Overview
In addition to the Template Library, the Template Studio is used to create and configure templates to produce reports automatically, on-demand or both. Both report templates and form templates are created in the studio.
A Report template is used to create and publish reports automatically according to a schedule or on-demand by a user. It is a workbook with one or more worksheets that contains:
layout of your report using features such as formatting, formula, and charts
Data Connect to data servers, e.g., real time, history, or relational database
Data Management for advanced processing of the report data
Report Names for the reports produced from the template e.g., Flow_{MMM}{YY}
On-Demand Designer settings for on-demand reports
Schedule settings for automatic reports and publishing
A Data Entry Form template is used for manual data entry. It is a workbook of one worksheet that contains:
layout of your form using spreadsheet features such as formatting, formula, and charts
Data Link to a relational database (managed by the Database Management tool)
Reports are produced from templates using the proprietary reporting engine which takes workbook templates to Excel, PDF, and HTML reports without using Excel.
For those unfamiliar with Excel terminology here are the basic terms:
An Excel file is referred to as a workbook.
A workbook contains one or more worksheets. Each worksheet appears as a tab at the bottom of the workbook.
A worksheet contains cells.
A collection of cells is a range.