B-3
Batch
flexible
, Manual
C79000-G7076-C650-02
Balloon Help
If the meanings of a symbol in the tool
bar, setting bar or alignment bar is un
clear, simply position the mouse
pointer over it. A help balloon ap
pears, which briefly describes its func
tion. You can enable/disable this fea
The Toolbar
The ReportDesigner's toolbar contains
important functions for working with
r
eport structur
es. Use the help bal
loons for a brief intr
oduction to these
buttons. The following paragraphs
give a mor
e thor
ough description of
the use of each button.
The Alignment Bar
The alignment bar contains all features
necessary to align lists, fields, and
other
objects properly.
The Settings Bar
The Settings Bar provides easy access
to all design features, such as fonts,
colors, and borders. It displays the
current settings of the object you're
working on, and it lets you modify
these settings. All of these features are
described in detail in the following
paragraphs.
A
General Introduction to Ob
-
jects
Before you can be introduced to the
handling of the ReportDesigner, it's
necessary to mention some of the im
portant terms. The word, object, occurs
repeatedly in the following chapter. It
has special meaning in the context of
reports.
Everything is an Object
The term, object, refers to any form of
data which you can insert into a report:
lists (e.g. line items in a bill), data
groups (billing address), and fields (a
firm name). All of these objects are
place holders for data from the under
lying application, and they all behave
basically the same. A brief explanation
of their basic behavior may help you
better understand these objects.
Object Group Dynamics
If, for example, you wanted to print a
list of line items in a bill, it would
make sense to output the total of these
items at the end. That means the posi
tion of the sum is dependent on the
length of the list. You can't define it in
advance, and it can change fr
om one
bill to the next.
ReportDesigner
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