Setting the Layout Options
The Layout tab (see Figure 2-1) specifies the default properties for both the report designer and the report preview. For example, it lets you set how the designer looks, change the preview window, and display field information. The options within the Layout tab are divided into four different categories based upon their functionality. The four categories are: Design View, Grid Options, Preview Options, and Field Options.
Design View Options
The Design View options determine what is shown on the designer. Each option has a checkbox next to it that either turns it on or off. The first option shows or hides the rulers along the top and side of the designer. As a general rule, the rulers make it easy to position and size objects on the report. For reports that are used built to be used with a paper based form, the rulers make it possible to place the report objects so that they have exact placement on the form.
The second option turns guidelines on or off. Guidelines are dashed lines that extend from the edge of a report object to the ruler. They show exactly where a report object appears at all times. Although these lines don’t appear on the report, you can make them visible in the designer so that you can see which objects are associated with each guideline. Guidelines are discussed in more detail later in this chapter.
The third option turns the grid on or off. The grid is a series of equally spaced dots that make it easier to position objects on the report. The fourth option displays tool tips as the mouse hovers over report objects. The tool tips give short descriptions of each object or tell you the database field being displayed. The fifth option determines whether the section names should be shortened. For example, rather than show “Report Header a” the section name would show “RHa”. The benefit is that shorter names give you more room for working on the report.
The last option in the Design View area toggles hidden sections. When this option is checked, the hidden sections appear as grayed out. They are only grayed out because it can be helpful to see how the sections are designed. When the report runs, they aren’t visible.
Grid Options
The purpose of the grid is to make it easy to keep report objects lined up with each other. By making report objects snap to the grid points, you know that the objects will have a professional appearance. Of course, there are times when you need to make minute adjustments to the location of a report object and in this case the grid becomes a hindrance.
The first option, Snap To Grid, forces report objects to be placed on a grid point when they are added to the report or moved around a report. The second option, Free Form Placement allows objects to be placed anywhere in the section without snapping to the grid. The last item specifies the distance between grid points. You can make it smaller if you need more granularity over object placement.
Preview Options
The Preview tab has functionalities similar to the Design tab. It can display rulers, tool tips, guidelines, etc. It also allows you to make changes to the report while you are previewing it. This gives you the ability to immediately see how a change affects the final report output.
Since the Preview tab serves two purposes, previewing the report and modifying the report layout, you get to decide what modification tools to use. The Preview options on the Layout tab lets you show or hide the same things as the Design View section: rulers, guidelines, tool tips, etc. Each of these has a checkbox that shows or hides each tool.
The unique options for the Preview tab are as follows: the option Page Breaks in Wide Pages indicates where the edge of a page is. You can also set the default zoom level to be Full Size, Fit Width, or Fit Page. The last option sets whether the group tree should be displayed. The group tree summarizes the group names in a tree format and lets you navigate to the group details.
Field Options
The primary purpose of a report is to display data from database fields. How these fields are displayed in the Design tab can be customized. By default, each field shows the field name. This makes it easy to see what data is going to be displayed to the user. But sometimes you want to get a feel for how the data will appear. When the option Show Field Names is unchecked, the Design tab replaces the field names with symbolic characters. For example, text fields are replaced with “XXXX” and numbers are replaced with “555,555”. See Figure 2-2 for an example.
Figure 2-2. The Design tab showing symbolic characters.
When adding fields to a report, it is assumed that most fields have a header (or caption) displayed above them so that the user knows what the data represents. A bunch of numbers on a page typically doesn’t make a lot of sense to the reader unless you identify what they are. To make it easier on you, when you add a field to the Detail section, the header text is automatically inserted in the page header section. If you want to turn this feature off, uncheck the option Insert Detail Field Headings. A similar feature is available for groups. When you add a field to the group section, a header text field is added to the Group header section. To turn this feature off, uncheck the option Insert Group Name With Group.
Any changes you make within the Options dialog box will apply to every report. To make changes specific to only the current report, do so within the Report Options dialog box which is described later.
