Row definition

A row definition is a report component, also called a building block, which specifies the contents of each row in a Management Reporter report. It can be combined with column definitions, reporting tree definitions, and report definitions to create a building block group that can be used by multiple companies.

This topic contains the following sections:

• Create or open a row definition

• Contents of a row definition

• Add dimensions in a row definition

• Adjust rounding in a row definition

• Format row and column text

Create or open a row definition

Create a row definition

1. Open Report Designer. In the navigation pane, click Row Definitions.

2. On the File menu, click New, and then select Row Definition. For more information about the content of each cell, see Modify row definition cells.

Open a row definition

1. Open Report Designer. In the navigation pane, click Row Definitions.

2. Double-click the name of the row definition to open. For information about the elements of a row definition, see Contents of a row definition.

3. To view any building blocks that are associated with the row definition, right-click the row definition, and then select Associations.

Contents of a row definition

A row definition can contain up to 20,000 financial dimension rows and include the following information:

• Descriptive text that adds meaning to the report by creating section headings, lines, and spaces, such as Cash or Total Revenue.

• Links to financial data, which can include dimension values in the Microsoft Dynamics ERP system or cells in an Excel spreadsheet.

  Note

  You can set up a row definition to pull data from the financial dimensions system every time that the report is generated.

• Row totals and formulas that are based on the linked financial data.

Usually, each row in a row definition contains one of the following types of information:

• References to the financial dimensions system.

• Totals or calculations based on the data.

• Formatting.

You can enter information into a row definition in one of the following ways:

• Enter row information manually into a new row definition. For more information about cell content, see Modify row definition cells.

• Use Management Reporter to pull row information directly from the financial dimensions as described in Related formulas/rows/units.

Add dimensions in a row definition

A dimension is an intersection of data and values. You can group data and values with each other in Management Reporter for Microsoft Dynamics ERP to classify and analyze transactions in more detail.

You can use the Insert Rows from Dimensions dialog box to add multiple rows to a row definition at the same time. The dialog box displays one column for each dimension. For each dimension, you can specify the following information.

Option	Description
Dimension	The pattern that identifies the dimension to add to the row definition. This pattern contains one ampersand (&) or number sign (#) for each position in the dimensions. Generally, use all ampersands for the Account dimension and all number signs for other dimensions.
Dimension Range Start	The first value for this dimension to add to the row definition.
Dimension Range End	The last value for this dimension to add to the row definition.

To add dimensions to a row definition, complete the following steps.

1. In Report Designer, click Row Definitions, and then open a row definition to modify. On the Edit menu, click Insert Rows from Dimensions.

2. In the Insert Rows from Dimensions dialog box, in the Dimensions row, select the cell for the dimension to be transferred to the row definition, and then click All &&&.

3. To limit the row definition to a specific range of dimension values, type the starting dimension value in the Dimension Range Start cell, and then type the ending dimension value in the Dimension Range End cell.

   To include all values for the selected dimension, leave these cells empty.

   Note

   Wildcard characters (* or ?) in dimension ranges might not return all of the results that you want, depending on how the ERP database collates data.

4. Select or type a value in the Starting row code field to specify the row code for the first dimension value to be added to the row definition.

5. Select or type a value in the Increment each row by field to specify the gap between consecutive row codes. For example, if the first row code is 100 and the increment value is 30, the first new rows have the codes 100, 130, 160, 190, and 220. Use an increment value that provides space for inserting new format and formula rows.

6. Click OK. One line per selected dimension value is added to the row definition.

Adjust rounding in a row definition

When you have a balance sheet in which the amounts are rounded, totals may be out of balance. You can correct this by using the rounding adjustment option. Rounding is turned off or modified on the Settings tab of the Report Definition.

The following table shows how amounts are rounded. In this table, the totals of rows 100 and 200 differ when rounding is turned on. For example, when you use the rounding option in a balance sheet report and the report definition also specifies rounding, you can use the rounding adjustment option in the row definition to balance the amounts in the balance sheets.

Row code	Amounts without rounding	Amount with rounding to whole thousands
100	3,600	4
200	3,700	4
TOTAL	7,300	8

To adjust rounding in a balance sheet, complete the following steps.

1. In Report Designer, click Row Definitions, and then open the row definition to modify.

2. On the Edit menu, click Rounding Adjustment.

3. In the Rounding Adjustments dialog box, enter the following values:

   • Rounding adjustment row – The row code for the row that will be adjusted to balance the balance sheet.

   • Total assets row – The row code for the row in the balance sheet that contains the total assets.

   • Total liabilities and equity row – The row code for the row in the balance sheet that contains the total liabilities and equity.

   • Adjustment amount limit – The limit, expressed as a positive whole number, on automatic adjustments. This amount is compared with the absolute value of the actual rounding difference.

     Note

     These row codes must be linked to your financial data. In other words, the row must have a dimension value in its Link to Financial Dimensions cell. Do not reference a description (DESC), calculated (CALC), or totaled (TOT) row.

The amounts in your balance sheet will balance evenly when rounding is turned on.

Note

The adjustment limit is applied based on the Rounding precision option that is specified for the report definition. For example, if you select to round your report to thousands and enter 2 in the Adjustment amount limit box, a warning message is displayed when the value identified in the Rounding adjustment row box increases or decreases by more than $2,000.

For more information, see Settings tab settings.

Format row and column text

You can customize the appearance of your reports by changing fonts and formatting text. The following sections explain how to format the appearance of rows and columns in reports.

Manage font styles

You can create and modify font styles for your report and apply these styles to the document or to a specific row or column in a report.

Create a font style

1. In Report Designer, on the Format menu, click Styles and Formatting.

2. Click New in the Styles and Formatting dialog box, and then enter a unique name for the new style.

3. Make your font selections, and then click OK.

Modify a font style

1. In Report Designer, on the Format menu, click Styles and Formatting.

2. Select a style to modify in the Styles and Formatting dialog box, and then click Modify.

3. Make your font selections, and then click OK.

Apply a font style

1. Open Report Designer. In a row definition or column definition, or in headers and footers, select one or more cells.

2. In the Style list on the toolbar, select a font style.

Format row text

The formatting specified in the row definition overrides formatting specified in the column definition and the report definition.

You can modify text format by using the controls on the formatting toolbar. These controls are standard Microsoft Windows controls.

1. In Report Designer, open the row definition to modify.

2. Select the cells to format. To select multiple cells, hold down the Ctrl key while you select the cell.

3. Click the toolbar button of the format to apply. For example, to indent a row, select the row, and then click in the toolbar.

Adjust columns while you design reports

To make it easier to view the columns that you are working on in the row definition, you can adjust the width of a column and hide (minimize) or show columns in the view pane. Any modifications that you make affect the screen appearance only, and do not affect the column formatting in reports. To format the column width for a report, see Format columns.

Change the width of a column in the view pane

1. In Report Designer, open the row definition to modify.

2. On the Format menu, select Column Width.

3. Enter a value in the Column Width dialog box. Click OK.

   You can also drag the right boundary of a column heading cell to change the width of the column.

Hide columns in the view pane

1. In Report Designer, open the row definition to modify.

2. Select the column or columns to minimize.

3. Right-click, and then click Hide.

Show all hidden columns in the view pane

1. In Report Designer open the row definition to modify.

2. Right-click the minimized column that you want to display, and then click Unhide.

See Also

Customizing a transaction detail report

Settings tab settings

Tabular report example