Report Emulation

rbuser

Hi,

I am currently using D7 and RB 7.04. I need my application to fill up
some forms created using MS-word. Using automation server seemed a bit
tough so I am trying to achieve it using report emulation in RB. That
it, I am hoping to convert the forms into image files and make them
"background" for the reports. I want to have the option to print out
the report with both the background and data as well as with data only.
My questions are:

1) Can my current RB 7.04 do the job?

2) If I were to upgrade to the latest RB Enterprise 10.5, will it make
my job easier?

Thanks for any help in advance.
Peter Tan

nicocizik

Hi Peter,

Yes, this should be possible with the version of ReportBuilder you currently
have. There is a form emulation example located in the Developer's Guide
that may be of some help. The finished tutorial is located in the
\RBuilder\Tutorials\Complete\Reports\06 Forms Emulation using WMF\...
directory. Instructions can be found in the Developer's Guide located in
the \RBuilder\Develpers Guide\... directory.

--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Hi Nico,

I downloaded a trial copy of DocPrint and converted a word document to a WMF
image with it. When I try to load the WMF image into a ppImage component, I
get the error message, "Metafile is not valid". Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Peter Tan

nicocizik

Hi Peter,

ReportBuilder uses the built-in Delphi graphics library to process images.
One option might be to convert your document to EMF format rather than WMF.
Another would be to try using a more advanced graphics library like
GraphicEx or ImageEn.

www.lischke-online.de/Graphics.html

www.hicomponents.com


---------------------------------------------------------------------
Article: ReportBuilder Image Support
---------------------------------------------------------------------

ReportBuilder natively supports .bmp, .jpeg, .wmf, .ico image formats.

ReportBuilder has an open architecture that supports any TGraphic
descendant.

For example, ReportBuilder ships with a freeware component called GIFImage
that can be used with ReportBuilder to print .gif images. (see the main
report demo app for an example.)

There is another freeware component called GraphicEx that supports several
additional formats - including tiff, targa, and autodesk.

It can be downloaded from:

http://www.lischke-online.de/Graphics.html


ReportBuilder can easily support TGraphic descendants with a simple register
call.

Below is the code to our ppGIF.pas unit which 'uses' and registers the
freeware GIFImage component.


{********************************************************************}
{ }
{ ReportBuilder Report Component Library }
{ }
{ Copyright (c) 1996, 2000 Digital Metaphors Corporation }
{ }
{********************************************************************}

unit ppGIF;

interface

{$I ppIfDef.pas}

uses
ppCtrls, GIFImage;

implementation

{***************************************************************
*
** I N I T I A L I Z A T I O N / F I N A L I Z A T I O N
*
{****************************************************************}

initialization

ppRegisterGraphicClass('GIF', TGIFImage);

finalization

ppUnRegisterGraphicClass(TGIFImage);

end.


--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com