Inserting Dates into a Reports Title
Many reports are set up to run on a scheduled basis. The ability to add dates into the report titles helps you understand what time frame the report shows. It is important that you understand how dates and date filtering works prior to using this feature. Because the report title dates are not tied directly to filters, incorrect usage of this feature can cause confusion when reading the report.
The dates in report titles behave similarly to dates in paragraph inserts; once you pick the date and the format, the only difference is to add any relative dating within the insert. The following are the two basic formats to use:
[special.today,<format>] Use this option when you want the current date in the title.
[special.periodstart.<timeframe id>.<relative option>,<format>]
[special.periodend.<timeframe id>.<relative option>,<format>]
Use the last option when you want to use relative periods (the same as in filters and options). The two special inserts refer to the beginning day and end day of the period specified in the <timeframe> option. The following chart shows examples of how this would work if you ran this report on June 2, 2015.
Insert | Results | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
[special.periodstart.Month.p-1] | Friday, May 1, 2015 | Periodstart finds the current period (June), and starts from the first day of the previous month (p-1). In this instance, that day is May 1. |
[special.periodend.Month.p-1] | Monday, June 1, 2015 | Periodend finds the current period (June), and ends on midnight of the first day of the next month. In this instance, that day is June 1. |
[special.periodstart.Week.p-1] | Sunday, May 31, 2015 | While the first day of the week is configurable, Sunday is the default.When using periodstart, the system determines the current week and selects the Sunday in that week. |
[special.periodend.Week.p] | Sunday, June 7, 2015 | While June 2, 2015 is the third day of the week (Tuesday), using periodend indicates that the last day should be included in the report. Therefore, the report will run through midnight of the following Sunday (June 7, 2015). |
The report title should reflect the time range that is in the filters so that the recipient understands what data is included in the report. If the syntax entered cannot be interpreted due to a typing error, the system uses the current date as the basis for the calculation.
For information about relative dates, see Time Frames and Dates on Reports and Utilities.
The system always calculates "ending dates" as the day after the end of the period, at 12:00 midnight. This ensures that all data from the final day of the period is included in the report.