Guidelines for Section to Page/RDL Report Conversion (Report Layout)

In an earlier blog, we covered the times it will be necessary to migrate from Section reports to Page/RDL reports and the different conversion methods.

Before you begin with the actual conversion process, you'll need to know what all in the report needs to be converted:

1. Report layout or design - to give the converted report the same look and feel
2. Report features - to allow converted report to perform the same operations as before

In this blog, we'll cover the report layout/design aspect through the guidelines.

This will assist in deciding the following factors:

1. Which report type to convert to – Page report or RDL report?
2. Which controls/data regions to place in the converted report (when converting manually)

Choosing the Appropriate Report Type

First, we need to decide on the best report type for conversion.

This involves the following:

1. Identifying design requirements for the new Page/RDL report, based Fon the layout of existing Section report.
2. Prioritizing the design requirements based on business requirement. It impacts the report type choice.
3. Mapping the requirements with Page and RDL report structure/features.

By taking the time for this careful analysis, you can easily choose the best report type for conversion based on the report layout/business needs. The basic design requirements in the report can be implemented through different structures and features offered by Page and RDL reports. See the table below.

General guidelines for selecting report type:

Choosing Report Controls/Data Regions

Selection of controls/data regions to be added in converted Page/RDL report is quite simple, regardless of conversion through Import tool or manually. The following tables provide the basic mapping of controls between Section and Page/RDL reports and list the data regions to be chosen based on the report layout.

Table 1. Basic mapping of controls between Section and Page/RDL reports:

Table 2. Data regions to be chosen based on the layout of Section report:

Let's understand how these guidelines can help convert a Customers report shown below.

This report was prepared last year by a software-based product company using Section report to depict:

1. Details of all the customers who have purchased their products, and
2. Percentage of customers enrolled in different pricing plans (through a Chart).

Let’s say this year there is an additional requirement: the company will need to sort the customer list on the fly. This would require an Interactive Sorting feature, which is not available in the Section report but in the Page or RDL report. This means the report needs to be re-created.

This can be done either manually or using the Import tool.

Utilizing the understanding gained in this blog, the report author can analyze the existing report design and map with the Page/RDL report as follows:

Now, based on the priority of Customer report requirements in the discussion it is very clear from the above table that RDL report should be chosen for conversion, in this case.

Further, following controls and data regions can be added in the converted report based on their operations.

1. TextBox – for displaying static information like report heading (Customers Report 2018).
2. Table, BandedList or Tablix – for displaying Customers list, which is organized in a grouped tabular layout.
3. Chart – for showing the distribution of customers as per the pricing plans.

This blog covers guidelines on converting the layout/design of the existing Section report to the corresponding Page or RDL report.

If you have any questions, please leave us a comment. Additionally, if you have a request for a specific demo, be sure to leave a comment below!