Big Rules for Writing Report Writer Reports

Things to avoid to make sure your reports work

If you follow these few rules, your reports have a better chance of running well and running faster.

1. Never Remove the Columns that are added automatically.  Hide them (that is, uncheck the 'V' column).  Do not remove them.
2. Never use a Magic Getter on the left side of a link.  Magic Getter columns cannot appear on the left side of a link on the Define Linked Column screen.  NEVER link on a Magic Getter field.  Magic Getters exist only in the ReportWriter: they do not exist in the actual database.  You cannot use them on the left side of a link because they do not actually exist in the database.
3. Minimize the number of queries:  Multiple columns that pull from the same table should always – when possible - have the exact same links in the exact same order.  This allows all of the fields to be extracted from the table in one query.  If you change the links or the order of the links, extra queries will be done.  If the links are exactly the same and in the same order the ReportWriter “knows” not to make an extra query to get the additional column(s) of information.
4. NEVER move linked columns.  This can break them and then they look right but simply will not work right.  If a linked column simply “does not work” even though it looks perfectly fine, it has likely been moved around.  There is no fix:  you must remove the column and recreate it.  This may mean you have to remove a whole series of columns:  do not move linked columns.
5. Never change the Base Table of a Report. If you 'guessed wrong' and need to use a different table as your Base Table, delete the report and start over: do not try to modify the Base Table.