Format

<p>This allows you to define the format of the output. Simply click on your 
preferred output format to determine whether you would like the report 
output in Web format, to PDF, CSV, as XML or Excel.</p>

<img class="screenshot" src="http://www.tri-line.com/common/img/documentation/tim_enterprise/formats.png" alt="Formats" />

<p>To select, simply click on your chosen format from the list as
 shown above. Note that any report can be run several times with 
different formats selected for the output if required.</p>

<table class="confluenceTable">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th class="confluenceTh" width=196>Format</th>
			<th class="confluenceTh">Description</th>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td class="confluenceTd"><img class="icon" src="http://www.tri-line.com/common/img/documentation/tim_enterprise/web_icon.gif" /> <b>Web</b></td>
			<td class="confluenceTd">When a report is run, its output is displayed in the Report Output 
				window, which is a mini web-browser containing the HTML output generated
				 by the report engine. It is the common interface for all reports.  The
				 report body is shown in a window that can be panned around by using the
				 horizontal and vertical scrollbars. If the report is made up of 
				multiple pages, you can navigate it by using the <span class="button no_margin">Back</span> and <span class="button no_margin">Fwd</span> buttons at
				 the bottom.  You can print the report by pressing the <span class="button no_margin">Print</span> button, or 
				save the report to an HTML file by pressing the <span class="button no_margin">Save</span> button and choosing
				 a filename and location.
				<p>Universally-accessible, this format provides clickable column headers 
				for dynamic sorting of table data, with clean graphical charts in the 
				popular Flash format, so you can zoom into them for more detail.  Each 
				report is fully customisable - right down to the individual table 
				fields.  To view these reports, all that's needed is your favourite web 
				browser - with no need for obscure add-ons!</p>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td class="confluenceTd"><img class="icon" src="http://www.tri-line.com/common/img/documentation/tim_enterprise/pdf_icon.gif" /> <b>PDF <br/>(Portable Document Format)</b></td>
			<td class="confluenceTd">PDF is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document 
				exchange.  PDF is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a 
				manner independent of the application software, hardware, and operating 
				system.

				<p>PDFs will run over several pages depending on the report selected. 
				Because of the nature of PDF reports, headers are fixed and not 
				selectable as in web reports above.  You may however pre-sort before 
				running or scheduling using the filters available in the <span class="reference">Options</span> 
				section. PDFs are ideal for producing reports like <span class="reference">Phone Bills</span>. PDFs 
				are ideal when distributing to colleagues inside and outside of your 
				organisation - while guaranteeing they'll look identical across all 
				operating systems when viewed on the screen or printed out.</p>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td class="confluenceTd"><img class="icon" src="http://www.tri-line.com/common/img/documentation/tim_enterprise/xml_icon.gif" /> <b>XML <br/>(Extensible Markup Language)</b></td>
			<td class="confluenceTd">XMLs purpose is to aid information systems in sharing structured data, 
				especially via the internet, to encode documents and to serialise data. XML, in combination with other standards, makes it possible to define 
				the content of a document separately from its formatting, making it easy
				 to reuse that content in other applications or for other presentation 
				environments. Most importantly, XML provides a basic syntax that can be 
				used to share information between different kinds of computers, 
				different applications, and different organizations without needing to 
				pass through many layers of conversion.

				<p>Since all reports are derived from this native format, we pack each one 
				with all the data you'd ever need, so you'll always be able to extract 
				the report data into your favourite reporting packages, such as Business
				 Objects, Crystal Reports, or even your favourite Office spreadsheet.</p>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td class="confluenceTd"><img class="icon" src="http://www.tri-line.com/common/img/documentation/tim_enterprise/csv_icon.gif" /> <b>CSV <br/>(Comma Separated Values)</b></td>
			<td class="confluenceTd">A CSV file is used for the digital storage of data structured in a table
				 of lists form, where each associated item (member) in a group is in 
				association with others also separated by the commas of its set. Each 
				line in the CSV file corresponds to a row in the table. Within a line, 
				fields are separated by commas, each field belonging to one table 
				column. CSV files are often used for moving tabular data between two 
				different computer programs, for example between a database program and a
				 spreadsheet program.

				<p>This option is ideal for interacting with your own back office systems, 
				all CSV data is fully customisable using XSLT from the report's original
				 XML format.</p>
			</td>
		</tr>
		
		<tr>
			<td class="confluenceTd"><img class="icon" src="http://www.tri-line.com/common/img/documentation/tim_enterprise/excel_icon.gif" /> <b>Excel</b></td>
			<td class="confluenceTd">Select Excel as your preferred report format, if you would like to 
				manipulate the data and possibly integrate with data in other Excel 
				spreadsheets.
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>