Progress
Report Builder
User’s Guide


Form Letter Basics

To create a form letter, Report Builder combines information from a memo file with the other report information in the report definition. A memo file is an unformatted text file that contains the text for the letter. Unformatted means that the file does not contain format information from the text editor or word processing program in which you created or edited the file. When you save a file with a text editor or word processing program, the program saves formatting codes at the beginning of the file even if you do not specify any formatting information such as fonts or styles. To save a file without any formatting information, you must save the file as a text only or unformatted ASCII file. If the memo file does contain any format information, Report Builder cannot use the file.

Before Report Builder can access the information in the memo file, you must attach the memo file to the report definition. Figure 14–1 illustrates how Report Builder uses memo files.

Figure 14–1: How Report Builder Uses Memo Files

The information in a memo file is grouped into memo fields. A memo field is a portion of text that you identify in the memo file and include in the report layout. You include memo fields in the report layout as you would any other type of field. Figure 14–2 illustrates how Report Builder incorporates memo fields on the report layout.

Figure 14–2: How Report Builder Incorporates Memo Fields

Notice in Figure 14–2 that you can include more than one memo field in a memo file. You can also combine the text in a memo field with data from fields in a database.


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