ppReport1.Left: Invalid property value

rbuser

I'm getting an error message when loading a previously saved report template
from the database into the Report Designer. The error message reads "Error
reading DenppReport1.Left: Invalid property value.". I also get this error
message when trying to run the report.

DenppReport is descended from TppReport and adds a couple of methods, but
does not add any properties.

I find I can edit the blob in the database (through SQL Explorer), and the
DenppReport object has values listed for Top and Left properties. The
values aren't negative or large, but they are consistently the same (Left =
72, Top = 64).

If I remove the lines containing these values and then save the blob back to
the database I am able to run or edit the report, but as soon as I save it
again (even with no modifications) the Top and Left properties come back and
I am no longer able to open the report.

This is happening on several reports that I have been working on, and also
occurs on any new reports I create.

I'm using RB 5.0 Enterprise, and I have removed and reinstalled it in the
hope that something had somehow gotten corrupted and this would fix it. It
didn't.

Any ideas? I'm fresh out right now.

Thanks!

Paul Essex
paul@bridge-way.com

digitalmetaphors

One thing to be aware of, is that form inheritance and templates do not mix.

You should be able to create a report descendent and save it in a template.
I created a simple TppReport descendent (see below). I added a property and
method to it. I could save it down at runtime by creating an instance of my
report and saving it through the Report.Template.SaveToFile and streamed it
back up with Report.Template.LoadFromFile. I called print and the preview
worked.

You could try saving to a template file in ascii format, just to simplify
the problem. Plus, you can easily open the rtm as a text file, rather than
having to edit the blob.

So, I then was also able to create, save, load and print my report
descendent in the runtime designer. Since, I was not changing the top and
left property values of the non visual report component, they aren't saved
in the template. Top left has a default value of 0,0 and this isn't saved
down, because it is an optimization.

Is there anything else that I should be doing to see your problem in my test
project?

uses
Classes,
ppClass, ppReport;

type

TmyReport = class(TppReport)
private
FLongText: String;

protected
procedure SetLongText(aText: String);

public
constructor Create(aOwner: TComponent); override;
destructor Destroy; override;

published
property LongText: String read FLongText write SetLongText;

end;


implementation

{ TmyReport }

uses
ppTypes;

constructor TmyReport.Create(aOwner: TComponent);
begin
inherited Create(aOwner);

Template.Format := ftASCII;

FLongText := '01234567890';

end;

destructor TmyReport.Destroy;
begin
inherited Destroy;
end;

procedure TmyReport.SetLongText(aText: String);
begin
FLongText := aText;
end;

initialization
RegisterClass(TmyReport);

finalization
unRegisterClass(TmyReport);

end.

Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors