Defining Criteria
The Report Criteria window allows you to define a series of expressions to filter your report data. Each row in the Report Criteria window allows you to define an expression that indicates which records to include or exclude from the report. The more expressions that are defined, the more filtered your results will be. Values that are left blank are ignored when the report is run.
If you need to add an expression based on a field that is not displayed in the window, you can create custom criteria using the More link in the bottom-right part of the window.
The fields that are listed in the window are those that would be commonly used in generating the report. For each field listed, prompts are provided to create a logical expression to filter your data. Each expression that is used to define your criteria has three parts:
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The field on which the expression will be based
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The control that defines the relationship between the field and the value. This control can also be thought of as determining how the field will be evaluated.
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The value that the expression must match
The options that are available in the fields and the choices available for the value depend on the type of field. Maintenance Connection provides you with logical choices, dependent on the field type.
Examples and instructions for each field type are in the sections that follow:
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Text Fields: The majority of fields in the system are text fields that contain text or character data. Some text fields are validated and can only have specific values (such as Priority or Department), while others allow free-form entry (such as reason/description, Model, and Serial #).
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Numeric Field: Numeric fields contain only numeric data.
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Date Fields: Date fields contain only properly formatted dates.
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Indicator Fields: Indicators are fields that have a yes or no value, typically marked through check boxes or option buttons on data entry pages. Indicators that are selected have yes values.
In the Report Criteria window, indicator fields have a question mark (?) at the end of the field name. Examples of indicators include: Assigned?, Open? Warranty?, or Printed/Emailed?
