How to write a Mailing Label report

Mailing Label

Introduction
A Mailing Label report is a list of addresses designed to be generated on mailing labels. The addresses can be printed across the page, and then down or vice versa.

Hands-on
Your client has to mail their customers to inform them of the status of their current market value position. They ask you to create a report that outputs mailing labels. First they ask you to generate mailing labels with three columns and then change it to 1.5” X 3.5” label format.
See Figure 3.

Your tasks are:
1- Create a report to generate three column labels.
2- Extract customer’s name and address from their database.
3- Change the report to generate two column labels.
4- Apply template to the user report.
5- Run the report.
6- Test the repot.

You will learn how to: use report style “mailing label,” use the “query builder,” generate three columns label, change the font and size, change it to two columns label, use handlers on the layout model.


Create a new report
In the Object Navigator, highlight the Reports item, and click on the "create" icon (Green ‘+’) to create a new report.

Report Wizard
In the New Report window, choose the ‘Use the Report Wizard’ option, and click ‘OK.’
In the Report Wizard window, choose the Mailing Label Style, and click the ‘Next’ push button.

Mailing Label
A Mailing Label report is a list of addresses designed to be generated on mailing labels. The addresses can be printed across the page, and then down or vice versa.
In the ‘SQL Query Statement’ box, write a SQL statement to query all customers name from customers table.
(SQL Query Statement)
SELECT ALL first_name, last_name, address_line_1, address_line_2, address_line_3
FROM customers

Then click Next.
You can create your mailing label by selecting fields and by typing directly into the Mailing Label text. Select the columns into "mailing label text."
Use "New line", "space", "Dash", "comma", and "period" if you need them in the "mailing label text." Notice the following selection.
(Mailing Label text)
&, &
&
&
&
Click “NEXT.”

Select the draft template; then click “NEXT,” and “Finish.”

This is an example of a three column label.
In the Live Pre-viewer, you can select the output object and change its font type and size. To change the font, go to toolbar that has B, I, U, type of font, and font size. It is at the top of the report.

Change the mailing label
Change the three column label to the two column label.
In the Object Navigator, click on the “Layout Model” icon.

Make the “Object Navigator” window and the “Layout Model” window side by side.
Find a repeating group
In the “Object Navigator,” expand "Layout Model," “Main Section,” “Body,” and select the repeating group (R_G_FIRST_NAME).

The frame item can be selected either by using the “Object Navigator” or the “Layout Model” in the report editor.

Drag the frame to 1.5 by 3.5 inches.
Click on the text boilerplate. Notice the handlers; drag them to the "repeating group" frame.

Select the text and change the font type and size.
Run a report
Click on the Run icon to run the report.
This is an example of a two column label.

You can select the customer name and change their font.

Select the “untitled” report and save it as report number 3 (REPT03) in the "iself" folder



Questions:
Q: Describe a Mailing Label report.
Q: How do you use the query builder?
Q: How do you generate columns label in the query builder?
Q: How do you change a report’s font and size?
Q: What are the handlers in the layout model?
Q: Your client has to mail their customers to inform them of the status of their current market value position. They ask you to create a report that outputs mailing labels. First they ask you to generate mailing labels with three columns and then change it to 1.5” X 3.5” label format.
See Figure 3.

Your tasks are:
1- Create a report to generate three column labels.
2- Extract customer’s name and address from their database.
3- Change the report to generate two column labels.
4- Apply template to the user report.
5- Run the report.
6- Test the repot.