Consolidating Unrelated Data into One Report
A union report is used to merge rows of data from different sources into a single report. The union report has pointers to other reports which it runs out raw data from sequentially into a single workbook. The other reports are referred to as union sub reports when referenced in a union report. The union report can have its own template file specified, in which case the template files of the union sub reports are not used.
Creating a Union Report:
1. Right-click on a folder and select Add Report.
2. Select Union Report.
3. You will be prompted for the reports to include as union sub reports. Select one or more existing reports.
4. To add subsequent union sub reports to the union report:
a. Double-click on the union report.
b. Select the object Union Sub Reports.
c. Right-click and select Add Union Sub Reports.
NOTE: A union report will simply pull the raw data from all union sub reports and sequentially output the data sets into the output workbook. All properties set on the source reports are ineffective when they are run as union sub reports in a union report. All filtering and sorting logic is applied to each union sub report before it is output into the union report template and the logic between union sub reports is unrelated.
NOTE: By default the data from the union sub reports will be output into the same worksheet. This behavior can be overridden though by setting the output sheet property for the individual union sub reports.
Setting the Output Sheet Property:
1. Double-click on the union report in the object window.
2. Double-click on Union Sub Reports.
3. Select each union sub report and in the properties window, set the output sheet property to the number of the sheet to output the data to (for example, 1 for the left most sheet in the book).
NOTE: The specified output sheet must exist in the union reports output template.
TIPS:
- If the data is configured (or defaulted) to the same sheet for the sub reports then it makes sense that the data is comparable. Although you could specify any reports to be sub reports, it only makes sense to specify sub reports that have comparable data and with the corresponding display fields laid out in the same order in all the sub reports to go to the same output sheet, so that in the final workbook there is like data in each column. If the data is not similar then it should be output to different sheets.
- Union Sub reports run in reverse order (LIFO) within a union report.
- Place all parameters on the first union sub report which runs. Should filtering be required on subsequent sub reports, Pass Through Variables can be used to pass these values to filters in the sub reports. This will eliminate parameter pop ups later in the run process.
