Report settings
A report is the main object in the Report Designer. While a report's properties can be accessed via the report's Smart tag, the complete settings list is available in the Property Grid, where all the report's properties are divided into the following groups.
Appearance
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Background Color | Specifies the background color of report elements. This option is also available in the Formatting toolbar. |
|
Specify border settings for report elements. |
| Font | Specifies the font settings for report elements. Some of these settings are available in the Formatting toolbar. |
| Foreground Color | Specifies the text color for report elements. This option is also available in the Formatting toolbar. |
| Formatting Rule Sheet | Invokes the Formatting Rule Sheet Editor, allowing you to manage and customize formatting rules, which can then be defined for a report's bands and controls. |
| Formatting Rules | Invokes the Formatting Rules Editor, allowing you to choose which rules should be applied to the report during report generation, and define the precedence of the applied rules. For more information, see Conditionally Change a Control's Appearance. |
| Padding | Specifies indent values used to render the contents of a report's controls. |
| Style Sheet | Allows you to invoke the Styles Editor, which is intended to manage and customize a report's style sheets. For more information, see Store and Restore Style Sheets. |
| Style Sheet's Path | Allows you to define a path to the style sheet contained in a report style sheet file (.REPSS). For more information, see Store and Restore Style Sheets. |
| Text Alignment | Allows you to change the alignment of a report controls' text. This option is also available in the Formatting toolbar. |
| Watermark | Allows you to customize a report's watermark options. For more information, see Create or Modify Watermarks of a Report. |
Behavior
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Export Options | Allows you to set the export options for each file type (PDF, XLS, TXT, and so on). These options vary with the file type. |
| Measure Units | Allows you to choose units of measurement for a report (one hundredth of an inch or a tenth of a millimeter). |
| Script Language | Allows you to choose the programming language to be used in scripting (C#, Visual Basic or J#). |
| Script References | Allows you to manage the collection of strings that represent the paths to the assemblies used by the scripts in a report. |
| Scripts | This property contains events which you can handle with the required scripts. |
| Show Margin Lines in Preview | The page margin lines are dotted lines shown on the currently selected page in the report's preview. Use this property to change the visibility of these lines. |
| Vertical Content Splitting | Allows you to choose whether report controls outside the right page margin should be split across pages, or moved in their entirety to the next page. |
| Visible | Specifies whether a report should be created in print preview. |
Data
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Calculated Fields | Allows you to access a report's calculated fields collection. |
| Data Adapter | Determines a report's data adapter used to populate the report's data source. It is created automatically, and should not be modified. |
| Data Member | Determines a specific list in a report's Data Source, for which the Report Designer objects display data. It is created automatically, and should not be modified. |
| Data Source | Determines a report's data source. It is created automatically, and should not be modified. |
| Filter String | Allows you to invoke the Filter String Editor, which is intended to easily define a filtering condition for a report's data. For more information, see Change or Apply Data Filtering to a Report. |
| Tag | Allows you to add some additional information to a report; for example its id, by which it can then be accessible via scripts. |
| XML Data Path | Allows you to define a path to data contained in an external XML file. The data contained in the file will then be used as a report's data source. |
Design
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| (Name) | Determines a report's name, by which it can be accessed in the Report Explorer, in the Property Grid, or using scripts. |
| Data Source's Schema | Allows you to load an XML/XSD file, containing the schema of a report's data source. |
| Draw the Grid | Determines whether to draw the grid when a report is being designed. |
| Grid Size | Determines the size of a grid defined by a report's Draw the Grid property. |
| Row Count for Preview | This property is intended to reduce the time for report preview loading when working with large data sources. For example, if this property is set to 10, only 10 data rows will be loaded into a data source. If you want to see all data rows, set this property to 0 (as it is by default). |
| Show Designer's Hints | The designer hints are intended to provide tooltips, both describing the purpose of certain report elements for inexperienced users, and describing the reasons and solutions for possible export or printing warnings. By using this property, these hints can be turned on or off. |
| Show Export Warnings | The export warnings appear when report controls are overlapped, indicating that a report layout may be incorrect when exporting to certain table-based formats (such as XLS, HTML or RTF). |
| Show Printing Warnings | The printing warnings are intended to notify you that some of a report's controls are placed outside the right page margin, so that the report contains unnecessary pages. |
| Snap to Grid | This property is intended to place controls on a report precisely when they are located or resized. |
Misc
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Bands | Allows you to invoke the Report Editor, intended to manage and customize a report's bands. |
Page Settings
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Landscape | Determines whether the page orientation is Landscape (when set to Yes) or Portrait (when set to No). |
| Margins | Determines the width of a report's margins (measured in report units). The report's Margins.Top and
Margins.Bottom properties are tied to the Height property of the Page Margin Bands. Changing these
the Margins property values for a band will therefore also change the Height value and changing the Height value will
change the Margins values.
|
| Page Height | Specifies page height, in report units. This property can only be set if the Paper Kind property is set to Custom. |
| Page Width | Specifies page width, in report units. This property can only be set if the Paper Kind property is set to Custom. |
| Paper Kind | Determines the type of paper for a report. Setting this property to any value different from Custom
will prevent the Page Height, Page Width, and Paper Name
properties from being customized. If the Paper Kind property is set to
Custom, then the printer paper will be selected according to the Paper
Name property value. In this case, it is also necessary to set the Page Width and
Page Height properties to values that correspond to the selected paper.
|
| Paper Name | Determines the name of the custom paper used in the printer that will print the document. The
Paper Name property value is in effect only when the Paper Kind property
is set to Custom. If the printer on which a document is printed does not support the paper type
specified by the Paper Name property value, then it will default to the Letter paper size. In this
case, it is also necessary to set the Page Width and Page Height properties
to values that correspond to the selected paper.
|
| Printer Name | Determines the name of the printer to use when printing a report. The specified printer should be installed on the machine. |
| Using Settings of the Default Printer | Specifies which default printer settings should be used when printing a report. |
Parameters
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Parameters | Allows you to access a report's parameters collection. |
| Request Parameters | Allows you to define whether it's required to request the values of a report's parameters when generating the report. |
Structure
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Bands | Allows you to invoke the Report Editor, intended to manage and customize a report's bands. |