Show Data Tab and firing menu option on New Report from Explorer

rbuser

I was wondering if it is possible (preferrably via one of the ppDesigner
events) to set the active page to the Data and firing of the New menu option
to display the data wizards and templates dialog box first when a user
creates a new report from the explorer.

I would like to prompt my users to create (or select) their data before they
go into the design page of the report.

Regards,

Jarrod

digitalmetaphors

Here is an example which launches the query designer before the designer is
shown and assign the query the user just created:
http://www.digital-metaphors.com/tips/CreateQueryBeforeShowDesigner.zip

In the OnShow event of this demo, you should also be able to access the DADE
menu items and trigger the click event for file new. You can access the
designer menu directly with TppDesigner.Menu at runtime.

Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

Thanks Jim, very handy... but isn't quite what I am looking for. Let me
explain myself a little better.

I have an end-user reporting tool using the report explorer. Very similar to
your end-user demos and tutorials with a custom explorer used.

I would like to show the data tab (not the data designer) and popup the "New
Items" dialog that contains the data wizard, query designer and my custom
data templates tab.

I only want to show this when creating a new report not when re-designing or
changing an existing report. In this case I want it to function as normal
and go to the report design tab.

Is there a flag I could use on the OnShow Event of the ppDesigner that will
let me know if it is creating a new report from scratch or not?

Any ideas?

digitalmetaphors

In the example I sent, use only the OnShow event handler code and then
change the code in the button click to do this too:

ppDesigner1.Show;

ppDesigner1.Menu.Items[0].Items[2].Click;


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

But how do I know in the OnShow event if the user is creating a new report
or not? Is there a flag I can check?

digitalmetaphors

If the designer is being shown, then that is going to be each time the user
launches the designer. The designer is going to load the report that gets
connected through the Designer.Report property. If you have multiple report
components on the form and you are letting the user hook the report to the
designer, then you can determine if they are loading a report or showing it
for the first time with an empty report. You can force a new report by
calling Report.Template.New. You could also determine if the user loaded a
template by using the Report.Template.OnLoadEnd public event.


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors