Common Tab (Format Editor)
Use the Common tab to set properties like suppress, horizontal alignment, and keep object together, for a desired field.
- Object Name
- Use this field to define a name for the object you are formatting. This name is used when defining Report Part hyperlinks.
A default name is created for each field in a report. If the default name suits you, you can ignore this field.
- CSS Class Name
- Use this field to specify a class name for the report object you're formatting. The class name can be used in your CSS to indicate a unique style for the selected report object.
You can also create a conditional name for the class by using the Formula Editor dialog box. Doing so allows you to indicate in your CSS that certain repetitions of an object have different formatting from others.
- Suppress
- Select this check box if you want to suppress the selected field. The field values won't appear when the report is previewed, nor will the field print.
- Horizontal Alignment
- This list contains the horizontal alignment types available for the field (for example, left, center, and right).
- Keep Object Together
- Select this check box if you want to keep all the objects from a given section together on the same page. If there is enough room to keep them on the current page, the program will print them on the current page. If there is not enough room, the program will print them on the next page.
Note If you have objects that are larger than a page, this property will not work.
- Close Border on Page Break
- If an object has a border and the object is split over two pages, you have two options: put a border around each part of the split object, or display each part of the object with a partial border. Select this check box to display a full border.
- Can Grow
- This check box is useful for objects that contain variable length strings, such as memo fields.
- Select this check box if you want the program to expand the object frame vertically when the text within the object is larger than the frame.
- Clear this check box to truncate the data when the value is larger than the frame.
By default, the Can Grow option is off.
- Max number of lines
- If you have selected the Can Grow check box, you can use this box to specify the maximum number of lines by which the program can expand an object frame. Simply enter the desired number of lines into this box or enter a 0 (zero) if you do not want to set a limit.
- Tool Tip Text
- You can add Tool Tip text for the selected field by clicking the Format Formula Editor button and entering text within quotation marks. Tool Tip text appears when you leave your mouse pointer over a field for a few seconds.
- Text Rotation
- This list contains the rotation options available for the selected field. Use the Text Rotation options to vertically align the fields and text-based objects on your report.
- When you select a text rotation of 90 degrees, the text shifts 90 degrees in a counter-clockwise direction.
- If text rotation is left at 0 degrees, your report is horizontally formatted.
- For text rotation of text-based objects, the Can Grow option that prevents the truncation of text inside an object is automatically cleared. For more information on the Can Grow option, see Preventing Truncated Text.
- Vertically formatted text that spans over the edge of the page cannot be displayed as part of your report.
- Suppress if Duplicated
- Select this check box if you don't want the program to print field values that are duplicated when it prints the report.
- Suppress Embedded Field Blank Lines
- Select this check box if you want the program to avoid printing blank fields that is, fields for which the database returns no information. This option prevents blank lines from appearing in your report when some fields are empty.
- Display String
- Click the conditional formatting button to enter a formula that lets you display number, currency, date, time, date and time, Boolean, or even string fields as a custom string. This type of conditional formatting is not limited to database fields; you can use it for running totals, formulas, parameter fields, summaries, and so on.
For example, suppose you want to use a notation in your report that represents millions as M and thousands as K. You can create a display string formula for your report by selecting the appropriate numeric field and entering this formula in the Format Formula Editor:
if CurrentFieldValue >= 1000000
then ToText(CurrentFieldValue/1000000, 2) + "M"
else if CurrentFieldValue >= 1000
then ToText(CurrentFieldValue/1000, 2) + "K"
else ToText(CurrentFieldValue, 2)
See Also
Format Editor Dialog Box | Conditional Formatting | Troubleshooting Field and Text Objects | Drill-Down and Hyperlink Customization