<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  IMS version 22.6 & 22.9 > IMS Basics - User Guide 22.6 & 22.9 > Reporting  > GUI Navigation

 

Design Surface

The Design Surface displays a report that is being edited 

 

Figure 1 - Design Surface

 

 

Rulers

The horizontal ruler allows you to modify the report’s side margins by moving the left and right sliders on the ruler.

 

Figure 2 - Rulers

 

You can move a report band’s vertical ruler resizing rectangles to change its height.

 

Band Captions

In the Report Designer, each report band carries a caption, the tab title and color, which depends on the band kind. These captions are not printed in the resultant report document and are only visible at design time.

 

Figure 3 - Band Resizing

 

You can expand or collapse a band’s content at design time by clicking the tab on the left side of the band.

 

To access a band’s properties, click the band’s caption and switch to the Properties Panel.

 

 

Figure 4 - Band Properties

 

Data Binding Indication

The Report Designer displays a database barrel icon

 

 

Figure 5 - Validate Bindings

 

You can click the Validate Bindings toolbar button seen in Figure 5 to highlight report controls with invalid  expression/data bindings (red barrel).

 

This allows you to determine if the specified expression has an incorrect syntax or uses non-existing data source fields.

 

In-Place Editors

In-place editors allow you to edit the text-oriented controls’ content by double-clicking them.

 

 

Figure 6 - Edit Field Name

 

You can switch between a report’s Design and Preview mode using the corresponding buttons in the Main Toolbar.

 

Field List

This section describes the Field List panel that enables you to explore and manage report data sources and

parameters as well as create bound report controls.

Manage Report Data Sources

The Field List shows available report data sources and their structure.

 

Figure 7 - Field List

 

The following actions are available in the Field List for data source customization:

Table 1 - Field List Icons

 

Create Bound Report Elements

The Field List allows you to create new bound report controls and bind existing controls to data.

 

To add a new data-bound report control, drag the required data field from the Field List onto a report band. This creates a control of an appropriate type and binds it to the selected field.

 

Figure 8 - Data Binding to Report Field

 

 

Manage Report Parameters

It is beyond the scope of this document to fully explain Report Parameters. For detailed usage please refer to  DevExpress web site for further details.

 

 

Main Menu

The Web Report Designer menu is invoked by clicking the menu button in the upper-left corner of the designer’s user interfaces.

 

 

 

From here you can Save your work and launch the Report Wizard.

 

 

Main Toolbar

The Main Toolbar provides access to the report editing commands i

 

Figure 10 - Main Toolbar

 

Clipboard Commands

 

Use these commands to place the selected elements in the clipboard and paste them onto the required report bands

 

Table 2 - Edit Commands

Edit Commands

 

The following commands allow you to delete report elements and cancel previous actions

 

Table 3 - Edit Commands

View Commands

 

Use the commands below to adjust the report zoom factor

 

Table 4 - View Commands

Mode and Validation Command

 

The following commands enable you to toggle between Report Designer’s modes and also Validate data bindings.

 

Table 3 - Mode and Validation Commands

Properties Panel

This document describes how to use the Properties panel to access and customize the report and report element properties

 

Figure 11 - Properties Panel

 

A report element’s properties can be accessed in several ways:

 

Select a Report Element

 

1.Select an element from the drop-down list at the top of the Properties panel

 

Figure 12 - Properties

 

This will reveal the group of the element’s properties 

 

2.Click an element on the Design Surface and click the  button to invoke the Properties panel.

3.Select an element in Report Explorer     and click the    button

 

 

Switch Between Display Modes

Element settings can appear in alphabetical order or in categories based on their purpose. Use the buttons next to the selected element to switch between these display modes.

Figure 13 - Properties

 

Change Property Values

Each record consists of a property’s caption, a value editor, and an optional property marker. To change a property’s value, select the property and specify its value in the editor.

 

Figure 14 - Property Values

 

You can also reset the property values to their default ones by right clicking on the small square at the end of the property item.

 

 

Figure 15 - Property Reset Value

 

 

Specify Expressions

The Properties panel allows you to specify expressions that can include two or more data fields and various functions. Click a property marker to see whether the invoked context menu has the PropertyName Expression item

 

Figure 16 - Text Expression

 

Click this item to specify an expression in the invoked Expression Editor popup window that follows next.

 

Figure 17 - Expression Editor

 

In Figure 17 we calculated this fields to be 20% of an existing given value, by selecting a function option.

 

The Properties panel highlights properties that have an assigned expression. An empty expression will show a small square, one with content will show a small F (function symbol) as seen in Figure 18. 

 

Figure 18 - Label Field with  Expression

 

 

 

Search Properties

Click the  button to show the search box. When you type in the search box, the Properties panel filters the list of available properties and highlights the search string in the records.

 

Figure 19 - Properties Search

 

In this example we searched for the term ‘border’ resulting in 4 hits and location where these properties can be found

 

Use Actions

In the categorized mode, the Properties panel contains the context-sensitive Actions group that provides the most used actions for the selected report element

 

The following screenshots show a Report and Label level action properties. In this case adding report bands and alignment type actions.

 

Figure 20 - Report and Label Action Properties

 

Report Explorer

The Report Explorer panel shows a report’s structure and provides access to report elements, styles, and components.

 

Manage Report Elements

Report Explorer displays all report controls and bands in a tree-like form.

The following actions are available to customize report elements:

 

You can use drag-and-drop for the following operations:

•Reorder report controls, or move them from one band to another.

 

•Reorder Detail Report bands or move them inside / outside other bands.

 

•Reorder Group Header and Group Footer bands.

 

•Reorder table cells or move them between table rows. Reorder table rows.

 

An acceptable drop target is highlighted in green when you drag an item over it. An unacceptable target is highlighted in red.

Manage Report Styles

Expand the Styles category in Report Explorer to access the report style collection.

To apply a style to a report control, drag a style item from Report Explorer onto this control.

You can use the following actions to customize report styles:

 

 

Manage Data Sources

The Report Explorer shows available report data sources in the Components category. This list is synchronized with data sources from the Field List panel.

 

The following actions are available to customize data sources: