Using columns

rbuser

Hi,

I'm trying to use columns in the detail band of a report, but i can't find
much documentation (developers manual on the site is out of date, wiki doesnt
mention it) on it and i'm running into something strange.

I'v set the number of columns to 3, and add several labels and fileds to
the detail band at runtime, where the Top property of all these components
is just increasing with every component.

When i view the report it does show 3 columns but ...
- the first column is filled correctly to fill the whole page
- the third column is filled correctly
- the SECOND column only contains a few fields

So it looks a bit like this:

Field1..................Field9
Field2..................Field10
Field3..................Field11
Field4..................Field12
Field5.....Field7.....Field13
FIeld6.....Field8.....Field14

(The periods are added here for formatting purposes, and not in my actual
report)

*Where can i find documentation on using columns?
*What am i doing wrong in the above situation?


greetings
Bas

nicocizik

Hi Bas,

Documentation for columns can be found under the TppCustomReport.Columns
topic in the ReportBuilder help. There are also numerous columnar report
examples located in the main reports demo in the \Demos\1. Reports\...
directory (31, 32, 33 are good ones). The Wiki also contains numerous
advanced column examples/articles in the Design - Layout section.

Are you increasing the top property yourself? When using columns, you
should not need to do this. When you create columns in ReportBuilder, it
simply decreases the width of the detail band and once space runs out on the
page, it moves back to the top one column to the right.

--
Regards,

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

rbuser

Hello Nico,

The Wiki chapter Design / Layout only contains a single article on how to
set a standard header and footer ...
Am i looking at the wrong wiki???? http://www.digital-metaphors.com:8080/Design/Layout

I'm setting the top property of all the component runtime in a simple loop:

for i := 1 to Fieldcount-1 do
begin
// create new label and DBText components

// set other properties

//Set height property
lLabel.Height := lHeight;
lLabel.Top := 10 + i * (lHeight + 2);
end

If i look at the design of the report after creating these fields everything
seems to look alright, with a long single vertical column of labels and fields,
extending way below the detail-band height.

nicocizik

Sorry, Design/Formatting is the section of the Wiki I meant to refer to.
These are more advanced examples. Basic examples can be found in the main
reports demo as I mentioned earlier.

I would suggest first creating a simple report with a single label/dbText
and multiple columns to see how columns work in ReportBuilder. This will
give you an idea of what is possible. If you are still having problems,
please send me a simple example demonstrating the issue that I could run on
my machine. Please send the example in .zip format to
support@digital-metaphors.com.

--
Regards,

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