vertical panel per page 1

[rda123]

Report Builder 6.0.8.25.0

We have one report that is designed in the layout editor to have more than one vertical panel per page. The amount of data returned by each record is variable so we set the vertical panels per page to be 8 and the runtime variable BLANKPAGES=NO. This all works fine.

HOWEVER

We would also like to put page numbers and other information into the footer of each panel/page. We would normally do this by inserting fields into the margin of each panel and populating these fields programmatically. However because the number of panels per page varies at runtime if we insert fields into the margin of all 8 panels, and the record only spans 3,4,5,6 or 7 panels all additional panels still print because the field in the margin means the page is no longer blank.

So is there anyway to populated the margin of a report that contains a varying number of panels per page, so that only those panels with data print?

 

[nagornyi]

Could you please explain why variable amount of data in each record requires multiple vertical panels to handle the data?

 

[rda123]

The report is formatted like an application form to provide a paper version of online applications. The basic layout of each applicant record spans three pages. A couple of the fields returned in the report are CLOBS and can therefore spread over a few pages in themselves. Consequently the length of each application record will vary depending on the amount of information in the CLOB fields.

 

[nagornyi]

OK, but why multiple panels? Looks like variable vertical elasticity of the record field and surrounding frame would solve the problem. The report will spread itself as many pages as needed.

 

[rda123]

That is how I originally planned to construct the report but various things meant it did not work how I wanted so I used this method instead which works well except for this small margin / BLANKPAGES=NO issue.

 

[nagornyi]

AFAIK, margin can not be controlled from the body. It may happen that those various things would be easier to overcome then this little margin thing. Let's discuss those various things if you like.

 

[rda123]

In the layout editor the report is designed to look like an application form. Most of the fields are short and contain information like name, age etc. at the bottom of the third page there are a couple of fields which are CLOBS and expand. Because this reports spans three vertical panels in the layout editor, I set the number of panels per page to 3, then because the CLOB fields might cause each record to stretch beyond this I set the vertical panels per page to 8. Because I don’t want blank pages to appear at the end of each record I use the BLANKPAGES=NO parameter to remove them.

If there is a method to design such a report with out the need to use more than one panels per page I would appreciate finding out.

 

[nagornyi]

You may use the header section for the first page, the main section for the second page, and the trailer section for the third page that may grow. All the sections would use single panels, there should be no problems with numbering.

 

[rda123]

That solutions comes with one issue I was not able to work around which is as follows:

On the final page of the report there are two fields which may extend on to the next page. When these fields ‘spill’ over to the next page, I would expect them to carry on at the to of the next page, however instead they start three quarters of the way down that page rather than at the top (ie. They seem to be anchored to that position on the page). I looked on metalink and other people mentioned the same problem but no solution was provided.

 

[nagornyi]

Put into a frame with Variable vertical elasticity the top part of page 3.

 

[rda123]

Cheers,

It took me a while to get my head round what you were saying but stretching the frame to the top of the page seems to of solved the problem.