Reports

Now - let's generate a couple different reports based on the sample sightings we have entered.

Sightings Report

Scenario: You want to create a printed report of your sightings entered today. You want the report sorted by taxonomic order, with columns for common name, scientific name and location.

1. Click the Reports toolbar button. This will open the Reporting window.
   

2. The left side of this window contains dozens of report templates created for you to use as is or use as a starting point for creating your own reports with similar characteristics. Each time you click on a template on the left, the report designer portion of this window will load with that template!

3. Open the Sightings branch of the template tree by clicking on the plus sign if it is not already open.
   

4. Let's start with the All Sightings template. Click on that, and it will load in the Sightings TAB on the right - the report designer section.
   

5. All this template specifies is

   1. Columns to be output
      

   2. And the number of report columns per page
      

6. Select the taxonomy to work with by clicking on the Taxonomy dropdown and choosing the ABA taxonomic list.
   

7. Change the Report Title
   

8. Now, let's get the output columns (common name, scientific name and location) that we want in our report. We will have to change what comes with this template.

   1. Click on the Output Columns button
      

   2. This will open the Output Column frame for editing.
      
      What you see in the table are the columns currently selected for output in this report.

   3. We need to remove the "Family Desc" column. Click on that row to select it. You must click on the select button at the far left edge of the row.
      

   4. The Delete button becomes enabled.

   5. Click the Delete button to remove the selected row.

   6. We don't want the "When Seen" column either. So remove it in the same way. It should now look like this.
      

   7. We want to add the scientific name to the output. So type "sci" into the Report Columns text field.
      
      Alternatively, you can click on the small arrow at the right of the Report Columns text field to display a dropdown menu with the available choices to choose from.

   8. The Add button has now become enabled.

   9. Click the Add button.

   10. This adds "Scientific Name" to the list of output columns.
       
       But we do not want it to show up after location. We want it to show up after Common Name.

   11. Select the Scientific Name row, by clicking on the selecting button on the left edge.
       

   12. Then click the up arrow button once to move the Scientific Name up one row.
       

   13. Now we have the columns we want, in the order we want them in.
       

   14. But, you know what would be nice, to have the scientific name show up in Italics font - as you always see scientific names displayed. Let's do that.

       1. Click once on the Font column for the Scientific Name row. That cell will turn into a button.
          

       2. Click a second time and you will get the Font settings window.
          

       3. Click in the Font Style box and select Italic.
          

       4. Click Ok, to accept that setting and return to the report designer.

   15. Now we have all the output columns the way we want them. Click on the Done button in the lower right to be returned to the main Report Designer window.

9. Now we want to size the output columns relative to one report column on the output. Currently the Output Columns frame looks something like this:
   
   Let's make them all the same width - approximately. To do this, we click and drag on the dividers between the columns.
   
   Work with each one until it looks something like this:
   

10. Now, notice that the number of printed columns is set to two (2).
    
    That is ok for our purposes now. This just means that all of our selected output columns will be repeated twice on each page of the report. You will see.

11. We have everything the way we want it, so let's take a look at what the end result will look like. Click on the Preview/Print button to get a preview of this report.

12. It should look like this - or close to it!
    

    1. Your title is at the top left

    2. Counts are at the top right. (See the Report Preview window for an explanation.)

    3. At the bottom of the report are the settings selected for this report.

    4. And in the report body, you can see that there are two columns in the output each repeating all the output columns we asked for.
       I don't like it. It is not wide enough. Some of the names are being cut off.

    5. Click the Close button to close the Preview window.

    6. Move the Output Columns slider in the report designer to one (1).
       

    7. Click Print/Preview again. Ah- that's better!
       

    8. Now let's print it.

       1. In the Output dropdown, select Printer.
          

       2. Click the Output button and you will be presented with the standard Windows® print dialog.

    9. If you have the Advanced User license or are still in Demo Mode, you can save this report template as your own to use later or to build another report from.

       1. Close the Report Preview window

       2. In the Report window, click on the Save As... button and choose a unique name for your new template.

       3. Click Ok to save it. It will now show up in the list of templates on the left!

You have just created your first Birder's Diary report! Congratulations. Keep this Reporting window open for the next task.

Life List Report

Scenario: You want to produce a Life List Report for all birds you have seen. This report will list unique species in the order they were seen first. You just want a number and a common name, sorted in order of first seen.

To create a Life List report, we need an observer, a location, a date range and a taxonomic list. We will use our sample observer, the ABA AREA for the location, all dates (we will leave them blank to indicate so) and the ABA taxonomic list.

1. Select and open the Life List branch in the Template tree on the left of the reporting window.
   

2. Select the ABA Life List template at the top.
   
   This will automatically open the Life List TAB on the right and load this template. Hey! It has everything we want. Good place to start. Just lucky I guess! J

3. Select "Sample Observer" from the Observer dropdown.
   

4. Select the ABA taxonomic list from the Taxonomy dropdown.
   

5. But I want the report to print in the order seen. How do I specify this?

   1. Reports print out in taxonomic sort order by default, unless you override by specifying a sort on another output column. It so happens that this report template has just such an override specified on the Life List Number column.

   2. Click on the Output Columns button to see this.
      
      Notice that the "Life Number" column has its sort specified as "Ascend" or ascending. This overrides the default taxonomic sort order and your printout is produced in Life Number ascending order!

   3. Click Done to return to the main designer window.

6. The designer section of the window should look like this:
   

7. Click Preview/Print, and there is your life list in the order seen!

Of course, you now know how to make adjustments to your report such as adding new output columns etc. So have fun and practice!

Now you know the basics behind generating printed reports in Birder's Diary. The other TABs and report types work the same way. Try them out and experiment. Report templates have been provided for each report type to help you get going.

Please continue to the next topic in this guide.