Shape

The Shape control is typically used for adding simple graphics to a report.

In the Property Grid, the Shape control's properties are divided into the following groups:

Appearance

Background Color

Specifies the background colour for the controls contained within the band. This option is also available on the Formatting Toolbar ().

Border Color, Border Dash Style, Border Width and Borders

Specifies border settings for controls.

Fill Color

Specifies the colour to fill the contour of a Shape, if applicable. They are transparent by default.

Foreground Color

Specifies the text colour for the controls contained within the band. This option is also available on the Formatting Toolbar ().

Formatting Rules

Displays the Formatting Rules Editor which enables users to choose which rules should be applied to the band during report generation, and define the precedence of the applied rules. For further information, refer to Conditionally Change a Control's Appearance.

Line Width

Used to set the width of the line used to draw a Shape, expressed in the measure units defined by the report's Measure Units property. For more information, refer to Change Measurement Units for a Report.

Padding

Specifies indent values used to render the contents of the controls.

Style Priority

Defines the priority of various styles (for example, background colour or border colour). For more information on style inheritance, refer to Styles Concepts.

Styles

Defines odd and even styles for the controls, as well as assigning an existing style to the them (or a newly created one). For further information on style inheritance, refer to Styles Concepts.

Behaviour

Anchor Vertically

Specifies the vertical anchoring style of the control, so that after page rendering it stays attached to the top control, bottom control, or both. The property setting is useful for data-bound controls located between upper and lower controls, which are able to resize depending on their contents.

Angle

The value in degrees specifies the rotation angle of a Shape. Rotation is anticlockwise.

A user can hold CTRL while pressing the left mouse button to rotate a Shape within the control's borders.

Scripts

Contains events which can be handled with scripts. For further information on scripting, refer to Handle Events via Scripts.

Shape

Determines which of the various built-in shapes to use within the control.

A certain shape has its own unique set of properties. The following list is intended to give a brief overview of these special properties specific to a certain shape:

Stretch

If a Shape is rotated to some degree (that is, its Angle property is not zero), the Stretch property may also be used. The Shape image will be stretched to cover maximum space within the control's borders.

Visible

Specifies whether the control is visible when using the print preview.

Data

(Data Bindings)

If the current report is bound to data, this property enables users to bind some of the control's properties (Bookmark, Navigation URL and Tag) to a data field obtained from the report's data source, and to apply a format string to it. For further information, refer to Display Values from a Database (Bind Report Elements to Data).

Tag

This property enables users to add additional information to the control; for example its Id, by which it can then be accessed by scripts.

If the current report has a data source, the Tag property can be bound to a data field obtained from the data source. To do this, expand the (Data Bindings) property and from the Tag.Binding dropdown list, select the required data field.

Design

(Name)

Determines a control's name, by which it can be accessed in the Property Grid and by scripts.

Layout

Location

Specifies the location of the control in report measurement units.

Size

Specifies the control's size, in report measurement units.

Snap Line Margin

Specifies the margins for the control, which are maintained when the control is aligned using snap lines.

Navigation

Bookmark and Parent Bookmark

These properties are used to create a hierarchical structure within a report called a document map.

If the current report has a data source, the Bookmark property can be bound to a data field obtained from the data source. To do this, expand the (Data Bindings) property and from the Bookmark.Binding dropdown list, select the required data field.

For further information, refer to Add Bookmarks.

Navigation URL and Navigation Target

Use the Navigation URL property to specify a URL for web browser navigation when a user clicks the control. The web browser displays a page in a window or a frame as specified by the Navigation Target property.

Note:
A URL should have an appropriate prefix (for example, 'http://'). Cross references can be created within the report by assigning the name of the target control to the Navigation URL property, and setting the Navigation Target property to _self. For further information, refer to Create Hyperlinks.

If the current report has a data source, the Navigation URL property can be bound to a data field obtained from the data source. To do this, expand the (Data Bindings) property and from the Navigation URL.Binding dropdown menu, select the required data field.