How To Create An RTF Report
This document explains creating letters in an RTF format and
using Collect! to print them. This procedure uses your word
processor for the final output.
If you have a letter in MS Word, or some other program that
can save to an RTF file, you can bring the report into Collect!
and print it when you are on an account, or have several
accounts tagged. When the original RTF report is designed,
the same printable information codes used in Collect!'s
Report Writer are used, so that data from your accounts is
printed in the report. Please refer to the samples
shipped with Collect!
RTF's provide a great way to produce a letter quickly
without being very familiar with Collect!'s Report Writer.
For best results, use RTF reports for simple letters. Lists,
headers and footers may not be handled the way you expect
and they may slow down the printing process. RTF's are
meant to be used for printing single letters or small batches
of letters.
Creating The RTF File
1. Start your word processor.
WordPad is recommended for this example. If you
use MS Word, please ensure that you do not include
any "fancy" formatting and that you save the sample
as an RTF file!
2. Create a new blank document and begin to enter
your text. As an example, type in the following line.
This is a debtor's name: @de.na<
This line contains a printable information
field, @de.na, to pull the Debtor Name
from the database into your report.
This will print this is a debtor's name:
followed by the Name of the Debtor whose account you
have open in Collect! when you run the report.
3. This is enough text to demonstrate how RTF's work.
So let's save the document to an *.rtf file.
From the top menu bar, select File
and then select Save As from the drop-down
choices. This will open the Save As window
in your word processor, i.e. WordPad.
Ensure you have Rich Text Format(RTF)
selected in the field labeled Save as type.
Type a name for this report in the field labeled File
name.
Select Desktop the location in the field
labeled Save in. This will place the new
RTF file on your computer's Desktop. This is the easiest
place find it later.
Select the Save button.
You have now created your RTF report.
Importing The RTF Report
The RTF report is imported into Collect! in the same manner
as an ordinary *.rpt report created in Collect!'s Report Writer.
If you are not familiar with importing reports into
Collect!, please refer to How To Import A Report for the
complete steps.
After you have successfully imported your RTF report into
Collect! there are a few setup steps to take to prepare the
report for printing.
1. Select Print from the top menu bar and then
select Edit Reports from the drop-down choices. This will
display the list of all reports in Collect!.
2. Scroll through the list of reports until you find the RTF report
you imported.
3. Select the RTF report to open the Report Definition for the
report.
4. Select Debtor from the Start On
field pick list.
The RTF report may be edited by selecting the Report Body.
This will open the word processor you created the report in,
i.e. WordPad. Then you can save your changes and they
will automatically be saved in Collect!. There is no need to
import the report again after modifications.
If you have a letter that you previously created in
MS Word, try saving it as RTF to preserve whatever formatting
you can and open it in Word Pad to edit it for use with Collect!.
Troubleshooting RTF
If you attempt to edit an RTF report in Collect! and this opens
MS Word, you may want to edit your Windows file associations
so that *.rtf files are opened with WordPad. This keeps the
formatting simple as you get started and may prevent erratic
results. Please refer to Windows documentation
on Associate a file extension with a file
type or ask your technician to create this file
association for you.
If you have large volumes of letters to print, it is recommended
that you use Collect!'s Report Writer. Every time an RTF report
is printed, a file is created and sent to the printer. For this
reason, RTF reports are not recommended for printing large
batches of letters, especially on a network, as this would mean
creating very many files. This large volume would be very time
consuming for your printer and may slow down your network.
On the other hand, printing a large batch of reports created in
Collect! only creates one file to send to the printer. This is
much faster. For large companies and large batches, using
Collect!'s Report Writer is a much more efficient choice.
Please look through the pre-defined reports and
letters. You will find sample reports listed with code snippets
illustrating many report writing topics. As well, Collect! ships
with many report samples complete with code and our web
site always has new offerings.
See Also
- Report Sample to view sample reports and letters
- Report Topics Index for a list of all report and letter topics
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