Working with Reports in the Report Tree

Starting Reports

1. Expand the report tree structure until you reach the required report.

2. Position the cursor on the report and choose Execute (or double-click on the report)

   If the report has no selection screen, the resulting list is displayed immediately.

   If the report has a selection screen, go to step 3.

3. Enter your selection criteria and choose Execute.

For an example of how to start a report in General Report Selection, see:

Starting a Report in the Report Tree: Example

Starting Reports in the Background

Only reports, for which variants exist, can be started in the background. You must also schedule a background job.

To start a report in the background:

1. Expand the report tree structure until you reach the required report.

2. Position the cursor on the report and choose Execute in background.

For more information about working with variants and scheduling background jobs, see:

• Variants

• Background Processing

Searching For Reports

To find a particular report in the report tree structure:

1. Choose Edit  Find  Objects.

2. Enter your search criteria.

   You can enter basic search criteria and, for ABAP reports only, additional search criteria.

   Search criterion	Remarks
   Report name	This is the technical name of the report (for ABAP report, Report Writer reports, and transactions), or the user group for queries.
   Extended report name	This is the technical name of the report (for drilldown reports or report portfolio reports), or the query name for queries.
   Title	This is the report title. Here, the system searches for a title that matches the user's entry exactly.
   Node	This is the technical name of a node in the report tree.

   You can specify additional selection criteria for ABAP reports as specified in the program attributes:

   Search criterion

   Application

   Logical database

   Created by

   Last changed by

   To determine the area in which you want to search for a report, check the appropriate boxes as follows:

   Restrict to...	Action
   Whole report tree	Enter the technical name of the root node and select Find in subordinate nodes.
   Sub-tree	Enter the technical name of the sub-tree node and select Find in subordinate nodes.
   Node	Enter the technical name of the node and select Find in subordinate nodes.

   You can search for a report using one or more character strings that appear in the report documentation, but this is very time-intensive.

   You can also perform generic searches using *.

3. Choose Execute.

   The list of results is sorted by node.

Displaying Report Attributes

To display the attributes of a report in the report tree structure:

1. Position the cursor on the relevant report.

2. Choose Edit  Node attributes.

   You see the following information (if present):

   • Report type

   • Technical name of the underlying executable program

   • Extended report name

   • Report variant

   Checkboxes also indicate whether:

   • The report is started using a variant

   • The selection screen of the report is skipped

Displaying Report Variants

If a report has variants, these are listed as subordinate nodes. You can start variants just like any other reports.

To display the variants of a report in a different way:

1. Position the cursor on the relevant report.

2. Choose Goto  Variants.

3. Ensure that the Variants field is left blank and get a list of possible entries.

4. Choose Display.

   You see a list of variants defined for the report.

If you want to start a report in the background, you must create a variant first.

For more information about working with variants, see:

Variants

Displaying Report Documentation

To display detailed documentation about a report:

1. Position the cursor on the relevant report

   .

2. Choose Goto  Documentation.

Starting Reports not in the Report Tree

If the report you want to start is not in the report tree, and you cannot access it through other menus, you can start it by running the underlying executable program. To do this, you need to know the program name:

1. Choose Goto  General reporting.

2. Enter the program name

   .

3. Choose Execute.