric rather than textual. Reports are, therefore, the preferred representation for tabular data, ledgers, financial and performance reports, etc.
Whereas documents are driven by
templates, reports consist of
definitions and
generators. Report definitions exist within ContactsLaw, while generators are provided by
plug-ins. Through appropriate plug-ins, it may be possible to generate each report in several different formats (e.g. Microsoft Excel, HTML, etc). In practice, however, each generator supports a specific range of reports only (i.e. those appropriate for the type of report produced).
Report definitions are hooked up to
activities and areas of the program where a Print button is offered. When you click the button, ContactsLaw loads the appropriate report definition and presents the
report options screen to set options and select a report generator to use.
Note: Some activities and screens in ContactsLaw produce documents (using
controlled templates) instead of reports.