Is there a way to have date report created added to reports as an option?
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No. Reports are valid for the date or date range specified when they are defined. Understand that the content of reports are not saved in Manager. What is saved are the parameters that define a report. The report itself is generated from the database every time it is viewed. So, if you add, delete, or edit a transaction covered by the date range of a report, the report will change the next time it is viewed. Therefore, the date a report is created (defined) is meaningless.
You can get the date the report printed if you make the report using report transformations. Just add this line:
{{ “today” | date: “%yy-%m-%d %hh:%mm” }}
However I agree this should be there by default.
@Tut, since we now have history the date and time would be helpful to reconcile printed reports to the current version because any printed report would reflect a true snapshot of the report at the time.
I think this is a very good idea, a small change with possibly huge benefits.
Please consider adding this to ideas.
Printing (and generating PDFs) are not recorded in the History file because those actions do not affect the database. Defining a new report is recorded in the History file. So if you want to register a print date, you need to include it in the description or title of the report. A couple reports also have notes or footer fields.
True, but the report still gives a true snapshot at that date. I’m going to give an extreme example here, but please oblige me for a moment. What if you needed to get the breakdown of that snapshot? Just backup the business and undo all history past the date of the report and you got yourself a dynamic version of that report.
Maybe this is not useful for everyone but if you consider its cost to implement, maybe you can see the value.
Being able to add a date variable (updated at report printing time) to the header or footer is the solution most programs adopt.
I’m not sure how hard it would be to add it to Manager
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Manager itself currently has no internal print capability. The Print button calls an outside driver. If you are using the server or cloud editions, it will use your browser’s driver, which may include the ability to add headers, footers, date stamps, etc.
No need for manager to print anything, just include current date time in the liquid code of all reports.
Sorry about my ambiguous terminology. I was meaning “print” in a general sense to cover any static document generation including print, email or pdf generation
Edit
Actually thinking more about it, I would like Manager to add a footer to “printed” documents showing something like
“Northwind 29/10/2020 (Manager v20.10.53)”
Which records the Manager business file name, date the document was produces and software version used to create it. It also provides some viral advertising for Manager. White labeled versions may need to have “Manager” replaced with “SW” or “software”
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