Report Setup

The Reports option under the Job Configuration menu allows the company to configure the Reports menu that exists under the main Eralis Job menu. Within the setup option, the company can add or remove items from the menu. This includes the ability to add or remove sub-menus to the main Reports menu. The menu items that can be added include: 

1. Reports – New reports 
2. Executables – The launching of applications 
3. Sub-menus – Sub-menu structures 

Note: The Reports menu option is specifically for the setup of reports written in the Eralis report writer (ERW) or executables. It is not intended for reports written in Crystal. For reports written in Crystal, the standard SAP Business One Report and Layout Manager can be used to link the report to the Eralis Job Reports menu - see instructions at the end of this article.

When the user first accesses the reports setup, they are presented with a grid that displays all the items within the reports menu. The grid is editable and changes can be made directly to the grid. By double clicking on the line, a new form is opened which provides a more user-friendly interface for editing the entry. This is the same form that it is used when the user clicks on the Add button to add a new entry. The Remove button removes the entry from the grid, but it will not delete the source report layout file. The file will remain intact and can be added to the menu again if required.  

The reports setup window provides all the details that need to be configured to add or update an item on the reports menu. The first field, the Type field, defines the type of the item that is being created. The options that are available are: 

1. Report – This indicates that a new report is to be added to the menu. This option is specific to the Eralis report writer based reports and not Crystal reports. 
2. Group – This implies that a new sub-menu needs to be created. If the type is set to group, the path and description fields that are discussed below are not relevant and become read only.  
3. Execution – This allows the company to add a file that can be executed directly from the menu such as excel spreadsheets, documents or project plans. 

The Name field displays the actual name that will be viewed on the menu.  

The Path field holds the path to the file that needs to be linked to the menu item. This can be a .rtm file if the item that is being launched is an Eralis report writer report, or any other file that needs to be executed. Please be aware that the path is relative to each client machine. If something is linked to a local drive, then that item must exist on the local drive of every client. It is better to use a shared network folder to hold all the files that need to be executed to ensure that all clients have access to the source file. UNC paths are supported. 

The Description is a simple description of the report, it is not displayed on the menu and is purely for reference purposes. 

The Parent Group is a list of sub-menus that have been configured to allow the company to determine where the menu item should sit on the reports menu. If no parent is specified (the option is left with the default value of None), the menu item will reside directly under the main reports menu. When creating a group or sub-menu, you can go down multiple layers. For example, you can have a sub-menu of a sub-menu. 

The Active field determines whether the item is visible on the menu or not. If you make a group or sub-menu inactive, all the items below that level will not be visible on the reports menu. 

Using Report and Layout Manager to link Crystal reports to Eralis Menus

To put Crystal reports onto the Eralis menus in SAP Business One is a 2-step process:

1. Import the Crystal report using SAP’s Report and Layout Manager.  Due to a quirk in the SDK, the Eralis menus will not show as a valid destination path, so place the report under any existing SAP menu.
2. Now go back in to edit the report, and you will be able to move it to one of the Eralis menus via the ‘menu location’ field.