Report Designer
The Report Designer builds printable and export-oriented business outputs. It is useful when users need a report layout that is more controlled than a dashboard and more document-like than a normal page.
When to Use It
Use Report Designer for:
- Financial summaries
- Operational daily or weekly reports
- Customer-facing exports
- Approval packets
- Printable tables with headers and footers
- Reports that need PDF or spreadsheet export
Use Dashboard Designer for interactive monitoring. Use Page Designer for CRUD workflows.
Workspace
Report Designer uses a structured authoring workspace:
| Area | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Block palette | Add tables, charts, text, summary cards, header/footer blocks |
| Page canvas | Arrange content on a print-like page |
| Property panel | Configure data source, formatting, columns, grouping, and export behavior |
| Toolbar | Save, preview, export, and settings |
The report output should be predictable at fixed page widths, especially when exported.
Block Types
| Block | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Data table | Rows from a model or query |
| Grouped table | Data grouped by one or more dimensions |
| Cross-tab | Matrix-style summarized data |
| Stat card | Highlighted value or total |
| Chart | Visual summary within the report |
| Rich text | Static explanation or section notes |
| Header/footer | Repeated page bands |
| Barcode or QR-style code | Operational identifiers when enabled |
| Watermark | Draft, confidential, or approval state marker |
Not every deployment enables every block, but the metadata model should remain block-based.
Data Sources
Reports should read from stable sources:
- Model list queries
- Named queries
- Aggregated metrics
- Runtime page context
- Approved API-backed data sources
For reports used in audits or finance, prefer named queries so data logic can be reviewed outside the visual layout.
Layout Guidance
- Keep report titles and date ranges visible at the top
- Use page headers for company or document identity
- Keep dense tables readable at print width
- Avoid tiny chart legends
- Use consistent number and date formats
- Preview with long labels and large row counts
Reports often fail because the happy path data is too small. Test with realistic long text and maximum expected rows.
Export Behavior
Export requirements should be part of the design, not an afterthought.
| Format | Watch for |
|---|---|
| Page breaks, headers, footers, chart rendering | |
| Excel | Column names, data types, grouped rows |
| HTML view | Responsive behavior and permission checks |
When a report is used as a legal or customer-facing artifact, keep a versioned definition of the layout.