About reports

Reports provide many ways for you to present data. You might want a tabular report with rows and columns of information. Sometimes a graph or a crosstab is a better way to present the data.

Reports can also be mailing labels or many reports nested together on the same page. Freeform reports let you place text, data, lines, boxes, and pictures anywhere you want.

Reports versus DataWindow objects

Reports are the same as the DataWindow objects that PowerBuilder users can create in the PowerBuilder DataWindow painter, except that they cannot be updated. When you create a report in the Report painter, you are actually creating a nonupdatable DataWindow object.

About the term DataWindow

The terms DataWindow and report are often used interchangeably. Many of the examples in this book were captured in the PowerBuilder environment. In these examples, the title bar of a report includes the word DataWindow instead of Report. Sometimes dialog boxes use the word DataWindow instead of report.

If you need update capabilities

If you need update capabilities, use the InfoMaker Form painter to create a form. Forms are for updating, whereas reports are read-only.