Custom Report Example - Church Directory (V10 and higher)

Versions 10 and higher

One of the most requested custom reports in PowerChurch Plus is the Church Directory. Although every church will want something a little different, following is a short example that will help you with designing your own customized directory.

1. From the Personal Profile menu, select the Custom Reports option.
2. Begin by adding a new query entitled "Custom Church Directory." If this is your first Personal Profiles custom report, you will be automatically prompted for a query title. Otherwise, click Add. After entering your title, click OK.
3. In this example, we will include everyone on our church directory. For our filter, we will pick a field (Household Key Last Name) and click Next Step. Next, choose an operator (Is not empty). Click Done.
4. At this point, you will be prompted: "Do you want to run this query now?" Click Yes.
5. After a short instructional screen, you will be prompted to select fields to show in the query output. Select the following fields: Household Key Last Name, Household Key First Name, Mailing Name, Address Line 1, City + State + Zip/Postal, Family Phone 1, Profile First Name, and Birth Date. To select these fields, simply double click on each name. Click Done when you are finished.
6. Query Overview Window, select Pick Output Type. Now select Report in Form Layout, then click Done.
7. From the Query Overview Window select Edit Sort Order. Since we want to sort by Family, select the following fields in this order: Household Key Last Name, Household Key First Name, Address Line 1, and Directory Sequence. Once these fields have been selected, click Done.
8. Back at the Query Overview Window, deselect Browse Query Results and click Run Query.
9. At the Setup For Form Layout Report, click on the Edit Form button.
10. The first thing we need to do is group each family member to his/her family. To do this, select Data Grouping from the Report menu. Click Add. In the Expression Builder dialog box, enter the following expression: lastname + firstname_a + address. Click OK then OK again.
11. On the Report Layout Screen, you will notice five gray bars: Page Header, Group Header, Detail, Group Footer, and Page Footer. To receive the desired output on this report, we will need to resize these bands. Here's how: Move your mouse over the gray bar labeled Group Header. Your pointer will turn into a small up and down arrow. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the bar down an inch or so. Release the mouse button. You will notice that the white area just above the Group Header is now larger.
12. Next, we will move some of the output fields into the newly resized Group Header band. Click and hold down the mouse while on top of the rectangle that contains the field nameline. Drag the nameline field up to the Group Header band (just above the gray Group Header bar) and position it similar to the figure below. Move the address and city_zip boxes into the Group Header band in the same way. (Note: You may need to resize the Group Header band again.)
13. In this example, we will not need the labels Last Name:, First Name:, Mailing Name:, Address:, City + State + Zip/Postal:, Phone 1:, First Name: and Birth:. To delete them, click on the label box Last Name: and then press the Delete key. Click on the field box First Name: and, again, press the Delete key. Repeat this process for the rest of the labels Address:, City + State + Zip/Postal:, and so on, as noted above in this step
14. Now, we can safely delete the fields called firstname_a, lastname, and qm_space. Slide the data field firstname_b over to the left (to line up with your desired margin) and born to the right of it. This is done by clicking in the field, and while holding the mouse button, slide the field over. Slide the field called phone1 up into the Group Header band, to the right of the existing fields.
15. We will now create a Page Header for this report. Before we begin to add text, resize the Page Header band using the same procedures outlined above. Next, select the Text Tool from the toolbar (the Text Tool contains an uppercase "A"). Move your pointer into the white area above the Page Header bar and click again. Your pointer will now become a blinking cursor. Type the name of your church and then select the Pointer tool from the tool bar. Now, let's change the font used on the church name. Click on the text box that contains your church's name. Then, select Font from the Format menu. Select the font you wish to use and then click OK. (In this example, most fields are Arial 10 point). Repeat the same procedure as you create the remaining four text boxes: "Directory of Families," "Name," "Birth Date," and "Telephone". Move these boxes to their proper locations (as shown above).
16. Some field and text boxes may need to be resized. To do this, first click on a field box to select it. You will notice that small squares appear around the box once it is selected. Position your mouse over one of these small squares, click down, and drag that square to enlarge the box.
17. Finally, you will need to create lines that accent your report. To draw lines, select the Line Tool from the tool bar (the Line Tool looks like a large, off-center plus sign). Next, move your pointer into the Page Header band, just above the Name text box. Click down and drag the pointer toward the right margin. Release the mouse button. You can adjust the length of any line by dragging the small squares located on either side of the line.
18. If you have a scanned graphic of your church's logo available, you can add it to this report by selecting the Picture Tool from the tool bar and then clicking anywhere on the Page Header band. A Report Picture dialog box will then appear. Enter the file name of your graphic and select the"Scale Picture - Retain Shape" bullet. Click OK. The picture will appear wherever you initially clicked. You may need to resize or move the picture.
19. Once you have completed these steps, select Save from the File menu. To close the Report Designer, select Close from the File menu.
20. To print your report, click the Start Report button from the Setup For Form Layout Report window. Remember, some additional adjustments may be required depending on your printer and report layout. Please refer to the Custom Reports section of your PowerChurch Plus manual for additional information.