Make Column Reports

Laser Calendars allow you to print 3 different types of reports that look like calendars. They allow you to select the kinds of Events to print and how to format them. Laser Calendars are completely user definable, so each user can create their own layout.

The Year layout prints 12 "little calendars" as borders down the sides of a page with your Events down the center. Months appear as headings, and one line of data is printed for each Event. By default the fields displayed after the Time are: What, Name, Matter and Note. The Year is commonly used with a Query to show only trial dates for a year.

The Month layout gives the month name as a heading, then shows a wall-calendar style calendar for the entire month. By default the fields displayed for each Event are: time, What, and Name. The Name may appear on a second line if there is not enough room on the first.

The Week(s) calendar heading for a one-week report shows "Week of..." plus the starting date. For multiple weeks it has the number of weeks to be shows plus the start and end date. A one week calendar will have the tallest boxes and show the most Events for one day.

These 3 report types have almost identical setup/layout screens.

To add a new Laser Month go to File|Reports|Events(Calendars). You will see either one of these 2 screens:

If you see the first screen, click on the Report button and you will see the second screen. This is a list of the existing Events reports. Click on the Add button. You will be prompted to give the report a name. You can call it anything. It's a good idea to give the report a name indicative of what it is. You will then be prompted to select a report type. Select Monthly Laser Calendar. You will see the following screen:

This report, as is, will print the What field and the Last name field from each Event. You can see an example of what data will print for each record at the top of the screen, next to the Example button. If you want to print more information for each event, click on the Add button. It will ask Add to line1 or 2? Each Event that the report prints is allowed 2 lines, it wants to know if you want it on the first or second line of that record when the report prints. You will then see the following screen:

This is a list of all your Events fields. You can select fields from Events or you can select fields from other databases Notice in the upper right hand corner there is a box called Database. Event reports allow you to "pull" information from other databases.The Last name, for example, is actually information coming from the Names database. The most common addition is the name of the Matter. Click the down arrow and you will see a list of the other databases that you can go to for field selection. Click on Matters. You will then see a list of fields for Matters. Click on Matter/Case Name then Click OK. It will then appear on your report layout:

Also notice that your Example has added the name of the Matter to your example line. You can click on Add to add additional fields if you wish. You need to keep in mind the space constraints of the individual boxes that make up the month calendar.

On the right you see several other settings.
What type of report.
Number of weeks (0 is the setting for a Laser Month).
Orientation portrait or landscape.
Letter or legal page size.
Start day (1=Sunday,2=Monday, etc.).
# of days to print, 5 for just Monday thru Friday or 7 for Sunday through Saturday.
Separate with: means that you can put a space or a line ormultiple lines between each printed record.
Scroll 2nd line means that if your last field on Line 2 islonger than will fit, it will wrap to the next line.

Once you have added the fields you want and you have customized the layout to your satisfaction, Click on OK and this report will now be available for printing. It will now appear as a choice on your list of Event reports. Click on OK and you will see the following screen:

You can select a Query (covered in another document) to limit the type of records that you want printed. You can select a Who code to limit the report to print just one attorney's Events. The interval on a Laser Month report will always default to This Month. the Output to allows you to print to your computer screen, paper or files. If you print to your screen or printer you will see a report similar to this:

The Laser Week setup is exactly the same. It prints for only 1 week in 5 columns, which allow more data per day. The Laser Year setup is almost the same. Remember, the amount of data per record will be limited.