DMB comes with an extensive set of Standard Reports that enable you to see league standings, league leaders, player and team statistics, injury and transaction logs, and game results. Many of these reports include options that allow you to tailor those reports to your preferences. All reports can be displayed on the screen, sent to a printer, or saved to a text file in plain-text or HTML format.

You may find that all of your needs are met by the standard reports and the options that are available with each of them. But you can also design your own Custom Reports and save those reports for later use.

Using the DMB report customization tools, you can:

add, remove, and rename any section, or put the sections in a different order
remove or resequence the columns in any section
manipulate a second row of headings to a section to help clarify the data that is displayed in the columns below (version 7 has numerous examples where an extra row of headings makes a big difference)
add a column, or change the data displayed in an existing column, choosing from virtually any piece of information in the database, including real-life and simulated stats and the splits (left/right and others)
change the heading that appears above a column
choose whether a column is left-justified, centered or right-justified
choose the width of the column (most useful for printer and file output)
choose the default sort sequence for the column

A report can have up to 10 sections, and each section can have up to 24 columns. In many cases, it will make sense to limit the number of columns in a section to something less than 24. If you put too many columns in one section, you may not be able to see them all on the screen without having to scroll the report horizontally. And you may find that the data will not fit on a single page when you print the report.

Customizing a report

To customize a report, start by displaying that report on the screen using the steps described in the Generating Reports topic. Then click the Customize button to display the following window:

Use the Columns page to work with the columns in one section of the report, and use the Name / sections page to add and remove entire sections.

Customizing the columns in a section

The tools on the Columns page allow you to manipulate the columns for a section. Use the For section pulldown list to choose a section to work on, then use the buttons to add, modify, delete, move columns and extra column headings.

Moving a column

To move a column, click on the column you want to move, then use the Up and Down buttons to change the order in which the default columns for the report you selected appear.

Adding a column

When you click the Add button within the Columns box, DMB displays a window that allows you to choose the data item for this column and determine how it should be formatted. See Adding a New Column for details.

Modifying a column

To modify a column, click on the column you want to modify, then click on the Modify button. DMB displays the same window that is used for adding a column, but fills in with the information for the column you chose to modify. See Adding a New Column for details.

Removing a column

To remove a column, click on the column you want to remove, then click on the Remove button.

Adding an extra column heading

Extra column headings appear as a second row of headings above the primary column headings. They are useful for grouping columns visually. For example, if you create a section that mixes real-life and simulated statistics, you might have two columns with the AB heading and two with the H heading. To tell them apart, you could create extra column headings called "Real-life" and "Simulated".

To add an extra column heading, click the Add button within the Extra column headings box. DMB displays the following window:

Enter the range of columns this heading is to span, the text for the heading, and how that text should be aligned, then click OK.

Modifying an extra column heading

To modify an extra column heading, click on the heading you want to modify, then click on the Modify button. DMB displays the same window that is used for adding an extra column heading.

Removing an extra column heading

To remove an extra column heading, click on the heading you want to remove, then click on the Remove button.

Working with sections

The tools on the Name / sections page allow you to add, remove, and rename sections:

Working with this page is pretty easy. The real work of defining a section is creating all of the columns for that section (see above). On this page, all we need to do is name the section, choose a keyword for a section (needed only for a few report types), and put the sections in the right order.

Moving a section

To move a section, click on the section you want to move, then use the Up and Down buttons to change the order in which the sections are listed.

Adding a section

When you click the Add button within the Sections box, DMB adds a new section to the end of the list and gives it the name "New". To rename this section, click on it, then enter a new Name in the Section Info box.

Renaming a section

To rename a section, click on it, then enter a new Name in the Section Info box.

Removing a section

To remove a section, click on it, then click on the Remove button.

Section keywords

For most reports, the basic structure of all sections are the same. Two reports, however, have different logic for different sections:

in the league standings report, most sections are presented in a divisional structure, but the wildcard standings combine all of the teams into one listing.
in the team roster report, some sections includes batters, some include pitchers and some include both

When you create a new section for one of these reports, use keywords to indicate which format or player list to use for that section.

When you are finished

When you have done all of the work you want to do on the sections and columns of the report, click the OK button to return to the report window. The report is immediately updated to reflect the changes you have made.

Your custom report has not yet been saved, however. When you close the report window, you will be asked whether you want to save your changes as a custom report. Answer Yes if you want to save this custom report for future use. DMB prompts you for a name and then saves it. The next time you use the Report > Standard, customized, memorized command, this customized report will be displayed in the report selection window when you click on the appropriate report type if the Custom box is checked in the Include in report list section.

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