Web Host Processes - Report And Import

*** ADVANCED TOPIC ***

The Web Host process uses reports and imports, two basic Collect! functions. Collect!'s Report Writer is used in combination with HTML to create pages for displaying in your browser. Database records are easily and seamlessly edited and added to your database from the Web Host using Collect!'s import routines.

The sample Web Host may be used as is, or its interface and functions can be customized to suit your needs. This requires understanding of HTML, Javascript, CSS style sheets, and Collect!'s Report Writer codes, and familiarity with creating import maps in Collect!

The Web Host acts as a submission FORM process. It uses the HTML form tag to submit information to Collect! which Collect! then acts upon.

There are two types of form actions used, report and import.

Here is a report example:

<form method="post" name="formname" action="report">
<input type="hidden" name="reportname" value="ClientDebtorDrillDownNotes">
<input type="hidden" name="filename" value="clientdebtordrilldownnotes.html">
<input type="button" name="submitbutton" value="Submit" onClick="submit()">
</form>

The action property tells Collect! to handle the form request as a report. The reportname input tag tells Collect! to run the report named in the value property, ClientDebtorDrillDownNotes. The filename input tag tells Collect! to create an HTML file named in the value property, clientdebtordrilldownnotes.html. These generated HTML pages are created in the operator ID folder, for example, html\ user\98\CL1.

Here is an import example:

<form method="post" name="importname" action="import">
<input type="hidden" name="importmap" value=" Client Add Debtor">
<input type="button" name="submitbutton" value="Submit" onClick="submit()">
</form>

The action property tells Collect! to handle the form request as an import. The importmap input tag tells Collect! to use the import map named in thevalue property, Client Add Debtor.

Report Forms

The report forms submit data to Collect! which in turn calls a report to be run to the browser. Report forms can submit an empty form to call a report or they may contain input tags to transfer data to the next report. The next report would need to contain variables to store the transferred data. When transferring this data, the input tag name must be the same name as the variable used in the next report.

Input tags are always of type string.

Example of transferring data through reports:

Report1 Snippet

<form method="post" name="formname" action="report">
<input type="hidden" name="reportname" value="TestReport">
<input type="hidden" name="filename" value="testreport.html">
<input type="hidden" name="vardocument" value="test">
<input type="button" name="submitbutton" value="Submit" onClick="submit()">
</form>

This code presents the Web Host user with an HTML page that has a Submit button.

Submit Button

TestReport Snippet

If you have an HTML report in the Web Host Report Definitions named TestReport and it contains this line of code,

@vardocument

then, when the Submit button is pressed on the Report1 page, the HTML page, testreport.html, would be returned to the user, with the string "test" displayed in the browser.

TestReport Results

Transferring data through reports can be very useful. They can be used in report writer loops for date ranges, file number ranges, and other data. They can be used in your HTML tags or scripting.

When you use variables in reports, you can also identify database address of a specific record. Each database record has a dbaddress attribute, for example, @de.dbaddress. This address is stored as a 21 character length address When used with the @SET command, for example, @SETde.dbaddress, Collect! will jump to that address location. This is a more efficient way of finding the record, than using a loop with a MAX = 1 as in @de no total where (@de.fi = @varaddress) max = 1

Example of using @SETde.dbaddress through report forms:

Report2 Snippet

<form method="post" name="formname" action="report">
<input type="hidden" name="reportname" value="TestReport2">
<input type="hidden" name="filename" value="testreport2.html">
<input type="hidden" name="varaddress" value="@de.dbaddress<">
<input type="button" name="submitbutton" value="Submit" onClick="submit()">
</form>

TestReport2 Snippet

//this should always be used at the top of the report @SETde.dbaddress = @varaddress<

Please refer to How To Get And Set DbAddress In Reports for details of using database address in your reports.

Import Forms

The import forms submit data to Collect! to be imported into the database. The process submits the form which Collect! then parses to create a *.csv file. This *.csv file is then imported by Collect! These *.csv files are stored in the operator ID folder, for example, demodb\html\user\98\CL1.

Each input tag used in an import form must be mapped to in the import map. They must also be mapped to in order. The only input tag excluded is the importmap input tag.

Example of Client Add Debtor

// This code snippet was modified from the ClientAddNewDebtor // report in Collect!'s Web Host reports

Report3 Snippet

<form method="post" name="importname" action="import">
<input type="hidden" name="importmap" value="Client Add Debtor">
<input type="text" name="clientaccountid" size="20" maxlength="20">
<input type="text" name="companylastname" size="40" maxlength="40">
<input type="text" name="firstname" size="15" maxlength="20">
<input type="text" name="contactname" size="40" maxlength="40">
<input type="text" name="address" size="31" maxlength="31">
<input type="button" name="submitbutton" value="Submit" onClick="submit()">
</form>

The Client Add Debtor import map maps each one of the above input tags in the same order as the report snippet.

Client Add Debtor Import Map

Troubleshooting

If you find that data is not being imported correctly, always view the *.csv file first.

If the *.csv file does not match your import map, then there is something wrong with the input tags.

If the *.csv file is correct, then look over your import map.

See Also

- Web Host Introduction
- Web Host Topics
- How To Design HTML Reports