The documents in this section describe options of each report control
available in the Report Designer.
In general, report controls allow you to represent information of
different kinds (e.g. simple or formatted text, pictures, tables, etc.) in you
report both static and dynamic, and to adjust
your report's layout (by organizing controls within panels, and inserting page
breaks at the required positions).
In the Report Designer, the available controls are listed in the Toolbox from
which they are dropped onto the required bands.
You also can extend the standard functionality of each control by writing
scripts for its available events.
Available Controls
The following table lists the available controls . For
each control's options description, refer to the corresponding document.
The most basic Label control is intended to display text in your
report. It can represent static or dynamic text, or both. In addition, it
can be used to calculate standard summary functions across a data field. The
Label's text can only be formatted as a whole. So, if it's required to
differently format parts of text, use the Rich Text control.
The Check Box control is intended to display True/False or
Checked/Unchecked/Indeterminate states in a report, by displaying (or not) a
check mark, which can be accompanied by a text description.
The Rich Text control allows you to display formatted text in your report. It can represent static or dynamic text, or both. You can load
content to the Rich Text from an external TXT or RTF file (which can also
contain images) and then format any part of it. The formatting options include
font face, styles and sizes, and color.
The Picture Box control is intended to display images of numerous
formats in a report. An image can be loaded from an external file, from a field, or
from a web location using the specified URL.
The Panel control is a container that frames separate report controls
to allow them to be easily moved, copied and pasted, and visually unite them in
the report's preview (with borders or a uniform color background).
The Table control is designed to arrange information in a tabular layout It may
contain any number of rows comprised of
individual cells. Both Rows and
Cells can be selected and customized individually. In most aspects, a Cell is similar to a Label , but can also contain other controls (e.g. Picture Box or Rich Text ).
The Line control draws a line of a specified direction, style, width
and color. It can be used for both decoration and visual separation of a
report's sections. The Line cannot cross bands, as opposed to the Cross-band Line control.
The Shape control allows you to embed simple graphic objects into your
report. You can choose one of multiple predefined shapes (e.g. rectangles,
ellipses, arrows, polygons, crosses and brackets of various
kinds).
The Chart is a sophisticated control used to embed graphs into your
report. It graphically represents a series of points using
numerous 2D or 3D chart types. A Chart can be populated with points both
manually (by specifying arguments and values for each
point) and dynamically (by connecting it to the report's data source, or
binding it to a separate one).
The Pivot Grid control represents dynamic data (obtained from an
underlying data source) in a cross-tabulated form to create cross-tab reports ,
similar to Pivot Tables in Microsoft Excel®. Column headers display unique
values from one data field, and row headers - from another field. Each cell
displays a summary for the corresponding row and column values. By specifying
different data fields, you can see different totals. This allows you to get a
compact layout for a complex data analysis.
The Page Info control is intended to add page numbers and system information (the current date and time or the current user name) into your report. As with many other controls, you can format this control's
content.
The Cross-band Line control allows you to draw a line through several bands. This can be
useful if it is required to visually emphasize a section consisting of multiple
band areas. In other aspects, it is similar to a regular line.
The Cross-band Box control allows you to draw a rectangle through
several bands. This can be
useful if it is required to visually encompass a section consisting of multiple
band areas.
The Subreport control allows you to include other reports in your
current report.
Add Controls to a Report
To create a control, drag it from the Toolbox panel onto the
report area.
To automatically create a control bound to data, drag a field from the Field List panel, and
drop it onto a report's surface. When dropping a field onto an existing control,
this control will be bound to the data field.
If you drag the field with the right mouse button, when the button is
released the context menu is invoked. Use this menu to specify which control
should be created.
Note
When controls overlap, the report may be shown incorrectly when exported to some formats. Red markers and a report tooltip will warn of this situation. You may switch off the red warning marks via the report's Show Export
Warnings property.