Reports and Their Properties in M-Files Desktop

When a report has been created, it can be retrieved for use in M-Files Desktop. For the reports to be displayed in M-Files, .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 or .NET Framework 4.0 must be installed. .NET Framework Client Profile is also a suitable solution. When necessary, M-Files will suggest installation, if the installation is possible.

Create a new Report object for the report in M-Files Desktop (note that you must have rights to create objects of the Report type). Specify the report properties:

Report name

Give as descriptive a name as possible for the report.

Report URL

Give the URL that will be used for retrieving the report from the reporting services to M-Files. The URL is of the form "http://servername/instance?/report_path". The same URL can be used to retrieve the report in the browser. Note, however, that this address will not be displayed in the browser's address field after opening of the report. For more information, please contact M-Files customer support.

Binding the report to a view

You can bind the report to, for example, the view Sales by customer or Proposals by salesperson.

With the Reports function in the View menu, you can bind the report to the view and specify its location. If you want this setting to apply for all users, select the option Common to all users in the view settings. In order to define a common view, however, you need document vault permissions for managing the document vault's common views.

Associating the report object with other objects

You can associate the Report object with other objects, such as Customers. As specified in the reporting services settings, you can display the report data by customer by selecting a customer from the list. Then M-Files will show the data (for instance sales by month) for only this specific customer in the report. When you select another customer, the report will be updated with data related to the second customer.

Bringing the report up to date

The data in the report will be based on the latest data from M-Files to the reporting service. The data can exported either manually or on a scheduled basis. If a separate update link was created for this report in the reporting services, the report can be updated whenever desired via M-Files Desktop. For more information, please contact M-Files customer support.

Export function

You can export the report as-is to various file formats (for example PDF, Word and XML formats).