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Introduction to Report Bands

Report Bands

A report layout consists of sections, which IFS Report Studio-Designer refers to as bands. These sections or bands contain report controls and define their location on document pages. A blank report typically includes the following bands;

  1. Detail Band: This band presents recurring content sourced from the report's data source. It's printed as many times as there are records in the data source unless data filtering is applied. The detail band is mandatory for every report and cannot be deleted.
  2. Top and Bottom Page Margin Bands: These bands are repeated once on every document page, providing consistent top and bottom margins for the report

Additionally, you have the option to include the following bands:

  1. Report Header and Report Footer:

    The Report Header is the first band of the report (excluding "out-of-page" zones like margins). It's suitable for displaying the report's title, company logo, creation date, username, etc.

    The Report Footer appears before the Page Footer and Bottom Margin on the last page of the report. It's commonly used for report summaries or conclusions.

  2. Page Header and Page Footer:

    These bands are situated at the top and bottom of every page in the report. They typically contain information that needs to be printed on every page, such as page numbers, report titles, or section headings.

  3. Group Header and Group Footer:

    These bands are positioned above and below each group within the report. They allow for the organization and presentation of data based on specified grouping criteria.

Tip: Only the detail and group bands can be used to display dynamic data source contents. Other bands display titles, summaries, and extra information.

The provided image showcases an example of a report layout alongside the Report Explorer panel, which mirrors the structure of the report.

Add a Detail Band to a Master-Detail Band

Use the detail report band to create hierarchical master-detail reports. Detail report bands provide detailed information about each record in the master report's detail band. You can create such reports when master-detail relationships are defined between data source tables:

A detail report band is a separate report (subreport) with its own data source and different bands. A report can have any number of detailed reports that can also be nested.

The provided image demonstrates a master-detail report alongside the Report Explorer panel, which depicts the report's structure.

Vertical Bands

You have the option to replace the Detail band with the Vertical Header, Vertical Detail, and Vertical Total bands. This allows for the vertical display of record fields and the horizontal printing of data records, proceeding from left to right.

Note: When a vertical band is added, such as the Vertical Header, Vertical Detail, or Vertical Total bands, any existing Detail band and its associated controls will be lost. Similarly, if you remove the vertical band, the Detail band and its controls will be lost as well.

The vertical bands available are as follows:

  1. Vertical Header: This band comprises headers for the report's data fields, arranged vertically, one after another.
  2. Vertical Details: This band presents recurring data from the report's data source. It's printed horizontally, displaying records one after another, with each record occupying a new line.
  3. Vertical Total: Positioned at the rightmost side (or leftmost when RTL is enabled), the Vertical Total band serves for report summaries or conclusions.

Create Band Copies

You can create functional copies of a band, for example, to display different contents based on a specific condition. To do this, add sub-bands to bands.

Manage Report Bands

Collapse Bands in the Report Designer

To collapse or expand a band, simply select the band and click on its tab title. This action toggles the band between collapsed and expanded states.

Hide Bands in the Report Document

To prevent a band's content from being printed in a document, set the band's Visible property to false. You can do this by selecting the band and then adjusting the Visible property in the Properties Panel.

Remove Bands

To remove a band and all its content from the report design surface, simply select the band and press the DELETE key. This action deletes the selected band along with all its contents.

Add Bands

To add a band to the report, begin by selecting the report or any of its existing bands on the Designer Surface. Right-clicking will invoke a context menu, from which you can select the desired band option to add it to the report. This method streamlines the process of expanding the report's structure with additional bands as needed.