<virtualType name="BraintreeTransactionsReporting"
             type="Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\Reporting">
    <arguments>
        <argument name="collectionFactory" xsi:type="object">
            BraintreeTransactionsCollectionFactoryForReporting
        </argument>
    </arguments>
</virtualType>

This is a virtual type configuration.

This configuration is for the base area. Base area configurations will apply to all the sub-applications.

This virtualType configuration tells the Object Manager when a user wants a virtual BraintreeTransactionsReporting object that it should return a Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\Reporting object.

This configuration tells the Object Manager that when a user wants a BraintreeTransactionsReporting object that the following arguments should be used in the foo object's constructor.

• $collectionFactory = new BraintreeTransactionsCollectionFactoryForReporting (...)

<preference for="Magento\Framework\Api\Search\ReportingInterface"
            type="Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\Reporting"></preference>

This is a preference configuration.

This configuration is for the base area. Base area configurations will apply to all the sub-applications.

This preference configuration tells the Object Manager when a user wants a Magento\Framework\Api\Search\ReportingInterface object that it should return a Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\Reporting object.