By: Patrick Alexander
In this case, maybe you should. In the latest release of the program, the (Query) Wizard received many enhancements. One of these enhancements is the ability to create a second page for custom reports (as long as the second page doesn’t need any banding). So now, we can truly unleash our creative mojo and build reports we could previously only dream of.
One such report is a custom income questionnaire. CAMAvision comes with pre-packaged questionnaires, but we want something more specific to our jurisdiction.
For instance, we would like a more dynamic apartment size listing grid, along with only the expenses we want to track. Additionally, we want to include a place for the property owner to sign the completed form. Prior to version 22, we were out of luck if we wanted to create something within the program, since custom reports were constrained to one designed page, and the income questionnaire is designed to fit on two designed pages. That is no longer the case with the addition of the Layout 2 tab within the reporting section of Query Wizard.
For our questionnaire, we really don’t need any banding, so we will make the front side of it in the Layout 1 tab using the page header and footer bands. We can use the horizontal and vertical line objects to create
our grids. We will have the Query Wizard populate our mailing address, along with some general parcel information at the top for the form. The dates will need to be updated every year, but otherwise, the front page shouldn’t need any other changes between runs.
The backside of the questionnaire doesn’t need any banding either, so we can use the Layout 2 tab to create it. In this case, the backside of the form also doesn’t have any variables, but that is only because the questionnaire doesn’t need any. If you had a need for it, variables which Query Wizard would then replace based on the parcel being processed could be included.
Once again, the grid-look is created by using horizontal and vertical line objects. The only labels which may need to be updated between prints are the years on the expense grid. Also note, we added a signature box on the
right-hand side of the form.
When generated against our selection query, our customized questionnaire has all of our variables populated, and all of the lines become fully rendered. We now have a customized apartment income questionnaire tailored to our jurisdiction.
But this new page two isn’t limited to just questionnaires. It could also be used with a standard set of instructions and/or boiler plate text that you want to appear on the back of each page. The potential uses are practically limitless.