Sparkline

A Sparkline control presents data in a continuous format. It is typically used to graphically represent trend data. A Sparkline control can be bound to a data source using the Smart tag or Properties window.

A Sparkline control can be viewed as a line, area, bar or win-loss chart.

On the Properties window, the sparkline control properties are divided into the following tabs:

Appearance

Background Color

Specifies the background colour of controls. The functionality is also available on the Report Designer tab ().

Border Color, Border Dash Style, Border Width and Borders

Specifies border settings for controls.

Formatting Rules

Displays the Formatting Rules Editor window, used to choose which rules are applied to a report during report generation, and to define the priority of the applied rules.

Image Type

Specifies if a sparkline is internally rendered as a metafile in a report (in which case the quality of the rendered image is good, but in some cases some details of the control may be lost), or as a bitmap (in which case the quality of the rendered image can sometimes be poor, but the control is drawn more precisely).

Location

Specifies the location of the control in report measurement units.

Padding

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

Size

Specifies the size of the control in report measurement units.

Style Priority

Defines the priority of various styles (for example, background color or border color).

Styles

Defines odd and even styles for the controls, as well as assigning an existing style to the them (or a newly created one).

View

Provides access to the view properties of the control (Line, Area, Bar or Win-Loss).

Behavior

Anchor Horizontally

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

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.

Can Publish

Specifies whether or not the control can be printed or exported.

Scripts

Contains events which can be handled with scripts.

Visible

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

Data

(Data Bindings)

If the current report is bound to data, the property is used to bind control properties (Bookmark, Navigation URL and Tag) to a data field obtained from the report data source, and to apply a format string.

Data Adapter

Specifies the data adapter that is assigned to the sparkline.

Data Member

Specifies the data member that is assigned to the sparkline.

Data Source

Specifies the data source that is assigned to the sparkline.

Tag

Adds additional information to a control; for example, the Id, by which the control can then be accessed via 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 drop-down list, select the required data field.

Value Member

Specifies the value member that is assigned to the sparkline.

Value Range

Provides access to the range of values displayed in the sparkline.

Miscellaneous

(Name)

Determines the name of the control, by which it can be accessed in the Report Explorer, Properties window or via scripts.

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 > Data Bindings drop-down list and select the required data field.

Navigation URL and Navigation Target

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

Note: A URL must 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'.

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 > Data Bindings drop-down list and select the required data field.

Snap Line Margins

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

Favorites

Right-click on the Favorites tab and select Edit Favorite Property List to display the Favorite Properties Editor, which is used to customise the available properties on the Favorites tab.

Refer to Conditionally Modify Control Display, Styles Concepts, Handle Events via Scripts, Display Values from a Database (Bind Report Controls to Data), Add Bookmarks and Create Hyperlinks for further information.