set own report as default 1

[wysiwygGER01]

Hi,

Is there a way to force Accpac 5.4 to use my own reports per default.
I've customized a few reports and renamed them, but per default Accpac shows only it's own reports.

I don't want to log on under every user account and chose them manually and I don't want to name my reports the same as the Accpac reports cause with the next upgrade I'm sure they'll be overwritten.

What other options have I got?

 

[DjangMan]

Customization Directories in Administrative Services.

 

[wysiwygGER01]

Ah right! Thanks!
I forget about that.
I'll give that a try.

 

[wysiwygGER01]

Ok....I've been trying a few different things now with Customization Directories but cannot get Accpac to pick my customized report.

I created my customized folder like below on the server having Accpac installed:
D:\Custom

In Accpac Customization Directories I've entered 1 line for:
Admin TEST D:\Custom
Under D:\Custom I have D:\Custom\AR54A\ENG\myinvoice.rpt

I was expecting when printing my AR invoice form, Accpac first jumps into my customization directory for AR. If I then click browse it should list me the content of that directory - D:\Custom\AR54A\ENG\ - same as it does with the original forms. However Accpac still jumps into the original directory.
I then thought, maybe it needs the original report name, so I renamed myinvoice.rpt to ARDINVO.RPT.

As this didn't work either I tried it with sharing the folder (Admin share that is) but still no luck.

What am I doing wrong here? Do I use an absolute or relative path to the customization directories?

 

[Jay Converse]

You set it up correctly, but when you browse it starts from the default, not the custom. And, some UI's like AR invoices are different than the rest, you can pick an absolute file name.

 

[ettienne]

It will only work on the server if you use D:\Custom because the workstations do not see D:\Custom, use the UNC path instead.

 

[DjangMan]

When you click print Accpac will look for the form name that you typed in the customization folders first and then look in the base folder. So if you put myinvoice.rpt in the base AR54A\ENG folder the user can browse easily for it and then Accpac will use the version that is in the customization folder. Some UI's give you a list of installed reports instead of a normal open file dialog. Another solution is to put a shortcut to the customization folder called "Custom Reports" in the base folder. The user only has to select the correct form once and print for Accpac to remember the form name.

 

[wysiwygGER01]

Thanks for your replies.

tuba - according to the Accpac help it should look in the customized directory first. It doesn't say anything specific about the browse button. Are you sure Accpac starts from the default location when I hit browse no matter what the customized directory says?
If so, then the whole customization idea is pretty pointless to me. If I have a pro-forma invoice form and a normal invoice form the user needs to hit the browse button at some point.
Not very user friendly if he then ends up in a completely different directory.

DjangMan - I don't fully understand what you're trying to say with this:
"So if you put myinvoice.rpt in the base AR54A\ENG folder the user can browse easily for it and then Accpac will use the version that is in the customization folder."

With "base ... folder" do you mean the default Accpac folder or the customized folder? I guess you meant the customized folder - and that's what I've tried but with no luck.

I think I'll try with a different form tomorrow and see whether that works better. Maybe it's just the AR form which is such a pain.

 

[DjangMan]

The 'base' folder is where your Accpac default forms are installed. For example:

c:\program files\sage software\sage accpac\ar54a\eng

Put a copy of myinvoice.rpt into the 'base' folder. When your user clicks the browse button they will start in the base folder. They will see "myinvoice.rpt" in the list of files and they can select that form.

When they click Print Accpac will look in the customization folder and find:
D:\Custom\AR54A\ENG\myinvoice.rpt

and use that version of the report instead of the one in the base folder.

Now here's the caveat: If you tell Accpac that all users use that customization directory then you can stop reading. If only specific users are using the customization directory then you need to make sure that the myinvoice.rpt file is kept up to date in both places since some users won't be using the version in the customization directory. That's why I like to create a shortcut to the customized reports. But, like I said above, if all users are using the customization directories then you don't need to worry about what state the 'base' myinvoice.rpt is in.

 

[ettienne]

The browse only looks at the default Accpac folder, so your myinvoice.rpt will not be listed if it is only in the Custom folder. You can type myinvoice.rpt in the report name field and it will print, since it does exist in the Custom folder. AR reports are no different than any other module, they all function the same.

 

[DjangMan]

Yes - Ettienne is right. I wasn't clear enough in my post. The browse window, when presented, is just a Windows Explorer view of the base folder. It doesn't allow you to view the contents of multiple folders at the same time. So if myinvoice.rpt isn't in the 'base' folder then you cannot select it. You'd have to type in the name manually or have the user navigate the the custom folder themselves.

 

[wysiwygGER01]

Thanks for your replies.
I understand now.