ABSTRACT

Any number of lines can be printed or displayed, but the number of characters that can be arrayed across a page or a screen is limited, so width is the primary constraint on report design. Traditionally, reports were static and often suffered from information overload, but such modern software as report generators and query languages have made it possible to select on demand only the desired data from a file or database. Reports are an important part of a system’s user interface. A report is a formal, organized presentation of data, often in the form of a printed document or a set of screens. The body of the report is divided into an imaginary grid of columns and rows. The data used to generate a report are often sorted or indexed by one or more key fields. A detail report lists data for each input record or transaction. Historically, reports were designed on paper using report layout forms.