Presentation styles and data sources

When you define a DataWindow object, you choose a presentation style and a data source.

Presentation styles

A presentation style defines a typical style of report and handles how rows are grouped on the page. You can customize the way the data is displayed in each presentation style. The presentation styles include:

**Table 1-1: DataWindow presentation styles**
Presentation style	Description
Tabular	Data columns across the page and headers above each column. Several rows are viewable at once.
Freeform	Data columns going down the page with labels next to each column. One row displayed at a time.
Grid	Row-and-column format like a spreadsheet with grid lines. Users can move borders and columns.
Label	Several labels per page with one row for each label. Used for mailing and other labels.
N-Up	Two or more rows of data next to each other across the page. Useful for periodic data, such as data for each day of the week or each month in the quarter.
Group	A tabular style with rows grouped under headings. Each group can have summary fields with computed statistics.
TreeView	A tabular style that groups data hierarchically and displays the data in a way that is collapsible and expandable.
Composite	Several DataWindow objects grouped into a single presentation. Not supported by the Web DataWindow.
Graph	Graphical presentation of data. Not supported by the Web DataWindow.
Crosstab	Data summary in a row-and-column format.
RichText	Paragraphs of text with embedded data columns. Not supported by the Web DataWindow or the Sybase DataWindow Web control for ActiveX.
OLE	An OLE object linked or embedded in the DataWindow and associated with the retrieved data. Not supported by the Web DataWindow.

For examples of the presentation styles, see the PowerBuilder Users Guide.

Data sources

The data source specifies where the data in the DataWindow comes from and what data items are displayed. Data can come from tables in a database, a Web service, a file with data that you can import, or code that specifies the data. For databases, the data specification is saved in a SQL statement. In all cases, the DataWindow object saves the names of the data items to display, as well as their datatypes.

**Table 1-2: Data sources you can use for a DataWindow**
Data source	Description
Quick Select	The data is coming from one or more tables in a SQL database. The tables must be related through a foreign key. You need to choose only columns, selection criteria, and sorting.
SQL Select	You want more control over the select statement that is generated for the data source. You can specify grouping, computed columns, and so on.
Query	The data has already been selected and the SQL statement is saved in a query object that you have defined in the Query painter. When you define the DataWindow object, the query object is incorporated into the DataWindow and does not need to be present when you run the application.
External	The data is not stored in a database, but is imported from a file (such as a tab-separated or dBASE file) or populated from code.
Stored Procedure	The data is defined in a database stored procedure.
Web Service	The data is defined in a Web service. Support for a Web service data source is not available for the Composite, RichText, and OLE presentation styles.