Subreport with assigned DataPipeline on title band of the main report

rbuser

Hello,

I would like to create a compact preview / summary of the positions
(detail band content) and display it *before* the actual detail band.

I.e. the position summary displays the short descriotions of all
positions, then the long details follow via the detail band of the main
report.

I've created a subreport (with a group and detail band), assigned the
same datapipeline to it as the one assigned to the main report and
placed it on the title band of the main report.

So far it seems to work, but only if the content of that position
summary fits onto the first page. For pages 2 and up there is a header
band which is supposed to preserve space for the logo etc. Once the
position preview goes into the second page, it's content seems to have a
higher priority and comes *before* the header band, which looks ugly
with the header band space *between* the position preview and the details.

Looks wrong to me. Is this supposed to be like that? What should I do to
fix it or how to achieve the desired layout / behaviour?

Best regards,
Mark

nicocizik

Hi Mark,

Rather than using the Title band, I recommend separating your report
into two using section subreports.

Create an empty main report with a detail band only and place two
section style subreports inside the detail.

The first section will contain all your preview information and the
second will contain your existing main report.

rbuser

Hi Nico,

thanks for your reply. That would be something new for me, I believe,
but one question appears directly:
what will be the order?

The required layout is:
- some common stuff like address etc. (Part of the main report)
- some starting text (Part of the main report)
- then the preview information
- then the rest of the main report

Would this be possible or would they come one after the other? Second
case isn't an option for the customer unfortunatelly.


Am 05.05.2015 um 18:35 schrieb Nico Cizik (Digital Metaphors):

rbuser

Hi Nico,

placing the subreport onto the GroupHeader band of the main report looks
like a good alternative, I believe.

It already contains a subreport with column captions and the preview
information could come before it. The only difference would be, that the
preview information would have to be visible only on the first
appearance of the GroupHeader.

How does this variant sound? No problems with the header at least, from
what I see.

nicocizik

Hi Mark,

This sounds like a good alternative to using Section subreports,
especially if the output is acceptable for your needs.

rbuser

Hi Nico,

ok, thanks. Did it that way, seems to be ok.

When doing some tests I've noticed, that it wasn't actually a problem of
the subreport. Looks like every stretchable object on the title band
leads to this behaviour, once it's too long to fit onto the title band.

Noticed it with the DBRichviewEdit used for the initial text. Once the
content was too long, it continued on page 2, but started straight at
the top, ignoring the header band, which came below the text...

Although it seems not to be happening often (first time I've noticed it
by accident), it looks like a bug to me, because I would expect the
header to come at the top of the page and all other content below it.

How do you see it? Any chance of this being fixed / changed?

Best regards,
Mark

Am 06.05.2015 um 15:35 schrieb Nico Cizik (Digital Metaphors):

nicocizik

Hi Mark,

The title band is functioning as designed. It is meant to print before
every other band regardless how many pages it spans.

The title band was designed to hold minimal title information (company
logo, etc.) at the beginning of a report. If you need more complex
separation of your report, my earlier suggestion of using Section style
subreports is the way to accomplish this.

rbuser

Hi Nico,


Then I would call it a "flaw" in the design This is perfectly fine if
the title band prints before every other band *except the header band*
as there is simply no logical reason to ignore it in my opinion. Header
is there to preserve some space at the top.

I think it's quite common, that people also place stretchable elements
onto the title band - some initial text of an offer or invoice are sure
the most common cases - simply because of the reason, that is
automatically printed *only once* at the beginning of a document and
because it belongs there following the subject etc. and because it looks
like the best place for an introduction text etc. withotut the need to
control the visibility of that text element through variables making
sure it's printed only once...

Section reports might work, but do you think "normal users" - i.e. not
developers like us - will figure out how ot get them work? I highly
doubt it and sometimes I have the feeling, that you guys forget, that
the designer is mainly used by the normal users in the end, who already
have trouble to understand all the bands, subreports stuff etc.

Just some feedback from me. Maybe you can rewatch the purpose of the
title band at some point.

Best regards,
Mark



Am 06.05.2015 um 22:10 schrieb Nico Cizik (Digital Metaphors):