reportx Template Format

Overview:

The template defines the structure of a report in tabular format - starting outer most table to rows inside the table to the columns in each row. This definition is a nested/recursive structure that helps you define a cell to contain inner-tables.

Template also facilitates filling dynamic content at run time by having Tcl variable names (e.g. $company_name) embedded into the definition.

Styles (defined using Tcllib's report::defstyle command) that define the border lines, separator lines, header and footer lines can be applied to the outer most table, rows and columns.

Defining Outer Table (-report element):

Grammatically, the template is defined as a Tcl dict. The outermost key must be -report with its value being a dict with -style and -rows elements. The -style element is optional.

E.g.:

-report {
    -style outermost_table_style_optional
    -rows {
        ... Definition of Rows and Columns Go Here...
   }
}

Defining Rows (-rows element):

-rows element contains an optional -style element and individual row elements with their corresponding row number being the key. The -style element is optional and if specified, applies to all the rows defined inside except for the ones that have their own specific -style element.

E.g.:

-report {
    -style outermost_table_style_optional
    -rows {
        -style common_style_for_all_rows_optional
        0 {
            ... Columns Definition of row-0 Goes Here...
        }
       1 {
           -style row_specific_style
           ... Columns Definition of row-1 Goes Here...
        }
        ...
    }
}

Defining Columns (-columns element):

Rows are defined using -columns key. -columns key can have a -style element and columns defined using their corresponding column number as their key. The -style element is optional and if specified, applies to all the columns defined inside except for the ones that have their own specific -style element.

E.g.:


-report {
    -style outermost_table_style_optional
    -rows {
        -style common_style_for_all_rows_optional
        0 {
            -columns {
                -style common_style_for_all_columns_optional
                0 {
                    ... Data Definition of Cell 0,0 Goes Here...
                }
                1 {
                    -style column_specific_style_optional
                    ... Data Definition of Cell 0,1 Goes Here...
                }
                ...
            }
        }
        ...
    }
}

Defining Data (-data element):

Data is defined inside a column using -datastyle (optional) and -data keys. The value of -data key is defined as a Tcl list containing lists (list of lists).

E.g.:


-report {
    -style outermost_table_style_optional
    -rows {
        -style common_style_for_all_rows_optional
        0 {
            -columns {
                -style common_style_for_all_columns_optional
                0 {
                    -style column_specific_style_optional
                    -datastyle style_of_tabular_data_optional
                    -data {

                        {"data_0,0"  "data_0,1"  "data_0,n"}

                        {"data_1,0"  "data_1,1"  "data_1,n"}

                        {"data_m,0"  "data_m,1"  "data_m,n"}

                    }

                }
                ...
            }
        }
        ...
    }
}

Dynamic data can be filled at runtime by having Tcl variable names in the data definition.

E.g.:

-columns {

    1 { -datastyle invoiceHeader

        -data {

            { "${-company_name}" }

            { "${-company_street1}, ${-company_street2}, ${-company_city}-${-company_pin}" }

            { "TIN: ${-company_tin}, Phone: ${-company_phone1} EMail: ${-company_email1}" }

        }

    }

}

For more examples, please look into the demo folder of reportx package.