Designing a Report

Adding Report Elements

Illume Reports include the following types of elements:

 Annotations may contain any custom text and images.

 Charts include bar charts, pie charts, line charts and box and whisker charts to represent data in a variety of styles.

 Tables display various types of summary data in textual format.

 Chart/Table combinations display data in both visual and textual media.

Adding Charts

To add a chart to a report, go to the Layout/Design tab of the Report page and follow these steps:

1. Click on the chart icon . This will create a chart at the bottom of the list of report elements on the design page, or click the chart icon and drag it directly to the location in which it is to appear.
2. Choose the variable or variables whose data should appear in the chart. In the left side of the list of variables under the Element Properties tab, click on the variable to include. Each variable selected will appear in the list of Selected Variables on the right.
3. Move a variable in the Selected Variables list by clicking it and dragging it up or down. Remove a variable by clicking it again in the list on the left.
4. Illume will display one chart in the report for each variable chosen. If three variables are chosen for a chart, Illume will produce three charts, each with identical style properties.

 

Set the display properties for the chart, described below.

To create several charts of the same type that have a consistent appearance, put one chart in the report, set its properties, and add several variables to it.

To create charts with distinct style attributes, create one chart for each variable.

Setting Chart Properties

Whenever a chart is selected in the Report Designer, the Chart Properties form appears on the right side of the page. (To select a chart, simply click on it. When selected a thick red border appears around it.)

For each chart in your report, the following properties can be set:

• Crosstab/Rollup – If the query supplying data to the report is a crosstab query, it is possible to choose to have the chart represent the cross-tabulated data or the data without the crosstab breakdown (the rollup data). Note that if choosing to represent crosstab data, the chart cannot display as a pie chart. The Crosstab/Rollup option does not appear for non-crosstab queries.
• Title – The text typed here appears in bold type at the top of the chart. By default, the chart title is {DS:VariableName}. This is a placeholder that will be replaced with the name of the variable when the chart is rendered. If multiple variables are chosen, Illume creates a chart for each variable, and sets the variable name as the title for each one. If the title is manually typed in, and several variables are chosen, Illume will produce several charts, each with the same title.
• Subtitle – The subtitle appears in smaller type below the title of the chart. By default, a chart’s subtitle is {DS:Description}, which is a place holder for the variable description that appears in the Data Dictionary. (This is usually the same as the question prompt.) It is possible to replace {DS:Description} with custom text.
• Type – This represents the type of chart that will appear in the report. When changing the type, the image sample in the Report Designer changes to show the type of chart selected.
• Data – Choose whether to have the chart represent response counts or percentages for the selected variable.
• Height – This sets the height of the chart, in pixels.
• Width – This sets the width of the chart, in pixels.
• Show Scale Labels – If this box is checked, scale labels will appear near each bar, line, or pie slice on the
• chart. For example, if the question includes response options 0=No and 1=Yes, checking this option would cause the words Yes and No to appear next to the corresponding bar or line or pie slice on the chart. Scale value labels can take up a considerable amount of space in the printable version of your chart, leaving little room for the chart itself.
• Max Label Length – If Show Scale Labels is checked, it is possible to set the maximum number of label characters that will appear for each label. Illume will truncate the label to the number of characters specified here.
• Show Scale Values – If this box is checked, scale values will appear near each bar, line, or pie slice on the chart. For example, if the question includes response options 0=No and 1=Yes, checking this option would cause the numbers 0 and 1 to appear next to the corresponding bar or line or pie slice on the chart.

 

The best way to understand what each setting does is to change the setting and click the Preview button to see how the change affects the display.

Adding Tables

To add a table to a report, follow these steps:

1. Click the table icon . This will create a table at the bottom of the list of report elements on the design page. It is possible to also click the table icon and drag it directly to the location in which it is to appear.
2. Choose the variable or variables whose data is to appear in the table. (See step #2 under Adding Charts above for details.)
3. Set the display properties for the table, described below.

Setting Table Properties

Whenever a table is selected in the Report Designer, the Table Properties form appears on the right side of the page. (To select a table, simply click on it. It is selected when a thick red border appears around it.)

For each table in the report, the following properties can be set:

• Crosstab/Rollup – If the query supplying data to the report is a crosstab query, It is possible to choose whether the table is to display the cross-tabulated data or the data without the crosstab breakdown (the rollup data). The Crosstab/Rollup option does not appear for non-crosstab queries.
• Title – The text you type here appears in bold type at the top of your table. By default, the table title is {DS:VariableName}. This is a placeholder that will be replaced with the name of the variable when the table is rendered. If you choose multiple variables, Illume creates a table for each variable, and sets the variable name as the title for each one. If a title is manually typed in, and several variables are chosen, Illume will produce several tables, each with the same title.
• Width – This sets the width of the table. It is possible to enter a whole number or a percentage value. For example, a value of 600 sets the width of the table to 600 pixels. A value of 90% makes the table take up 90% of the width of the browser’s display area. If choosing a percentage width, the width of the table will change when the person viewing the report resizes the browser window. Pixel widths are constant, regardless of the size of the browser window.
• Show Totals – Check this to display the total number of participants who chose each response option.
• Show Percent – Check this to display the percent of participants who chose each response option.
• Show Aggregate Totals – Check this to display summary statistics including Count, Min, Max, Sum, Mean, Median, Standard Deviation and Variance.

Adding Annotations

To add an annotation to a report, follow these steps:

1. Click the annotation icon . This will create an annotation at the bottom of the list of report elements on the design page. It is possible to also click the icon and drag it directly to the location in which the annotation is to appear.
2. Type a title for the annotation.
3. Type or copy and past text into the annotation body.
4. Set the width of the annotation. Use a whole number (e.g. 400) to set a fixed pixel width, or a percentage to set a relative width (e.g. 90%). A percentage width causes the width of the annotation to change when the size of the browser window changes. Fixed widths remain constant regardless of the size of the browser window.

Understanding the Annotation Editor

The annotation editor enables Report Designers to compose formatted HTML with few limits. It behaves much like a word processor, and includes the toolbar functions listed below. Most of these toolbar options apply to the selected or highlighted text. To select text, click and drag the mouse across the text to select.

 

	Enlarge editor – Clicking this enlarges the size of the editor
	Reduce editor – Clicking this reduces the size of the editor
	Bold text – This applies or removes boldface to highlighted text
	Italicize text – This applies or removes italic style to highlighted text
	Underline text – This applies or removes underlining to highlighted text
	Create subscript – This causes highlighted text to display as a subscript
	Create superscript – This causes highlighted text to display as a superscript
	Align left – This aligns highlighted text to the left
	Align center – This centers highlighted text
	Align right – This aligns highlighted text to the right
	Justify text – This justifies highlighted text
	Numbered list – This inserts a numbered list
	Bullet list – This inserts a bulletted list
	Decrease indent – This decreases the indent of the highlighted text, or of the paragraph that contains the cursor
	Increase indent – This increases the indent of the highlighted text, or of the paragraph that contains the cursor
	Font color – This presents a color-picker, from which you can select a color for the highlighted text
	Highlight color – This presents a color-picker, from which you can select a color for the area behind the highlighted text
	Horizontal line – This inserts a horizontal rule
	Insert hyperlink – This creates a hyperlink from the selected text or image
	Insert table – This inserts a table
	Insert image – This inserts an image
	Source mode – This switches the editor into source mode, so you can edit the HTML source directly

 

Known Issues with the HTML Editor

Mozilla Firefox will not allow pasting text copied from an external application into the HTML editor. This is due to a security feature in Firefox aimed at preventing executable scripts from being pasted into a page while the page is in edit mode.

The workaround to this issue is clicking the source-mode button  and pasting HTML or text directly into the

HTML source. Click the source mode button again to switch back to the formatted HTML view.

To copy extensive sections of text with formatting, use Internet Explorer which does not restrict content being copied into the HTML editor.