I have succesfully created a custom report for cost and sale price, integrating it with all of our spreadsheet formulas. Now my question is - Is there a way to automatically seperate each category of equipment into their own sections (audio, video, control, misc.)? My first guess is to use the function attribute for each symbol. But I'm not sure how I would get excel to organize them... is there a sort funtion for reports? For instance, output all video items first, audio second, etc. I definitely have other questions, but I shall end today's work with this one.

After some thought I was wondering if you could set the excel spreadsheet to call ONLY specific items that have certain attributes... for instance - I have 10 symbols with the function [attribute] of audio and ten with the function of video... can I have one row of the spreadsheet include all 10 audio items (or exclude all video) and vise-versa for a SEPERATE line a few rows down. I read in the FAQ that "The named ranges must be placed in a single row and "Detail_" and "Summary_" ranges should never be mixed in a template." And now that I think about it, I can't see of a way you could use multiple instances of each identifier... but maybe you could split the page somehow in excel?? Maybe there's a feature that I don't know about that you could clue me in on. Just throwing out some ideas to see if they help... Oh well, I'll think it over tonight and get back to working on it tomorrow. Thanks again for any help.

Hi Adam,

Yes, you can Sort and Subtotal the report.  These are common Excel functions found under the Data menu which are already exploited in certain default Stardraw report templates; the key to identifying these reports is the word 'by' e.g. 'Price Summary by System' - this indicates that a summary of price attributes will be sorted by the value of the System attribute and Price Summaries will be subtotalled.

In the same way that you define which attribute is put into what cell in the report by using a Named Range, so too you define the Attributes by which Excel sorts the report.  Excel can sort using up to three columns and in the attached template and report you will see ranges named "Sort01", "Sort02" and "Sort03" (in Excel select Insert | Name | Define...  then choose one of the Sort ranges and click on  to see where it has been defined). 

Subtotals can be used, for example, to sum the Total Price values.  To do this select the data area including column headings (in the template "Price Summary by System.xlt" this is A9:G11) and select Data | Subtotals... You will see that for every change in the value of the System column, the Total Price values will be summed and inserted.

When you view the report (Price Summary by System.xls) you will notice on the left a '1', '2' and '3' that allow you to expand and collapse the report to show, for example, Subtotals only.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind regards

Rob Robinson

Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com