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 control. This option is also available on the Formatting Toolbar ().

• Borders, Border Color and Border Width

  Specifies border settings for the control.

• Fill Color

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

• Foreground Color

  Determines the colour of a Shape's contour. This option is also available on the Formatting Toolbar ().

• Formatting Rules

  Displays the Formatting Rules Editor used to choose which rules should be applied to the control 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 further information, refer to Change Measurement Units for a Report.

• Padding

  Specifies indent values which are used to render the contents of the control.

• Style Priority

  Used to define the priority of various style elements (such as background colour, border colour, ). for further information on style inheritance, refer to Styles Concepts.

• Styles

  This property is used to define odd and even styles for the control, as well as to assign an existing style to the control (or a newly created one). for further information on style inheritance, refer to Styles Concepts.

Behavior

• 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.

• 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

  This property contains events, which can be handled with the 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 or not the control should be printed on report generation.

• (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 control's location, in report measurement units.

• Size

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

Navigation

• Bookmark and Parent Bookmark

  These properties are used to create a hierarchical structure within a report called a document map. For an explanation and help, refer to Add Bookmarks.

  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.

• 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.