To print out or not print out?
That is the question...

You can have Advantage save archival copies of all your reports to different directories or even automatically copy and send these reports to various users.

The Printer settings at CDSSYS/PRT can be used to control whether the reports print any actual copies and where the files are saved. You can have the files saved to the run-time user directory, with the date/time stamp included, simply by checking the archive button. If you never want these reports printed out, simply choose “0” as the override number of copies.

You can also specify a directory where the files will be saved in \reports\special_directory\yymm\dd\*.report - by choosing the ‘archive to directory’ function, and specifying the new directory name. This can be very useful for all your nightly/weekly/cycle-end related reports.

At 2005r2 and up, you can make use of the OPR300 automatic distribution feature which allows you to send specific reports either via email or ftp, or to copy the reports to a specific directory. This is very useful for clients with users connected over a wide network.

If you need some reports in a given posting to go to an actual printer, while you only want the others to get saved into the usual folder, you can use the SYSRPT screen (at 2007r1, the SYSRPT screen moved to CDSSYS/RPO)to define the specific printer to use for this report. For example, maybe you would like your ARP237 report to print in the accounting department. You would establish ARP237.REPORT at SYSRPT to be printed to ACCOUNTING_HP7NP (or whatever the name of the printer is you have set up as the accounting printer). This printer must be available on the network for Advantage to "see".

This technical tip was provided by Advantage product guru, Kathie Porter. You can contact Kathie at kport@advantagecs.com.