Report Engine Overview #

PhreeForm is Bizuno’s only reporting and document engine, and it’s two tools
sharing one foundation:

• a report engine — tabular output with grouping, totals, and filters, rendered
  to PDF, HTML, or CSV; and
• a form engine — pixel-positioned documents (invoices, packing slips,
  statements, checks, labels) rendered to PDF.

Both are built on the same data-binding, processing, and formatting system, so once
you understand one you understand the other. Learn PhreeForm and you can produce
almost any document or report your business needs; ignore it and you’re stuck with
the built-ins.

How a report runs #

 definition (JSON)
      │  load
      ▼
   build SQL  ──►  run query  ──►  per-cell: process → format  ──►  render  ──►  deliver
 (tables, fields,    (result        (viewProcess then          (PDF │ HTML │   (inline │
  filters, dates,     rows)          viewFormat)                CSV │ form-PDF)  download │
  groups, sorts)                                                                 email)

1. Load the definition. The report/form is a JSON structure (see
   where definitions live).
2. Build the SQL. PhreeForm assembles SELECT/FROM/JOIN/WHERE/GROUP BY/ORDER BY from the definition’s table list, visible fields, user-chosen
   filters, the date range, and any grouping/sorting (BuildSQL).
3. Run and merge. It executes the query and walks the result set, applying each
   field’s processing then formatting to every cell, and building group
   subtotals and report totals (BuildDataArray). See
   Processors and formatters.
4. Render to the chosen output.
5. Deliver — display inline, download, or email.

Output formats #

You pick the format from the toolbar when you open a report; forms always render to
PDF.

Delivery channels #

The delivery selector offers:

• Inline (I) — open in the browser (then print with the browser’s print).
• Download (D) — save the file.
• Email (S) — send it as an attachment via Bizuno’s mailer, with optional
  logging to the contact’s activity log.

There is no separate “print” pipeline — printing is “inline, then print from the
browser/PDF viewer.”

Where definitions live #

Not a phreeform table. Despite the name, report and form definitions are
stored in the shared common_meta table under the phreeform key, as JSON.
A companion phreeform_cache meta entry holds a lightweight index (titles,
groups, IDs) so the report tree loads fast without parsing every definition.

A definition’s JSON carries everything the engine needs: the title, a type
(rpt report, frm form, lst list, dir folder), the group_id (which folder/
context it belongs to — see Custom forms), the
source tables with their joins, the fieldlist, plus grouplist, sortlist,
filterlist, page setup, fonts, and an email template.

Built-in vs. your own #

• Built-in reports and forms ship as JSON files under locale/<lang>/reports/
  and are imported at install.
• Your own are created in the designer (or by copying a built-in) and saved
  into common_meta. They can be exported and imported
  as JSON to move between installs.

Reports are offered by context #

A report or form belongs to a group, and groups map to journals/modules — so
the right documents show up in the right place. When you print from a sales invoice
(jID 12), Bizuno offers the forms in the cust:j12 group; a check run offers
bnk:j20. The mapping is getDefaultFormID(); the full group list is in
Custom forms.

The 7.3.9 PDF migration #

As of 7.3.9, PDF generation uses tFPDF exclusively —
TCPDF was removed. For end users this is mostly invisible, but three details
matter if you maintain custom forms:

• Barcodes are generated by picqer/php-barcode-generator (the bizBarcode()
  helper). Supported symbologies include C128 (and A/B/C), C39, EAN-13/8, UPC-A/E,
  Interleaved 2-of-5, and POSTNET.
• HTML inside cells is handled by an in-tree shim (bizHTMLCell()) supporting a
  small tag set — <b>/<strong>, <i>/<em>, <u>, <font color>, and
  <p>/<div>/<br> as line breaks. Unsupported tags are stripped, not dropped
  with their text.
• PDF page import (e.g. appending attachments) uses the FPDI tFPDF adapter.

If a custom form renders oddly after upgrading, these are the usual suspects — see
Custom forms → troubleshooting.

Related #

• Form designer
• Data binding and fields
• Processors and formatters
• Custom forms