Locking Down the Report Designer

rbuser

Is it possible to make it so the user cannot add groups, title bands,
page header/footer bands etc. I have a situation in which I want to
programmatically create a report the user can put element on, which only
has a detail band.

I also need to intercept any printing (to the printer) attempts and
insert a SPECIMEN watermark on the printed report. How can I do this?

Another issue, is I would like to place a background bitmap in the
report, so users can position elements relative to the image, but when
the report is saved, I do not want to save the background image. How do
I do that?

nicocizik

Hi Larry,

- Unfortunately there is no built-in way to "lock" down the report designer
however it is possible to take control of the designer menu. Removing or
disabling some of the Report options would essentially prevent your users
from creating new bands or groups. You can access the menu using the
TppDesigner.Menu object.

- You could use the PageStyle band to add a watermark to your report. This
band is separate from the rest of the report so your users would not even
have to see it. Adding a text object to this band manually would also
create this effect. Another option would be to take a look at the
AddWaterMark routine located in the ppPrnDev.pas file. This function shows
how we add a permament watermark to reports created with the trial version
of RB. It essentially manually creates a drawcommand and adds it to the
page.

- You could place the bitmap in the design of the report or add it manually
as the template is loading for your users, then using a report object loop,
you could toggle the visibility of the image when the report prints (perhaps
using the Report.BeforePrint event).

--
Regards,

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