Rave Reports Developer Guide

Report Types

With Rave Server only non-database reports or reports containing SQLDataView components can be produced. Direct DataViews are not supported.

When generating a report using Rave Solo, there are two properties associated with the SQLDataView: AuthDesign and AuthRun. These contain parameters needed to connect to an RDBMS (relational database management system). When running the report using Rave Server, the parameters in AuthRun are used to actually connect to the database and not the values in AuthDesign. This allows development and deployment on different machines.

For debugging purposes Rave Server can be started with the /AuthDesign parameter and it will use the AuthDesign information instead of the AuthRun info.

Executing the server with the /notray option will cause the server to run without appearing in the system tray.

When running a report, there are three different formats of output to choose from: HTML, PDF (Adobe Acrobat) and NDR (Rave's native format).

HTML outputs require browsers that support both HTML version 4 or higher and JavaScript. Currently, the two most used browsers, Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator (both as of version 4), have the capabilities to correctly view reports generated by Rave.

PDF reports can be viewed using Adobe's Acrobat Reader, which is available as a free download from www.adobe.com.

A last alternative is to use Rave's native format (NDR). These can be viewed using Rave Viewer, also available without charge from www.nevrona.com. Although it requires more effort from the users end (or from the system administrator), by using this format more functionality can be provided, such as zooming, and ultimately converting to HTML or PDF directly from the viewer.

If either Adobe Acrobat Reader or Rave Viewer is installed on the end-user system, the browser will automatically launch them when the corresponding report is returned from a request. If the message "Save To Disk" appears when a report is selected and clicked, this means that the application hasn't been installed on the system or somehow has not been associated to the file extensions used.