Memorized Reports

DONATION can memorize both most built-in reports, and Custom Reports (or ones built directly with the Database à SQL Select menu option), for later re-use.

N.B. Memorized reports are not available with the free Lite version of DONATION.

Memorizing Reports

This is done with the Memorize button on the report-viewing window, or the Memorize Report button on the SQL Select window. When you use Memorize from the report-viewing window, it also memorizes any custom Sort or Filter you have added to the report. When you then re-run this memorized report, that same Sort and/or Filter will be automatically re-applied.

For built-in reports, memorizing the Sort and Filter is the main purpose of memorizing reports. And because of this, if a report does not allow for sorting or filtering, or you have not used either Sort or Filter, it will not allow itself to be memorized either, because there is nothing to gain from doing so.

For Custom Reports (or ones built directly with Database à SQL Select), the main purpose of memorizing them is to save having to re-create a custom report each time you use it. It also memorizes the selected Report Type (Normal or Grid), Orientation (Portrait or Landscape) and Report Title. And if you memorize such a report from the report-viewing window, again it also memorizes any custom Sort or Filter you have added.

When you memorize a report from the SQL Select window with the Memorize Report button, it first executes the SQL you have there, to make sure it is valid before saving it. If the report contains arguments for prompting for a date, range of dates, and/or a donation category, you will be prompted for sample values for those arguments as well, because without applying some arguments, it is not possible to tell whether your SQL is valid. Reports will not be memorized if the SQL is invalid, or it does not return any data.

N.B. Any arguments that a report (custom or built-in) prompts you for will not be saved with the memorized report. You will be re-prompted for those arguments when you run the memorized report in the future.

Either Memorize button will prompt you for a file to save the report as, in the Reports subdirectory of the program's Data Directory, with a .rpt file extension. Enter a filename that will help you remember what the report is for. While it is possible to use that standard Save As dialog box to navigate to another directory to save the report in, it is highly recommended that you not do so. (The biggest reason is that the options to Backup and Restore your reports files only work on that one Reports subdirectory.)

In some cases the Memorize button's Save As window will show a suggested filename. In particular, if you are replaying a previously memorized report, or have memorized the same report previously in the same session, the previously used filename will be shown. If that is not the case, and the report has a title, a version of the title (with any characters that are illegal in filenames removed) will be used as the suggested filename. You can of course change any suggested filename to anything else that you want to use. One thing to be particularly careful of is not overwriting previously saved reports with a different report with the same filename. The program does warn you if you are using the same filename a second time, which gives you a chance to change your mind.

Re-running Memorized Reports

To re-run a previously memorized report, use the Reports à Memorized Reports menu option. That brings up the following window:

The normal usage is then to just click the default button, Select and Run Memorized Report, or press Enter which does the same thing. That brings up a file open dialog box, to select a previously memorized .rpt file from the Reports subdirectory of the program's Data Directory. As soon as you select it, any required arguments will be prompted for, and then the report will be displayed in the normal report-viewing window. If it was saved with custom sorts or filters, they will also be executed.

If the report came from Custom Reports or the SQL Select window, rather than being a built-in report, and you wish to edit it further in the SQL Select window, check the checkbox at the top of this window ("Display reports memorized from the Database -> SQL Select window in that window ...") before selecting and running the report. It will then be displayed in that window, as you indicated. That would allow you to edit the SQL, Report Type, Orientation, and/or Title as desired before running it. (And if you do make changes, you might then want to re-memorize it, with the same or a different filename.)

When you are finished with a memorized report in the reports-viewing or SQL Select window, you will be returned back to this Memorized Reports window. You can then run  another memorized report, or close this window with the Close button or ESC.

Backing up and Restoring Memorized Reports

As you can see, the window above also has buttons for backing up and restoring memorized reports. See the link in the previous sentence for details.

The reasons you might want to do this include: