The Preview window allows you to view a Request’s output on the screen instead of sending it to the destination specified in the Request. This is useful if you want to verify that you’re running the correct Request or if you want to check the results without running it.
Once you preview the output you then have the option of printing it or sending it to an alternate destination.
To preview a Request:
- Highlight the Request.
- Click the Preview Icon. What’s another way to do this?
- Use the tool bar to go to the pages you want. If a report supports drill-down or has links on it, the data items will appear with a hyperlink (or underline) on the data item. Clicking the link will open the linked or drill-down in a separate tab. In the picture below, the Color data item has a linked report.
When the word BEIGE is clicked, a completely different report appears.
Note: When you preview a Cross-tab report, it may have too many columns to fit horizontally on a single page. In this case, the report is split into multiple pages called “strips” that proceed left to right rather than top to bottom. If you have a Cross-tab report with multiple strips, the report tool bar will show a “Next Strip” to move to the right and “Prev Strip” to move to the left. - (Optional) Select a different destination for your output in the Send To box. Destinations include Printer, PDF Email, Excel, Word, XML and various data formats.Note: If you’re a designer, you’ll also see options that allow you to edit the Request, modify the layout and view the custom SQL.
- (Optional) Click Send to send your output to the new destination.
- Close the window when you’re done previewing.