Formatting an Object on a Report

Note:  The instructions below are for formatting an object (field, formula, label, line, shape, image, barcode, or subreport) already inserted into a custom report in the Report Writer module.

• Click the object (field, formula, label, line, shape, image, barcode, or subreport) for which to format.

Tip:  After an object is selected, handles (boxes) will appear around the outside edges of the selected object.  To select multiple objects to format at the same time, press and hold the Shift or Ctrl key and then select (click) all the desired items to format, or else click, drag, and drop a box (using your mouse) over all the desired objects.  To select all objects within a section, click the title bar for the section and then press the Ctrl+A keys.

Note:  If the report to edit is not yet open, first complete the following:  from the Report Writer screen, click on the name of the view group in the Report Groups List that contains the report for which to format an object and click on the name of the report to edit in the Reports List (or click the Find button instead to search for the desired report); then click the Edit Record button located at the top of the screen.

• Click the applicable button, or select the Format menu and then the desired formatting option:  

 Bold - to print the text for a field, formula, label, or barcode in boldface.

 Italic - to print the text for a field, formula, label, or barcode in italics.

 Underline - to print the text in a field, formula, label, or barcode with a single underline.

 Font Settings - to set the font, font style, size, and effects of the text for a field, formula, label, or barcode.

 Align - to set the horizontal alignment of the text within a field, formula, label, or barcode; must select Left, Center, Right, or Justify.

 Back Color - to set the background (fill) color of the field, formula, label, shape, image, or barcode.

 Fore Color - to set the foreground (text) color of the field, formula, label, or barcode.

 Line Color - to set the color of the line.

 Line Style - to set the style of the line; must select Transparent, Solid, Dash, Dot, Dash Dot, or Dash Dot Dot. 

 Border - to print a border around a field, formula, label, shape, image, barcode, or subreport.

• Additional formatting options are available in the Properties List (located in the lower right corner of the screen) using the following fields:

• Auto Size - located under the Behavior section and used to specify to automatically size a barcode to fit the width of the object; must select True or False.

• Can Grow - located under the Behavior section and used to set a field, formula, label, or subreport so that the height of the object expands in order to print all the text, if applicable; must select True or False.  For example, if the text is too long to print in one line (for the height and width of the field) and True is specified in the Can Grow field, the height of the object will increase for that one record and the data will wrap to additional lines in order to print all the text for the field; if the Can Grow field is set to False, the text would just be cut off for the field (would not wrap).

Note:  If True is specified in the Can Grow field for a field, formula, label, or subreport, the section in which the object is included must also have True in the Can Grow field for the section properties.

• Can Shrink - located under the Behavior section and used to set a field, formula, label, or subreport so that the height of the object decreases to omit blank space from printing, if applicable; must select True or False.  For example, if the text only fills up one line of the width of the field and the height is set for three lines, and True is specified in the Can Shrink field, the height of the object will decrease for that one record to be just one line high; if the Can Shrink field is set to False, the one line of text will print followed by two blank lines in the field.

Note:  If True is specified in the Can Shrink field for a field, formula, label, or subreport, the section in which the object is included must also have True in the Can Shrink field for the section properties.

• Caption Position - located under the Behavior section and used to set the location of the caption for a barcode (the caption is the data for the field tied to the barcode); must select None, Above, or Below.

• Check Sum Enabled - located under the Behavior section and used to have the system verify the computation of a barcode; must select True or False.

• Hide if Zero - located under the Data section and used to suppress (not print) the field if the value is zero (0) for a numeric field or formula; must select True or False.

• Line Weight - located under the Appearance section and used to set the weight (thickness) of a line for a line, shape, or image using pixels.

Note:  The line color and line style for a shape or image can also be changed, if desired, by using the Line Color and Line Style fields also located under the Appearance section (the Line Color button and Line Style button (and the corresponding options under the Format menu) are only enabled for lines, not shapes or images).

• Narrow Bar Width - located under the Appearance section for a barcode; enter 0 to expand the barcode to fit within the designated area of the object.

• Optional - located under the Behavior section and used to set a field, formula, label, line, shape, image, barcode, or subreport as optional in order for the user to select whether or not to include (print) the object when generating the report; must select True or False.

• Output Format - located under the Data section and used for different purposes depending on the type of the field or formula:

• For date and month fields or formulas - click in the field and click the button to specify the desired date or month format; then click the Save button.  

• For numeric fields or formulas - click in the field and click the button to specify the desired negative style format, number of decimal places, and whether to display a comma or dollar sign for the numeric field or formula; then click the Save button.

Note:  Additional decimal formats can be keyed directly into the Output Format field in order to print only a certain number of decimal places, unless a record includes a value containing additional decimal places (then it will print those additional decimal places for just that record).  For example, enter 0.0## in the Output Format field to print only one decimal place, unless a record contains more, then have it print up to three decimal places.  The additional format using #s for decimal places is not available to select but can be keyed into the field, if desired.

• For booelan (true/false) fields or formulas - click in the field and click the button to specify the desired true/false style; then click the Save button.

• For the Page Number field (which is a special field) - click in the field and click the down-arrow button to select the desired page number format (Page: ###0, Page: # of #, or Page: #/#).

• Picture Alignment - located under the Appearance section and used to set the position of the image within the designated area of the object (image); must select TopLeft, TopRight, Center, BottomLeft, or BottomRight.

• Rotation - located under the Appearance section and used to set the rotation (direction) of the lines for a barcode; must select None (for top to bottom), Rotate180Degrees (for bottom to top), Rotate90Degrees (for right to left), or Rotate270Degrees (for left to right).

• Rounding Radius - located under the Appearance section and used to set the roundness of the corners if the shape type is set to RoundRect.

• Size Mode - located under the Appearance section and used to set the size of the image within the designated area of the object (image); must select Clip, Stretch, or Zoom.  To use the actual size of the image, select Clip.  To have the image stretch to fill the designated area of the object (image), select Stretch.  To have the image zoom in to be the height of the designated area of the object (image), select Zoom.

• Style - located under the Appearance section and used to set the shape type for a shape (Rectangle, Ellipse, or RoundRect) or to set the code type for a barcode.

• Summary Func - located under the Data section and used to select the desired summary function or subtotal type for a numeric field or formula; must select Sum, Avg, Count, Min, Max, DCount, or None.  Typically, this field is only changed for a numeric field or formula located in a Footer section.

• Vertical Alignment - located under the Appearance section; click in the field and click the down-arrow button to set the vertical alignment of the text within a field, formula, or label; must select Top, Middle, or Bottom.

• The object will appear with the specified formatting; for example, the object will appear in boldface.

• Click the Save button.