1. 

   jhettich, Member

   I'm trying to decipher the instructions in the manual for creating a report in Excel format. The manual says that I need to add "&export=format" to "the URL", but doesn't explain the context. It also lists a number of "options" that can be specified with the "dbr.export.options" command. But it doesn't say explicitly how and where to use these options. Right before the screenshot of "Examples" for the "dbr.export.options" command, it just says cryptically, "We have our data set."

   My best guess is the following. Please let me know if this is correct. If so, I suggest that you put this into the manual:

   [PROPOSED MANUAL ENTRY]
   Here are the steps to create and export a report as an Excel document:

   1. Create the stored procedure defining the report, as usual.
   2. To control the format of the exported version of the report, add one or more export options to the stored procedure. Each option is specified in a single "select 'dbr.export.options', ..." statement in the stored procedure. (The export options will only affect the format of the report when it is exported, and will not affect how it appears when displayed in a web browser.)
   3. Run the report, and note the report's URL in the browser's address bar.
   4. Now add &export=xlsx to the URL, and re-request the page in the browser. This causes the report to be regenerated and exported in Excel format.
   [/PROPOSED MANUAL ENTRY]

   Is the above correct?

   I would also like to place a button or link on the original report that links to the URL, so that the end user can easily export the report in the desired format. How can I do that?

   Thanks!
   Jan Hettich
2. 

   myDBR Team, Key Master

   Hi,
   "Excel-report" is as any other report in myDBR. You can access the export-menu in top right corner of any report to export. The menu lists the most common ones (by default Excel, PDF and CSV). The other machine readable export types (XML, json, php_serialized) are also available with the export parameter.

   Also, each result set in a report has the triangle where you can open the search filter and export options for that result set.

   --
   myDBR Team
3. 

   jhettich, Member

   Wow! I didn't realize from reading the manual that you didn't actually have to write additional code to export a report! I have spent several hours studying the manual, and the only thing I saw about how to make exports actually work, is that "Exporting a report requires adding '&export=format' to the URL".

   The product is very good, but it's frustrating that the manual is lacking in higher level explanations of how the product works. The manual mostly is written from a lower level perspective, and a lot of it only makes sense if you already understand how the pieces fit together at a high level.

   Is there some other document that I have missed?

   In any case, you guys have been very quick to respond to my questions, and I appreciate that! Thank you.

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