Examples


Let's create an advanced layout for the assignments report we created in Lesson 1 of the tutorial. We want to create a 2-column report so more information fits on each page. First, select this report in the Reports Explorer and choose Edit. Click Next four times to go to Step 5, then turn on the Advanced Layout setting and click Edit. The Advanced Report Designer should appear as shown below.

Let's start by moving the assignee, date assigned, date resolved, and elapsed hours fields onto their own line. Drag the detail band's bar down to make room, then select the Assignee field and drag it down to the start of the next row. Move the detail band's bar until it's a little below the Assignee field. Drag the page header band's bar down to make room, then drag the lower line in the page header band down to make room. Select the Assignee heading and drag it down to the start of the next row. Do the same for the Date of Assignment, Date Resolved, and Elapsed Hours fields and their headings. Make the Technical Group Totals field in the Group Footer band narrower and move the Elapsed Hours total fields in that band and in the Summary band so they're directly below the Elapsed Hours field in the Detail band. Move the lower line and page header band's bar until they're a little below the Assignee heading. The report should now look like this:

Next, choose Page Setup from the File menu, change the number of columns to 2, and choose OK.

Select the column headings, choose Copy from the Edit menu, then choose Paste to create duplicates, and move the duplicates to the right of the originals. The report should now look like this:

Choose Print Preview from the Report menu to view the report; it should look like this:

Let's add a grey rectangle in the group header to make it stand out. To make room for the rectangle at the left, select all objects in the group header band by holding down the Shift key and double-clicking on the grey bar for the band, then click one of them and drag slightly to the right. Now click the Rectangle object () in the Report Controls toolbar, click near the upper left corner of the group header band and drag to the lower right corner to draw a rectangle. Click the Background button () in the Color Palette, then click the light grey button to make that the fill color for the rectangle. Oops, the rectangle now completely covers the labels and fields in the band. Click the Send to Back button () to move the rectangle behind the other objects. The report should now look like this:

Let's add a logo to the report. To make room for the logo, click the grey bar for the Page Header band and drag it down. Select all the objects in that band by holding down the Shift key and double-clicking in the grey bar, then click one of them and drag down. Click the Picture button () in the Report Controls toolbar, then click near the upper left corner of the Page Header band and drag to the right down to about 1.5 inches deep. When the Picture Properties dialog appears, click the button beside the textbox for Image Source and choose an image file. Choose the Scale Contents, Retain Shape option and choose OK. You can then rearrange the other objects in the Page Header band around the logo as desired.

Save the report and preview again. Here's the finished product: