Introduction

Credit Hound comes with a number of letters/reports already designed. With the Designer, you can amend them to suit your organisation.

Applies to

Credit Hound, Credit Hound Express for Sage 50

Process

In the Credit Hound application, open Tools>Letters/Reports.

Select the required letter or report to be edited and click Edit The Report/Letter designer opens.

Creating a new Letter or Report

If you need to create a new letter or report, it must be based on an existing one, in this case select the letter or report that is closest to the one you wish to create and then use the File>Save As… menu command to save a copy of the letter or report.

Overview of Sections in the Letter / Report designer

Use the Toolbox Toolbar (1) to create new items on the letter. To add an item, select the required item from the Toolbox then move your mouse to the area where you wish to create the item. Left click in the design area and drag your mouse down and right until you have the desired size of the item.

The Report Explorer (2) shows the different sections that make up a letter/report. When you click an area of the letter/report within the Designer, the corresponding section is automatically highlighted within the Report Explorer.

The Field List (3)contains all of the fields available to this letter/report. The fields come from a number of different tables from the Credit Hound database.

To add a field to the design area:

· Select the field that you would like.

· Drag it (left click then move the mouse) on to the designer area.

· Release the left mouse button to drop it in place. The new field appears in the designer area.

The Property Grid (4)displays the properties of the currently selected item. The properties available change depending on the type of item currently selected. To change a property, click on the default and you will see a drop down list of alternatives.

When you select a property, an explanation appears in the area below the list of properties.

Formatting Data fields

Data in a field are stored in one of a number of data types, such as Numeric, Text. Date/Time etc. Adding these to the report will display them in their default format. You can change the format in two ways, by editing the field's properties or by adding an exclamation mark after the field name followed by a format string.

To edit the fiels properties, click the chevron above the field and edit the Format String value:

This method only works with a field placed on its own on the report. Alternatively, adding a format inside the field command will apply to singly placed fields as well as fields placed inline with running text.

Example formats

Date/Time

Will display as :

Format stringWill displayExample using 5th September 2019 at 14:05
dday of the month (with no leading 0 for days under 10)5
ddday of the month (with leading 0 for days under 10)05
dddday name (short form)Thu
ddddday name (long form)Thursday
M (note: capital letters to distinguish from minutes)month number (no leading 0)9
MMmonth number (with leading 0)09
MMMmonth name (short form)Sep
MMMMmonth name (long form)September
yyear (1 or 2 digits)19 (if year were 2005 would return 5)
yyyear (2 digits)19 (if year were 2005 would return 05)
yyyyyear ( 4 digits)2019
hhour (12-hr clock, no leading 0)2
hhhour (12-hr clock, leading 0)02
Hhour (24-hr clock, no leading 0)14 (if time were 09:30 would return 9)
HHhour (24-hr clock, leading 0)14 (if time were 09:30 would return 09)
m (note: lower case letters to distinguish from Months)minutes (no leading 0)5
mmminutes (leading 0)05
tA or P for am/pmP
ttAM / PMPM

Numeric fields

Format stringWill displayExample using 10579.3800
#.00Value with two decimal places10579.38
#,#Value with thousand separators, no decimals (ronded to nearest whole number)10,579
$0.00Value as a Dollar amount with cents$10579.38
$0Value as Dollar amount, no cents$10579
cValue as currency (uses the local currency symbol)*£10,579.38
c1Value as currency, rounded to one decimal (uses the local currency symbol)*£10,579.4
c2Value as currency to two decimals (uses the local currency symbol)*£10579.38
*The symbol used will not reflect the currency of the customer account, rather the default local currency of the ERP System. Credit Hound letters contain the Currency symbol in a separate field, so you will build a string of the two fields
[Account.Currency.Symbol] [ChasedAmount!#,#.00]The customer account currency symbol, followed by the amount, with thousand separators and two decimal places€ 10,579.38
CAD 10,579.38
etc...


Calculated Fields

You can perform a number of functions on the fields in your report or letter. For more information see KBA-03-02-017 - Adding Calculated Fields  

Conditional Formatting

You can change the formatting of an item based on a condition. For example, you want to highlight accounts with a negative balance on the Transaction Dossier Report:


Edit the Report and click the chevron on the Account.Balance label:


Click the ellipsis next to Formatting Rules, then click Edit Rule Sheet...

Click the green plus sign to add a new Formatting Rule:


You first need to set the condition for the rule. In this case we want to highlight if Account.Balance is less than 0. Click the ellipsis in the Condition field to open the Condition Editor:



This behaves in the same way as the Expression editor as described under Calculated Fields above.


Open Fields>Account and double-click Balance to place [Account.Balance] in the expression field at the top of the window (you can also type fieldnames directly into this field):



Type <0 after the field name and click OK :


You can now set the format as you require. 


Close the window when you have set the format as required, yours will no doubt be less garish than the above. You now have a formatting rule set so that any control it is applied to will change according to the condition. You now need to apply this rule to the controls in the Formatting Rules Editor window:


Click the > button to apply the rule:

 


Save the report with a new name and test it:



You can apply this conditional format to the other controls within this section of the report by clicking the chevron on the label and setting the rule in the Formatting Rules Editor as before:



Tips

  • You can use the Visibility = False format to hide data on the report.
  • The formatting rule can be applied to any control or to report bands themselves. Be careful that the criteria makes sense in terms of the data members.
  • You can use the functions in the Condition Editor, allowing you to perform text evaluations. For Example this expression will return TRUE if the Account name starts with an S:



Knowledge Base Article Details

Related ProductCredit Hound, Credit Hound Express for Sage 50
Reference NumberKBA-03-02-004
Document Date7/4/2015
Original AuthorVince Hodgson
Document Version1.3
Last Updated 4/1/2021
Update AuthorVince Hodgson