Report field captions and field properties

  1. In the Report Designer dialogue box, double-click a caption or a field to display its properties.

    The Item Properties dialogue box enables you to configure the placement and appearance of fields and their captions in the report layout.

    Its appearance depends on the type of item you have selected.

    • Horizontal - sets the horizontal position of the item.

      Calculated from above the closest formatting element - such as Page Origin, Band Origin or Tab stop - in the active list.

      Measured in points.

    • Vertical - sets the vertical position of the item.

      Calculated from above the closest formatting element - such as Page Origin, Band Origin or Tab stop - in the active list.

      Measured in points.

    • Width - sets the width of the item measured in points
    • Height - sets the height of the item measured in lines
    • Font - to select a font from the list in Content Manager.

      This will determine the type of font used for this item on the report.

      See Options Reporter page.

    • Orientation - sets which direction the item will be in, for example vertical rather than horizontal.

      Orientation can only be applied to captions and fields that have a height of 1 line.

      The options:

      • Left-Right
      • Top-Bottom
      • Bottom-Top
      • Right-Left

      • NOTE: You can only select left justified text if the orientation is Top-Bottom or Bottom-Top.

    • Text Justification - sets the justification of the item:
      • Left
      • Centre
      • Right
    • Hide Time Component of Date/Time Field - only available for date fields.

      By default, the report shows the time component in a date field.

      Select to hide the time component in the report for this field.

    • Display even when Blank? - only available for data fields.

      Select to force the field to appear even when there is no data to display.

      When there is no data in a field, it will not be printed, only its associated caption.

    • Use Short User Caption - only available for caption fields.

      Select to print the short version of the caption.

      The abbreviated version of the caption must be set up in the caption editor first.

      See Caption Editor.

    • Pick Colour - to select the colour of the item.

      The Colours dialogue box appears.

      • Select the Standard tab to use standard colours or the Custom tab to define your own colour.