OpenOffice can build 2 kinds of reports that are embedded in a database document:
An "old style" report is a simple table in a Writer document. When you open the report for editing you see a typical text document with header footer, optional text body and one table with one header row and one data row. The data row is a place holder for the data to be filled in. Apply any number format you need to the cells in the data row. Number formatting in text table cells works very much the same as in Calc.
After installing the "Oracle Report Builder" extension, you can still open and edit existing "old style" reports but the wizard creates a more sophisticated type of report embedded in a document type of its own with data dumped into form controls rather than text table cells. When opened for editing, you get a special report editor instead of the usual Writer interface.
With OpenOffice you can still create "old style" reports even if the report builder is installed. Just disable the report builder extension, restart the office, open your database and start the report wizard. LibreOffice has included the report builder as an integral part of the office suite. It might be very difficult to disable the report builder and even if you manage to do so, I doubt that LibreOffice still has the code to produce old style reports. Of course, LibreOffice can still open and edit them.
Ideally I would like a report like Filemaker can produce: a report that I can also use like a form to add new records. Well, I don't really expect this, but I just thought I'd include it...
Since the old style report is just an ordinary text document with an automatically filled table, you are free to add input forms or whatever else Writer has to offer, just like you can add input forms to arbitrary office documents that are not embedded in the database (Writer, Calc, Draw or even Impress).
[quote"UnklDonald418"]Villeroy found a clever way to get the report builder to output a form with controls.[/quote]
Not exactly. I added a filtering form to an
old style report. The database attached to topic
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=88948#p419091 has one old style report named "qReport" based on the equally named query with which is filtered by the entered filter criteria, but you need to close and reopen the report. The other report named "qReport_ORB" is based on the same query but built with the Oracle report builder. Of course it is filtered by the same filter criteria that had been entered into the other report's criteria form, but the report editor does not let you add any additional form controls for that purpose.
If your reports are not too long (say up to 1000 rows or so), you may be interested in a macro of mine which partially resembles old style reports in stand-alone text documents:
[Writer] Stand-Alone Database Reports. This macro fills out a table in a Writer document after you provided some data in File>Properties>Custom Properties...
Reports in Calc:
Linked database ranges as and pivot tables (aka data pilot tables) as described in
[Tutorial] Using registered datasources in Calc. These are reports I actually prefer even though they do not look as pretty as the others.