Report Conversion

Screenshots and diagrams on this page illustrate the historical desktop tools or conversion workflow; installed versions may look different.

The main difference between Report Builder and List & Label is the underlying architecture. Report Builder is based on a line-based approach and can only handle one result set for a report. List & Label follows a page-oriented structure and can host a report container on a page which in turn can contain a number of tables, graphs or cross tabs. When a report is converted from Report Builder to List & Label, Ice Porter creates a report container automatically and places a table object inside the report container. Most Report Builder elements are ported to elements inside the table of the report container.

While this is a good mapping between the old and new reporting system, it comes with a number of drawbacks especially in the area of page header, footer, and the report header. Ice Porter has project properties that define how such sections should be handled during conversion. Please consult the Ice Porter manual for further information.

Screenshot of the Report Builder report designer

Despite their different layout models, both systems can receive application-supplied data. The data is usually passed manually just as in Report Builder. Therefore, most items from the legacy reports can be ported to the new platform with similar or identical settings.

Screenshot of the List & Label report designer, whose redistribution depends on the licensed edition

Totals

List & Label has so called "sum variables" which are used to replace the running totals from Report Builder.

Totals and Section Timing

Verify each sum variable's scope and reset condition. A group subtotal, page subtotal, and report grand total are different calculations even when they use the same source field. Test a group that spans a page, a one-row group, and an empty report. See Unsupported Features for manual conversion work.