Generating month wise reports

[Pratyay_Rakshit]

I have a sheet in which data is updated as entered by various users. The table contains values associated with dates. I want to generate a report that will contain all the values and data for all dates from the previous month. Let’s say if I want the report for February 2020, I create a virtual column with format month([Date])&year([Date]) that returns 22020, and use that as a condition for my report ( [virtual column]=(month(today())-1)&year(today()). But the report manual says that conditions determine whether or not the report would be generated at all.

How do I achieve this?

[Kirk_Masden]

Hi @Pratyay_Rakshit! I haven’t worked a lot with reports but I thought I’d reply because I see that five days have passed and you still haven’t gotten a response.

I think there may be a problem with your expression.

month([Date])&year([Date])

would yield a text expression. If all of the records you want from February have the same text " 22020" in a column, you could pull them out but otherwise not.

Or, perhaps you’re having a problem with where you have place the condition. As I say, I’m not very familiar with reports so I hope someone else can help. If you don’t get a response, I suggest that you rephrase your question with some screenshots.

Good luck!

[Steve]

Pratyay_Rakshit:

But the report manual says that conditions determine whether or not the report would be generated at all.

That is correct.

You’ll need to use the report’s start expression to choose the rows you want included.

help.appsheet.com

Template Start Expressions

Using Start expressions in your workflow templates.

[Pratyay_Rakshit]

Actually I have been able to partially achieve what I want. I’m interested with previous month’s data, not the current month actually, since entry can often be late. The month([Date])&year([Date]) expression leaves values like 32020, 22020 etc. Now I made a slice with condition that (month(today())-1)&year(today()) equals the value of the preceding expression. That actually shows the values for the previous month.

Now what I have to do is devise a mechanism for when the time transitions to a new year. The expression for previous month of January wouldn’t work in this case. Maybe a couple of if statements will do the trick.

What I am actually struggling with now is generating the reports in the way I want. I do have been able to generate one but the formatting was screwed up. A person has been particularly helpful in directing me to generate those reports, but still it needs more work from my part.