PSU Object Reports: Introduction. Object Reports: Introduction. Understanding Object Reports. Creating Your Object Report. A Time-Saving Process

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1 PSU 2012 Object Reports: Introduction Object Reports: Introduction Use PowerSchool s Object Reports functionality when you need to produce a report that extracts information from a PowerSchool data file, and you need complete control of the layout, or you need to include graphics. This type of report is called an object report because it is built by placing several different kinds of objects on the page. The types of objects you can place are text, line, box, circle, transcript, fee list, picture, and sequence. Object reports accommodate multiple students per page or multiple pages per student. In this class, you will: Learn about the elements of object reports Create and manage object reports, including layout grids, student information reports, and transcripts Understanding Object Reports Object reports use x and y axis coordinates to position text and sequence objects on a page. In addition to these coordinates, object reports use basic HTML coding to format text in a text box. To position text horizontally, you will use Tab codes. When you want to specify the exact location of text, you will use the Move To command. Placing objects on the report is like placing Post-it notes on a paper. You can place them exactly where you want them. You can also layer the objects. Other objects such as line, box, transcript, and fee have unique coordinate point setups. As you work through the activities, you will learn when to use each of these tools. A Time-Saving Process As you create the various objects in your report, you need to know whether they are working the way you expect. The best way to check your work is to use either two tabs in one browser window, or work in two windows. On one tab or window, build your report; in the other tab or window, select a student or a group of students, and go to the Print a Report function for that student or group of students. Then you can move back and forth from your create area to your test area, and eliminate a lot of mouse-clicking. Creating Your Object Report Use Object Reports for reports as complex as a student transcript or as simple as a student demographic information sheet. You can create an object report using eight different kinds of objects. These objects include text, lines, boxes, and pictures. Complete the following activities to practice using these objects. Activity 1 Basic Grid Report: Creating a New Object Report To obtain a good working knowledge of object reports, set up a report that has a grid containing basic student information in the individual cells. Begin by setting up the report parameters. No matter the type of object report you are creating, you must format these parameters. 1. On the Start Page, click System Reports > Setup > Object Reports > New 2. In the Title field, type your user number and Basic Grid Report; for example, 11 Basic Grid Report 3. This report will use student data, so choose Students 4. Note the default font and default font size, but leave the fields unchanged 5. Note the width (in points) of the space between lines in the Default text line height field, but leave the field unchanged

2 Unless you make the text line height equal to or greater than the default font size, the lines of your report will overlap vertically. The recommended line height is two points larger than the default font size. 6. Change the default settings for the Left, Top, Right, and Bottom margin fields to 0 The reason to have no margins is that when you place objects in a report, you measure either from the left edge (X axis) and top edge (Y axis) of the page or from the left and top margins. Measuring from the edges of the page is much easier than measuring from a margin that does not show on the page. 7. Select Portrait for page orientation 8. Note the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit Activity 2 Basic Grid Report: Report Heading Add a heading to the top of your report. 1. On the Object Reports Page, click your report title 2. In the New Object area, click Text 3. Type Heading for the Object Label 4. In the text box, enter <tabc 4.25>^(schoolname) 5. Press Enter twice (to add hard returns to the text), then type Basic Student Information; press Enter once and type ^(first_name) ^(last_name) 6. Enter.5 for X 7. Enter.5 for Y 8. For the Style, select Bold 9. In the Size box, enter In the Line Height box, enter Use the default values in the remaining fields, and click Submit 12. Right-click the PowerSchool logo, and choose Open in New Tab 13. In the new tab, go to the Start Page, and select some students 14. In the Group Functions menu, click Print Report 15. In the Which report would you like to print? menu, click the name of your report, then click Submit View your Basic Grid Report. If it doesn t appear the way you want it to, return to the create tab and make modifications: 16. Return to your test window, and view the report again by using the Run job again feature In the report queue, click the name of your report, select Run job again, and click Submit. Activity 3 Basic Grid Report: Horizontal Lines Place horizontal lines in your grid using a line object. You do not need to add a new object for each line; instead, format the line object to repeat the horizontal line. 1. On your create tab, click Line in the New Object area 2. Enter Horizontal Lines in the Object Label field 3. Enter.5 for X, and 1.5 for Y in the Starting point (X,Y) fields 4. Enter 7.5 for X and 1.5 for Y in the Ending point (X,Y) fields Copyright 2012 Pearson Page 2

3 5. Enter 2 in the Times to Repeat field 6. Enter.25 in the Vertical Change field 7. Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit 8. Preview your report in your test tab using the Run job again function, and then return to the create tab Activity 4 Basic Grid Report: Vertical Lines Now add vertical lines to your grid. Similar to the Horizontal Lines activity, format a repeating line object. 1. In the New Object area, click Line 2. Enter Vertical Lines in the Object Label field 3. Enter.5 for X, and 1.5 for Y in the Starting point (X,Y) fields 4. Enter.5 for X and 2.0 for Y in the Ending point (X,Y) fields 5. Enter 7 in the Times to Repeat field 6. Enter 1 in the Horizontal Change field 7. Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit 8. Preview your report in your test tab using the Run job again function, and then return to the create tab Activity 5 Basic Grid Report: Adding Text to the Grid So far you have placed horizontal and vertical lines on your report. Now place column headings in the cells of your grid s first row by using a text object. 1. In the New Object area, click Text 2. Type Column Heads in the Object Label field 3. Type the following information in the Text field: Grade<tabl 1.59>Age<tabl 2.59>Locker<tabl 3.59>Lock Comb<tabl 4.59>Homeroom<tabl 5.59>Entry Date<tabl 6.59>Exit Date What do these instructions mean? Look at the first part of the instructions: Grade<tabl 1.59>Age. First, the word Grade will print. In the next part of the instruction, tabl means tab left and the value, 1.59, is a measurement, so <tabl 1.59> means tab left 1.59 inches from the edge of the page. In the last part of instruction, the text after the closing arrow bracket, Age, will print 1.59 inches from the left of the page. If you have trouble entering this information in the Text field, you can copy and paste this text from the Rich Text Format file (Text 1.rtf) from your PSU activity files. 4. Enter.55 for X and 1.72 for Y in the Position fields 5. Enter 12 in the Size field and 14 in the Line Height field 6. Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit 7. Preview your report in your test tab using the Run job again function, and then return to the create tab Copyright 2012 Pearson Page 3

4 Activity 6 Basic Grid Report: Adding Fields and Data Access Tags to the Grid Now add the fields and data access tags that will place student information in the second row of the grid. 1. In the New Object area, click Text 2. In the Object Label field, enter Student Data 3. Place the field names and data access tags in the grid by entering the following information in the Text field: <tabc 1.0>^(grade_level)<tabc 2.0>^(age)<tabc 3.0>^(locker_number)<tabc 4.0>^(locker_combination)<tabc 5.0>^(home_room)<tabc 6.0>^(entrydate)<tabc 7.0>^(exitdate) If you have trouble entering this information in the Text field, you can copy and paste this text from the Rich Text Format file (Text 1.rtf) from your PSU activity files. 4. Enter.55 for X and 1.97 for Y in the Position fields 5. Enter 10 in the Size field and 12 in the Line Height field 6. Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit 7. Preview your report in your test tab using the Run job again function, and then return to the create tab Creating an Award Certificate Use object reports to create an almost endless variety of documents. The report that you are about to create demonstrates the breadth of possibilities for a single-student report. Activity 7 Award Certificate: Creating a New Object Report Begin by formatting the parameters for your award certificate. 1. Navigate to the Object Reports page, and click New 2. In the Title field, enter your user number followed by Award Certificate; for example, 11 Award Certificate 3. This report will use student data, so choose the Students table 4. Choose an appropriate font and font size for your report 5. Enter 0 or leave blank the Left, Top, Right, and Bottom margin fields 6. Choose Landscape (horizontal) orientation 7. Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit Activity 8 Award Certificate: Boxes and Layers Build an award certificate with filled boxes and layered objects. These boxes will be the borders of your certificate. Format two boxes, and remember to format the layering. 1. On the Object Reports page, click the name of your report 2. Click Box in the New Object area 3. Enter Red Border in the Object Label field Refer to the Award Certificate example handout in the Appendix to see what your certificate should look like when you finish. Copyright 2012 Pearson Page 4

5 4. Since you want this box to cover the whole page, the Left and Top coordinates will be 0; since the page measures 11 X 8.5 (landscape orientation), the Right coordinate will be 11, and the Bottom will be Type darkred in the Line Color field To view the colors that you can use in an object report, click the name of the field where color is possible. The names of the available colors are listed over squares of color; however, clicking the square of the desired color will not select the color. You must type or copy and paste the color name into the field. 6. Type darkred in the Fill Color field 7. Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit 8. In the New Object area, click Box 9. Type White Box in the Object Label field This white box will cover the dark red box except for one inch on all sides; therefore, the coordinates will be one inch from each edge of the page. 10. Enter 1 for Left, 1 for Top, 10 for Right and 7.5 for Bottom 11. Enter 4 in the Line Width field, and leave the line color blank (the line will be black) 12. Type white in the Fill Color field 13. From the Layer menu, Choose Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit Activity 9 Award Certificate: Graphics Now you are ready to place your school logo in the certificate using a picture object. Graphics need to be loaded into PowerSchool and must be in JPEG format. 1. If you have access to an electronic copy of your school s logo in JPEG format, or you can download one to your desktop quickly from the Internet, feel free to use it for this activity; otherwise skip to Step 6 and use mini_tiger.jpg or cat.jpg for Step On the Start Page, click System Reports > Setup > Pictures 3. Click Browse 4. Navigate to and choose your graphic, and click Open 5. Click Submit 6. Navigate to the Object Reports page, and click the name of your report 7. In the New Object area, click Picture 8. Enter Logo in the Object Label field 9. Choose your graphic from the Picture menu 10. For the Coordinates, enter 4 for Left, 2 for Top, 6.75 for Right, and 5 for Bottom 11. Choose Shrink to Fit proportional, centered from the Scaling Option menu 12. Choose 4 from the Layer menu 13. Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit Copyright 2012 Pearson Page 5

6 Activity 10 Award Certificate: Signature Lines Create the lines on which teachers or school administrators will sign the certificate. 1. In the New Object area, click Line 2. Enter Signature Lines in the Object Label field 3. The Starting point is 1.5 inches from the left edge of the page, and 6.75 inches from the top of the page 4. The Ending Point is 5 inches from the left edge of the page, and 6.75 inches from the top of the page 5. In the Width field, enter 1 6. Times to Repeat is 1 with a Horizontal Change of Choose 4 from the Layer menu 8. Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit Activity 11 Award Certificate: School Name and Student Name Now place the large colored text. 1. In the New Object area, click Text 2. Type Tinted Text in the Object Label field 3. In the Text field, type <tabc 5.5>~([39]Name) 4. Press Enter twice to place hard returns, and type <Center><font size=28>outstanding Citizenship</font> 5. Press Enter six times to place hard returns, and type <i>^(first_name) ^(last_name)</i> 6. In the Position fields, enter 0 for X and 2 for Y 7. For the Style, click Bold 8. For the Size, enter For the Color, type maroon 10. From the Layer menu, click Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit Activity 12 Award Certificate: Body Text Place the commendation text. 1. In the New Object area, click Text 2. Enter Body Text in the Object Label field 3. In the text field, type <tabc 5.5>This award is presented to 4. Press Enter five times, and then type <tabc 5.5>in recognition for outstanding citizenship <tabc 5.5>during the ~(yearabbr) school year. 5. In the Position fields, enter 0 for X and enter 4.5 for Y 6. In the Size field, enter 15, and in the Line Height field, enter For the Layer, select 4, and click Submit Copyright 2012 Pearson Page 6

7 Activity 13 Award Certificate: Signatures Place the field names that will print the names of the administrators who will sign the certificate. 1. In the New Object area, click Text 2. Enter Signatures in the Object Label field 3. In the text field, type <tabc 3.25>Principal: ~([39]Principal)<tabc 7.75>Asst. Principal: ~([39]AsstPrincipal) 4. In the Position fields, enter 0 for X, and enter 6.95 for Y 5. In the Size field, enter 11, and in the Line Height field, enter For the Layer, select 7, and click Submit Activity 14 Award Certificate: Circles and Starburst Points The last object you need to add to your certificate is a gold seal. Create the seal using a circle object. 1. In the New Object area, click Circle 2. Type Award Seal in the Object Label field 3. For the Center Point, enter 9.5 for X and 7 for Y 4. Enter 0.9 in the Radius field 5. Type goldenrod in the Line Color field 6. Type goldenrod in the Fill Color field 7. Enter 30 in the Starburst Points field 8. Enter 0.7 in the Starburst Radius field 9. Choose 3 from the Layer menu (note the impact of a 3 here instead of a 12 when you test print) 10. Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit Exporting an Object Report as a Template Another great feature of PowerSchool Object Reports is that after all the hard work and time you put into developing a report, you can export a copy of the template. Once you have exported the template, you can save it as a file, transfer it just as you would any other type of file, and import it to any other PowerSchool server. Creating a Student Demographic Report One of the most basic uses of object reports is to extract students general demographic information from the data file into a detailed report. Use this type of report to print a paper copy for a permanent record, or as a form for parents to complete when their student s information changes. Specify page numbers in your objects if your report has more than one page per student. Most object reports print information about one student on one page, such as a report card. But by using the Special field in the setup of a text object, you can print the text object for one student, and then move to the next student record so that you have multiple students information on one page. Repeat the text object for as many students as you want to include on one page, and select the Special check box on the setup screen for each object except the last one. Copyright 2012 Pearson Page 7

8 Activity 15 A Multiple-Students Page Create a report that extracts some basic demographic information for 10 students onto one page. Accomplish this task using text objects, horizontal lines, and the Special function. 1. Navigate to the Object Reports page, and click New 2. In the Title field, enter your user number and Demographics; for example, 11 Demographics 3. This report will use student data, so choose the Students table 4. Choose an appropriate font and font size for your report 5. Enter 0 for the Left, Top, Right, and Bottom margin fields 6. Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit 7. On the Object Reports page, click the name of your report 8. Click Text and create a text object; type Title in the Object Label and add a title at the top of the page using <tabc 4.5>Student Demographic Report 9. For Position, enter 0 for X and.5 for Y 10. For the Style, select Bold 11. In the Size box, type In the Line Height box, type For Layer, choose 0 Back The title is the only object you should place on layer Click Submit 15. In the New Objects area, click Line 16. Type Horizontal Lines in the Object Label field 17. Enter 0.5 for X, and.75 for Y in the Starting point (X,Y) fields 18. Enter 8 for X and.75 for Y in the Ending point (X,Y) fields 19. Enter 1 in the Line Width field 20. Enter 10 in the Times to Repeat field 21. Enter 1 in the Vertical Change field 22. For Layer, choose 1 Place all remaining objects on layer Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit 24. Create a new text object starting with the label Student In the Text field, enter the following: <tabl.55>^(lastfirst)<tabl 2.5>Gender: ^(decode;^(gender);m;male;f;female)<tabl 4>Grade ^(Grade_Level)<tabl 5.5> Phone: ^(home_phone) <tabl.55>guardian: ^(Guardian_FN) ^(Guardian_LN) <tabl 1.25>^(father) (Father) - ^(mother) (Mother) <tabl.55>^(street) <tabl.55>^(city), ^(state) ^(zip) Copyright 2012 Pearson Page 8

9 Notice the code used for the gender of the students ^(decode;^(gender);m;male;f;female). Instead of printing an M or F, it will print the word Male or Female. 26. For Position, enter.5 for X and 1 for Y 27. Enter 12 in the Line Height field 28. Select Special to move to the next record after printing this text 29. Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit 30. Create nine more text objects for Students 2 10, using the same setup with only one exception: in order to move down the page, add one inch to the Y coordinate each time (2, 3, 4, etc.) 31. Check Special on each object except the last one Student 10 Creating a High School Transcript Because a transcript is quite complex, much of the work has been done for you and is available as one of the types of objects that you can place in a report. Besides defining the invisible box for the transcript information and the columns, you need to create an overflow box for historical grades that won t fit in the transcript box. You can use this object to create a report card as well. Activity 16 Using the Transcript Object Your final task is to use the transcript object to create a transcript and a report card. Depending on how detailed you need your transcript to be, you might use many objects. Here you will create the main portion of the transcript with a transcript object, but you will also need text objects for student information, boxes to surround the information, lines to separate columns of information, and even a school logo. 1. Navigate to the Object Reports page, and click New 2. In the Title field, enter your user number and Transcript; for example, 11 Transcript 3. From the Table menu, choose Students, then enter 0 for the Left, Top, Right, and Bottom margin fields 4. Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit 5. On the Object Reports page, click the name of your report 6. Create a text object called Heading, use ~([39]name) Transcript for ~(lastfirst) as the text,.5 for X; 1 for Y; make bold; Size of 18 and Height of Use the default values for the remaining fields, and click Submit 8. In the New Object area, click Transcript 9. Refer to the Transcript Setup screenshots below for your transcript object setup Copyright 2012 Pearson Page 9

10 Here s the bottom part of the setup page: 10. After testing, go back to the transcript object, and change the 4 as the Bottom value to 9 and test again Copyright 2012 Pearson Page 10

11 Now, using the same steps as above, create a report card for grade 12 that shows stored grades only. Use the screenshots below to populate the necessary values. Here s the bottom part of the setup page: Copyright 2012 Pearson Page 11