MONTANA DEPARTMENT FISH, WILDLIFE, AND PARKS 

 MRIS Reporting Program 



prior to producing the report. It is important to use this feature to check your 

 query - usually if a query does tiot run properly it is due to an error in the query, 

 not the program. Changing previous selections is discussed in Section 3. 



Save a Report Control File. Selecting this utility option allows you to save your 

 data query so they can be used again for future retrievals. This option would be 

 most beneficial when you have designed a complex query that you will either use 

 often or will be modifying for future queries. The option allows you to enter a file 

 name to identify the file for future use. 



Retrieve a Report Control File. This utility option retrieves a previously saved 

 Report Control File as described above. A Report Contiol File contains all of the 

 query and report options you selected in Steps 1 and 2. The Control File can be 

 used to perform previously designed queries, or can be modified and executed to 

 run a new query. 



Count Records Matching Search Criteria. This utility option allows you to count 

 the number of records that match your criteria before you produce your report or 

 view your data. This allows you to narrow or broaden your search before you 

 produce the report. 



Override Default Report Order. The program is designed to select the most 

 appropriate index based on the query and report you have created. Using this 

 option allows you to choose a different index than the one the program selected. 

 There may be situations when the user will want to override the default index 

 selection. The right hand status box indicates the index automatically selected. 



2 EXAMPLES OF COMMON RETRIEVALS 



The objective of the manual is to show you how to use the MRIS Reporting Program 

 software to generate data queries and reports and use the utility options. If you make a 

 mistake when you are going through these examples, just remember to use the Escape key 

 (Esc) to back up and return to the previous menu (or the menu selection, Return to Previous 

 Menu). 



There are basically four kinds of searches; selecting from a list, entering a single item, 

 entering a range, or creating an ad hoc query from one or several databases. Several 

 queries to demonstrate most features of the program will be used in the examples. All other 

 query options will be covered in Section 5. 



Throughout these examples, information will be provided to help familiarize you with 



1 -6 



