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Design Interface

The Design Surface is where your report layout comes to life within the IFS Report Studio. Here's what you need to know:

Rulers

Horizontal and vertical rulers display tickmarks based on your chosen measurement units.

Click on an element to evaluate its size and position using the rulers.

Adjust the report's side margins by moving the left and right sliders on the horizontal ruler.

You have the flexibility to adjust the height of a report band by moving its vertical ruler resizing rectangles.

Band Captions

Each report band in the Studio has a caption and color-coded tab, indicating its type. These captions aren't visible in the final report but help organize content during design. Expand or collapse a band's content by clicking its tab on the left side.

To view the properties of a band, click on its caption and then navigate to the Properties Panel.

Context Menus

Right-clicking on a report element opens a context menu, offering quick access to actions. It allows you to perform tasks like adding new bands, managing table cells, or adjusting element layout.

Context menus allow you to do the following:

  • Add new bands, if you selected a report.

  • Manage cells, rows, and columns in a table.

  • Change element layout (for example, align elements to each other, snap to grid, change content alignment).

Context menus can also be accessed within the Field List and Report Explorer windows.

Smart Tags

When selecting a report element, a smart tag and expression button appear beside it on the Design Surface.

The expression button opens the Expression Editor, while the smart tag provides access to commonly used properties. The smart tag includes properties from the element's Task group found in the Properties Panel. Keep in mind that complex properties must be configured within the Properties Panel.

Data Binding Indication

Data-bound report controls are marked with a database barrel icon.

Use the Validate Bindings button to identify controls with invalid expressions or data bindings.

In-Place Editors

In-place editors enable you to edit the content of text-oriented controls (such as Barcode, Character Comb, Check Box, Label, Table Cell) by double-clicking on them.