Report editor

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The report editor contains commands for defining the content of reports and of master pages. Most of these are contained in the toolbar that allows you to add various types of visual objects and decide their layout and properties.

Reports tutorial
Video course: Report object

Label: sets the style of the boxes selected as labels.

Hyperlink: sets the style of the boxes selected as hyperlinks.

Button: sets the style of the boxes selected as buttons.

Image: adds a background image to the boxes selected.

Add label: click in the report editor to add a label.

Add hyperlink: click in the report editor to add a hyperlink, and then use the Add procedure command in the context menu to create the procedure that will be launched when the user clicks on the box.

Add button: click in the report editor to add a button, and then use the Add procedure command in the context menu to create the procedure that will be launched when the user clicks on the button.

Add image: click in the report editor to add a box that contains an image.

Visual styles: Applies a visual style to the selected boxes or sections, or choose new visual style to add a new visual style based on the settings of the box selected.

Zoom menu: contains the commands for handling the display zoom of the report editor.

Book menu: contains the commands for deciding which editing mode to use and which reports/pages to display.

Section menu: contains the commands for adding sections, groups and totals to the report.

Box menu: contains the commands for handling the box alignments and resizings.

Background color: sets the background color of the boxes selected.

Text color: sets the text color of the boxes selected.

Font formatting: sets the box as bold, italic, underlined, or strikethrough.

Mask: sets the editing mask of the spans contained in the selected boxes.

Alignment: sets the alignment of the boxes selected.

Automatic resizing: the image will be shown in preview in the browser with its original dimensions and in Enlarge mode when printed to PDF.

No resizing: the image will always be shown with the original dimensions.

Fill mode: the dimensions of the image will be changed so that it can be contained inside the field.

Enlarge mode: the image will be enlarged to the maximum possible leaving it entirely inside in the box, respecting the form factor.

Crop mode: the image will be enlarged respecting the form factor so that it completely fills the box. Some parts of the image may not be visible.

Edit master page: opens the editor for the master page currently displayed.

Show links: shows the links between the master and section boxes. To change them, drag and drop one box onto another from the objects tree while holding down the Shift key.

Show resizing: Shows the resizing mode for the boxes. Use the commands in the toolbar menu box to change it.

One page per row: if selected, only one master page or report will be shown per row.

Two pages per row: if selected, two master pages or reports will be shown per row.

Three pages per row: if selected, three master pages or reports will be shown per row.

Show page/report: shows or hides the master page/report indicated in the name of the command

Show all pages: shows all the master pages in the book.

Show all reports: shows all the reports in the book.

Hide section: hides the section selected, in order to show those beneath it.

Show all sections: shows all the sections previously hidden.

Add report header: adds a header type report section to the report. It will be printed before every other group or detail section.

Add report footer: adds a footer type report section to the report. It will be printed at the bottom of the report.

Add page header: adds a page header type section to the report. It will be printed on each new page added to the report.

Add page footer: adds a page footer type section to the report. It will be printed on each new page added to the report.

Add detail: adds a detail type section to the report. It will be printed for every record returned by the report master query.

Add group sections: adds a group header and footer type section to the report, based on the field of the master query selected in the report.

Add sum: adds a sum field for the field selected in the report editor. The sum field can be moved/copied in the most appropriate section to get different sum levels.

Align left: aligns all the selected fields to the left side of the one from which the menu or context menu was opened.

Align top: aligns all the selected fields to the upper side of the one from which the menu or context menu was opened.

Align right: aligns all the selected fields to the right side of the one from which the menu or context menu was opened.

Align bottom: aligns all the selected fields to the lower side of the one from which the menu or context menu was opened.

Center horizontally Centers the selected boxes horizontally. If only one box is selected, then it can be centered with respect to the one that contains it.

Center vertically Centers the selected boxes vertically. If only one box is selected, then it can be centered with respect to the one that contains it.

Same width: sets the width of all fields to the same as that of the field from which the menu or context menu was opened.

Same height: sets the height of all fields to the same as that of the field from which the menu or context menu was opened.

Arrange vertically: arranges the selected fields vertically, beginning with the one from which the menu or context menu was opened.

Arrange horizontally: arranges the selected fields horizontally, beginning with the one from which the menu or context menu was opened.

Adapt to the image: adapts the size of the box to the image that it contains.

No horizontal resizing: the fields selected will not be moved if the form changes width.

Move horizontally: the fields selected will be moved right or left if the form changes width.

Fit horizontally: the fields selected will be widened or narrowed if the form changes width.

No vertical resizing: the fields selected will not be moved if the form changes height.

Move vertically: the fields selected will be moved up or down if the form changes height.

Fit vertically: the fields selected will be raised or lowered if the form changes height.

Bold: the value of the fields selected will be shown in bold.

Italic: the value of the fields selected will be shown in italics.

Underlined: the value of the fields selected will be underlined. Incompatible with strikethrough.

Strikethrough: the value of the fields selected will be shown in strikethrough. Incompatible with underlined.

Default: the formatting and editing mask depends on the visual style applied to the field.

Uppercase: the value of the field will be shown in uppercase.

Lowercase: the value of the field will be shown in lowercase.

Show HTML tags: the value of the field will be shown as HTML code. Valid only if the field is read only.

Currency: mask appropriate for entering a monetary value. Allows entry of numbers with the thousands separator and two decimal places.

Integer: allows for entry of an integer.

Date: allows for entry of a date in the dd/mm/yyyy format. To change the default format, use the compiling parameters wizard from the application's context menu.

Time: allows for entry of a time in the default format (hh:nn). To change the default format, use the compiling parameters wizard from the application's context menu.

Date/time: allows for entry of a date and time in the default format (dd/mm/yyyy hh:nn). To change the default format, use the compiling parameters wizard from the application's context menu.

Custom: allows you to define a custom mask. The mask can be entered in different ways, depending on whether the field is always read only or if it can also be editable. Read the sections that follow for more information.

Editable fields

Numeric type fields: you can use the 0 token to indicate a digit that is always present, and the # token to indicate an optional digit. The dot token represents the decimal separator and the comma the thousands separator. At runtime the real separators used depend on the language and the settings of the application. If the field is longer than the mask, the first character in the mask will be extended. If the field is shorter than the mask, it will be truncated starting from the right. Examples:
#0: integer field with at least one digit.
#,###,###,##0.00: currency field with two decimals places always displayed.

Alphanumeric type fields: the recognized tokens are: a for lower case letters, A for upper case letters, # for digits, and & for a digit or upper case letter. Other characters can be added, and they will be interpreted as fixed signs. However, if the mask is set to >, the entire field will be converted to uppercase. If set to <, the entire field will be lowercase. If set to =, HTML coding will not actually be performed, and it will be possible to view formatted html text.
Examples:
A&: code that begins with an uppercase letter and can contain letters or numbers.
AAA-AAA-##A##-A###A: a code with letters and numbers.

Date type fields: the following tokens are recognized: d for the day, m for the month, y for the year, h for the hour, n for the minutes, and s for the seconds. It's not currently possible to use dates with a two-digit year; they must always use four.
Examples:
mm-dd-yyyy: date in American format.
mm-dd-yyyy hh:nn: date and time in American format.

Non editable fields
In this case, you can use all of the tokens described above, and in addition you can also use the tokens recognized by the Java and .NET environment conversion functions. In particular:

Numeric type fields: in Java they are formatted using the DecimalFormat class, and in .NET using Decimal.ToString.
Date type fields: in Java they are formatted using the SimpleDateFormat class, and in .NET using Decimal.ToString. To standardize the two environments, substitutions are made in the string sent as the mask: the token m is replaced with M, the token h with H, and the token n with m. In addition, in Java the token dddd is replaced with EEEE and the token ddd with EEE.