Paginated report example

The Paginated report DEMO is used as a basis for building a paginated report. This is a report of medium complexity, which does not include any special graphical elements, but does include two-level grouping of the displayed data, as well as multiple level headers and footers for local group summary information.

Report title

In the final report there is a report title section (light green band). It includes data such as the report title, additional information, date, time, etc. The report title is rendered only on the first page of the report.

Textual elements

The report title includes multiple textual elements which can be used as simple labels, as variable elements (expressions), or as a combination of the two. All the elements in this example report were placed and arranged manually.

Each element is indicated by four cornering symbols, as seen with this placeholder text:

In this example, the simple labels are:

  • Paginated report DEMO
  • Adventure Works 2017 Products
  • Product Inventory
  • Time zone: GMT
  • Data From
  • Data Through
  • all the elements between the thick turquoise and black lines, which are table category labels (names), and their grouping labels.

Note

Simple labels (non-expression text elements) are cells that on rendering directly print the text they contain. The text can be formatted to any preference.

The primary distinction between a simple text element and one containing a data reference, which is called a variable element, is denoted by the use of curly brackets {}. Anything located inside the curly brackets is treated as an expression, which can contain data references, as well as operators (mathematical, logical, formatting, etc.) and custom functions. Variable elements containing a data reference, which are called expressions, in this example are:

  • {[Date ].From}
  • {[Date ].To}

Note

  • The variable element {[Date ].From} refers to a custom-defined variable of the Date range type, with an Alias Date. When referring to a variable with an alias, it needs to be placed in square brackets [ ]. Since a Date range variable consists of two values (lower and upper range limits), it is denoted by the .From text, meaning that this is a reference to the lower range limit of the variable with the alias Date.
  • In a similar fashion, {[Date ].To} is an expression referring to the upper range limit of the variable with the alias Date.

In this example, the compound element consisting of a textual and a variable (data related) part is:

  • Report Generated: {ReportCreated}

Note

The first part of the compound text element is a simple label Report Generated:. The second part, {ReportCreated}, is a reference to the System Variable, which is available by default in the Dictionary. It provides the date of the report rendering, thus denoting the date when the data contained in the report was fetched from the database.

By default, the text of the cell is normal weight, font size 8, and alignment is top and left. All of these properties, as well as many others, are available in the Home tab of the Report designer, or in the Designer pane under the Properties tab.

Some of the standard properties are font and background color, weight, cell borders (colors, weight), angle of text, etc. However, there are more advanced functionalities specific to Reporting which introduce some interaction options for the Viewer. These can include functions such as drilling into data, filtering, etc. They are addressed in more detail in the following chapters.

To edit an element of the report, it needs to be clicked. The properties are then contextually changed and available for editing.

The final look of the report title for this example is as follows:

The only graphical elements used in the report title are horizontal lines, which can be added as corresponding text cell borders.

However, in this example all the cell borders were kept invisible, and the lines were added as individual independent elements. This allows for greater flexibility, since the lines are not directly related in size and position to any one text cell. More on this in the following section.

Basic shapes

Along with textual elements, the title band includes several horizontal lines, which are simple graphical additions. They can frame and group separate report elements together, improving readability and visual impression of the report.

To add a new shape, do the following:

  1. Go to the Insert tab of the Report designer OR go to the Toolbox on the left side of the screen.
  2. Click the Shapes button. A dropdown menu appears.
  3. Click the shape you want to create.
  4. Click and drag on the page to draw the shape. Release to place it.
  5. For some shapes, a new Shapes window will appear upon placement. You will be prompted to modify certain shape settings. Once the settings are in place, click OK to continue. To reopen this menu, double-click the shape placed on the page.

The properties of the elements can also be edited in the Designer pane Properties tab, after clicking the relevant element in the page. These additional options include properties such as the position of the shape, its behavior etc.