Overview |
Top Previous Next |
NOTICE:
These features are considered to be advanced development tools built in the program and are documented sufficiently for an experienced programmer or someone proficient with database design. Some sample forms and reports are provided which can be used as-is, modified for your needs, or studied as examples.
Our normal technical support will answer basic questions about the capabilities of these functions, but we cannot explain detailed examples or provide training for expressions programming, or debug changes that you've made. It can take some time to learn the details of these functions, even for experienced programmers, since they use a unique "language".
Queries are at the core of most reporting functionality. At the most basic level, a Query is defined as a data filter and a number of data extraction (field selection and formatting) specifications. In Campground Master, a query is typically represented by a grid with data in it.
Any of the Tab views (except the Map view of course), and just about every report or grid view available in Campground Master could be considered a Query even though they're built-in functions. Although these are programmed internally for the benefit of speed, you could reproduce any of them using the Query definition functionality. In some cases you may want to do just that, with minor modifications to suit your own specific needs. However if it's one of the Tab views you want to modify, there's no need to recreate the whole Query -- just create a Query with the special information columns you need to add on to the standard columns available, and select that Query as an Add-on Query in the Tab's Option function.
When any Queries are defined, you may also have a Query Tab view. Here you can select any query to be shown on the Tab, and optionally select start and end dates for filtering and possibly enter search text to use in the filtering (making it a kind of "Find" function).
Query Types
There are two general types of Query in Campground Master -- List Queries and Cross-Table Queries.
A List Query is like the Arrivals Tab View -- it's a list of records (specified by a filter definition) and a number of Query Column definitions which specify what fields or calculated information to show for each record. The column definitions can include custom formatting and color coding by Color Schemes (including the headings), and custom sorting rules. You can also select an expression to be shown for a pop-up tip (when the mouse is held over a cell), as well as a double-click action. This makes them interactive, and thus more useful than just a static report.
A Cross-Table Query is like a Transaction summary report or the Rack view -- it's also generated from a list of records, but instead of showing a single record in each row (with various details in each column) it shows calculated information in a cross-table, where the records used for the calculation of each cell of the table are filtered by two additional conditions -- one for rows and one for columns. You can specify nearly any kind of grouping you want for both the rows and the columns, making it easy to cross-correlate information in various combinations. This allows for much more creativity than just showing information by date.
Additional Topics:
Data Field Definitions (adding & modifying data fields)
Advanced Customizations Overview & other topics