Objects and Reportcontainer in Designer

In This Topic

Some objects in the Designer only serve for graphical design (e.g. Line, Rectangle, Ellipse). However, most of the other objects interact with the provided data. Specific data types are available for that or there are conversion functions which allow converting contents for use in the corresponding object. The following paragraphs give an overview of the most frequently used objects, their corresponding data types and Designer functions for converting contents. The hints for the single objects are also valid in the same or similar way for (Picture, Barcode, etc.) columns in table elements.

Text

A text objects consists of multiple paragraphs. Each of these paragraphs does have specific content. This can be either a variable or a formula which combines multiple data contents. To display single variables, usually no special conversion is required. If multiple variables of a different type (see also Variables, Fields and Datatypes) are to be combined within a formula, the single parts have to be converted to the same data types (e.g. string). An example for the combination of numbers and strings would be:

"Total: "+Str$(Sum(Article.Price),0,2)

The following table lists some of the conversion functions, which are frequently needed in this context.

From/To	Date	Number	Picture	Barcode	Text
Date	-	DateToJulian	-	-	Date$
Number	JulianToDate	-	-	Barcode(Str$)	FStr$ Str$
Picture	-	-	-	-	Drawing$
Barcode	-	Val(Barcode$)	-	-	Barcode$
Text	Date	Val	Drawing	Barcode	-

Picture

The content of a picture object is set via the property window. The property Data Source offers three values File Name, Formula and Variable:

The setting File Name is used for a fixed file, such as a company logo. If the file is not supposed to be redistributed it can be embedded in the report itself. The file selection dialog offers the appropriate option.
With Formula, the content can be set by a string containing a path. The required function is Drawing.
With Variable, contents already passed as a picture can be displayed (see also Variables, Fields and Datatypes).

Barcode

The content of a barcode object is set in a dialog. This dialog offers the three options Text, Formula and Variable for the data source:

The setting Text is used for fixed text/content in the barcode. In addition to the content, the type – e.g. with 2D-Barcodes – and other properties for error correction or encoding can be set.
With Formula the content can be set by a string which contains the barcode content. The required function is Barcode.
With Variable contents already passed as a barcode can be displayed (see also Variables, Fields and Datatypes).

Formatted Text (RTF)

The content of a RTF-Text object is set in a dialog. This dialog offers the options (Free Text) or a selection of possible passed RTF variables (see below) under Source:

The setting (Free Text) is used for fixed text/content in the RTF object. Within the object, data content can be used at any position (e.g. for personalized multiple letters) by clicking the formula icon in the toolbar.
By selecting a variable, contents already passed as RTF can be displayed (see also Variables, Fields and Datatypes).

HTML

The content of an HTML object is set in a dialog. This dialog offers the three options File, URL and Formula as a data source:

The setting File is used for a fixed HTML file.
With URL, a URL can be passed from where the HTML content should be downloaded.
With Formula, contents already passed as an HTML stream can be displayed (see also Variables, Fields and Datatypes).

Report Container

You use the "Report Container" object to add a table. As the name says, a report container can hold several objects. Tables, charts, crosstabs and Gantt charts can be added in any order, even as sub-elements of tables. This lets you define sub-reports with almost any relationships between tables. In addition to a report container there can be any number of other report containers and in addition also separate charts, cross tables or Gantt charts.

To make the report container available, a data provider (see section "Data Provider") has to be used as data source. Generally it is also possible to perform the complete printing on your own by using the low-level API functions of the LlCore object, however this is not the recommended practice since many features (Designer preview, Drilldown, report container, …) would have to be specially supported. If in doubt, it makes more sense to write your own data provider with the interface IDataProvider.

All provided list samples for the .NET Framework make use of the report container and therefore provide demonstration material for the different operation purposes. A detailed description for using this element can be found in the Designer Manual under section "Inserting Report Container”.

Send Feedback