You can save two additional data fields in the loan transactions. In the Borrower table, you can enter the student's grade into the TYPE data field. Later, you can save the value from this field in the LOAN table under the EXTRA1 data field. To do this, open the options window and define the settings. In the "Select Extra1 and Extra2 Fields" section, click on TYPE (1), which will automatically assign the setting (2). Then, click SAVE to save the new options.

Now, every time you process a loan transaction, the value from the student’s TYPE data field will be saved in the EXTRA1 field of the LOAN table.

How to Define and Print a Report of Overdue Items by Class

Open the Manage Loans window. In the Show area, click on "Overdue" (1). This action will display only overdue items. Keep in mind that when you generate a report, it will include only the currently displayed items in the Manage Loans window. If you select "All Loaned Out" items, the report will include all loaned items.

There is already a report titled "Overdue By Class" (2). Click on it to load the report.

You can define a similar or customized report. Select a field from the "All Fields" box (1). Click on the field you want in the "Included Fields" box and define its new width (2). After entering a new value, be sure to click "Set Width" (3) to save the change. Remember that the total width of all selected fields cannot exceed the page width. In this particular report, the following fields are included: NAME (student name), EXTRA1 (student class), TITLE (book title), I_BARCODE (item barcode), LOANDATE (loan date), and RETURNDATE (return date for verification).

To group overdue items by class, select EXTRA1 in the "Group By" box (4).

To display the class grade in the report header, select EXTRA1 in the "All Fields" box and click the small green arrow icon next to the "Included Fields" box (5).

To ensure that each group starts on a new page, select "New Page After Group."

Click "Quick Preview" (6) to see a preview of the report. Once you are satisfied with the report, click "Save Report" to store it for future use.

Important: When you select a report definition from the Report drop-down box, the report will include all items currently displayed in the window. To generate the "Overdue Items By Class" report, first select "Overdue" items in the Show area and then choose the report.

Advanced: Using the Administrator/Report Area with Predefined Selection of Overdue Items

To generate a report without following additional steps, you can do it as follows: When defining the report, select the "Save with View" (1) option. This will ensure that the report retains the SQL definition of the displayed items. The SQL statement will reference today's date. The report will be saved as "Overdue By Class View." (3)

To make the report more generic, you can manually modify the report definition. Open the "Overdue By Class View.RPT" file in a text editor. Locate the SQL query definition, remove the static date value (1), and replace it with 'CURRENT_DATE' (2).

You can find the report definition files in the "C:\handy_lib\data\db\" folder.

This report, featuring a predefined view for overdue items, can be generated directly from the Administrator Report area (1). To access it, click on "LOAN" (2) and then select "Overdue By Class View" (3). This creates a grouped report by class that displays only overdue items, regardless of when the report is run.

Questions:
Can you possible tell me step by step how to print overdue reports by class?
I would like to be able to see all books borrowed from a certain year group- example 3H or 4A. I have entered the year group in the TYPE category. How do I do this?