Design Interface

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Design Interface

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The figure below shows ReportPro's design interface as it appears when creating a new report.  The large outer window is ReportPro's shell window.  The inner window is ReportPro's work window.  You can open as many work windows as you have available memory.  Having multiple work windows open allows you to copy objects from one work window to another thus simplifying the report creation process.

 

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At the top of the shell window is the title bar which contains the text "ReportPro 3".  Directly below the title bar is ReportPro's main menu.  The menu is used to access the various options available in ReportPro.  

 

Underneath the main menu is ReportPro's toolbar.  The toolbar allows quick access to frequently used ReportPro menu options.  The toolbar contains the following options (from left to right): Open, Close, Print, Export, Print Preview, Cut, Copy, Paste, Arrow Tool, Line Tool, Rectangle Tool, Ellipse Tool, Field Tool, Text Tool, Picture Tool, Embedded Section Tool, Graph Tool, Grid Display Toggle, Grid Snap Toggle, Center Object Command and Proof Mode Toggle.

 

At the top of the work window is another title bar.  This title bar shows the file name of the report that is open in the work window.  When you create a new report and have not saved it yet, the text "[New]" is displayed in the title bar.

 

Below the work window title bar is the ruler.  The ruler indicates where on the report surface you are drawing or editing.  The ruler can be displayed in either inches or centimeters and corresponds to the location that objects will print from the left edge of the paper.

 

The white area below the ruler is the report surface.  On this surface you will place the objects which constitute the report.  The light gray area on the left side of the report surface represents the left margin of the report.  A similar shaded area exists for the right margin, but it is not shown in the figure above due to the paper width.  ReportPro also manages the top and bottom margins, but they are not shown in the work window.  The margin sizes are configurable, and you can always place objects in the margin area if desired.

 

The report surface is divided into bands.  When you initially create a report, four bands are displayed.  The Page Header band allows you to specify objects that will be printed on the top of every page.  The Page Body band is used to print information that constitutes the body of the report.  The Page Footer band allows you to specify objects that are printed on the bottom of every page.  The Summary band allows you to print summary information at the end of the report.

 

On the far-left side of the work window you will find the Band Ruler.  The band ruler indicates the size of the band and identifies the vertical placement of objects within the band.  The Band Ruler also contains controls that allow you to change the height of each band.

 

At the bottom of the band ruler is the Background toggle button.  This button places the ReportPro work window in the background edit mode.  When in the background mode, the bands shown in the figure above are hidden and the Background Band is displayed.  The Background band is always the same size as the paper the report is printed on and is where you can place watermarks or draw a form.

 

To the right of the Background Toggle button is the Section Tab Bar.  The tab bar displays one tab for each section in the report.  By default a report has one section, but as you add sections to your report, additional tabs will appear on the tab bar.  You select a section by clicking its tab.  When you do so, the current section is hidden and the selected section is shown.

 

To the right and bottom of the work window are scroll bars.  The scroll bars allow you to scroll the work window to display portions of the report, which are hidden.

 

At the bottom of the main ReportPro window is the status bar.  The status bar is used to display help information about menu and toolbar options.