Understanding Primitives in the Report Designer

Understanding Primitives in the Report Designer

The articles in this section of the Knowledge Base involve working with Primitives for display in reports. To access the Report Designer, select Toolbox Setup > Design Reports > Design (Report Type) Report. Select New Report to design a report from scratch or New Report from Existing. Select Designer to open Report Designer.

Primitives in the Report Designer are lines and shapes that augment reports and help to highlight data. Primitives include Shapes and Horizontal Lines. Cross-primitives include Rounded Rectangle, Rectangles, and Vertical Lines.

Primitives

The Horizontal Line primitive is a line on the x-axis, with its start and endpoints located on the same component in the report.


Fig. 01 – Horizontal Line Primitive

Figure 02 features an example of the Horizontal Line primitive in the Report Template. This line is placed on an empty footer band and used to separate the groups within the report visually.


Fig. 02 – Horizontal Line in the Report Template

The Shape is a component, which, depending on the type, shows this or that primitive. The Shape Type property is used to specify a primitive type.


Fig. 03 – Shape Type Property


Fig. 04 – Available Shapes

Cross-Primitives

Cross-Primitives differ from standard Primitives in that the start and endpoints can be placed on different components of a report. Figure 05 features an example of a report template with a rectangle.


Fig. 05 – Cross-Primitive (Rectangle)

As demonstrated, the start and endpoints are located on different bands. When this report is rendered, it looks like Figure 06. Note how the Primitives and Cross-Primitives can improve the look of a report.


Fig. 06 – Report Example

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