Editing Report Elements

Editing Report Elements

To edit a report element:

Select one or more elements – see Selecting Elements.
Move or scale the elements graphically see Scaling and Moving Elements
Click on the buttons of the toolbar to change certain properties of the elements, such as the background color, font settings (for text) etc – see Using Toolbar to Change Report Elements.
Alternatively change properties of the element(s) in the Selection Properties window – see Changing Element Properties.

Selecting Elements

To select a report element, click anywhere in the area occupied by the element or draw a rectangle around the element(s). When an element is selected markers are displayed around the element. Alternatively find an element in the Outline View window and click on its textual entry in this window. This will automatically select the element in the Design Area as well

note If several elements are overlapping and you click on the overlapping area an element that was created last is selected. If you want to select a different element use “Bring To Front” and “Send to Back” commands – see Miscellaneous Commands.

To select multiple elements within the same band:

Select one element using the technique described above.
Press down CTRL key to select other elements.
Alternatively press the mouse button on some point not occupied by any element and hold down the mouse button to drag a box around the elements you want to select. When you release the mouse button all elements enclosed by the box will be selected.

Once an element is selected you can scale or move it graphically (see Scaling and Moving Elements) or edit its properties using the Properties Selection window (see Changing Element Properties).

Scaling and Moving Elements

To scale a report element graphically:

Make sure that the element is selected – see Selecting Elements.
Press the mouse button on one of the markers around the element and drag the marker to scale the selected element up or down. When you release the mouse button the element will be scaled.

To move a report elements:

Make sure that the elements are selected – see Selecting Elements.
Press the mouse button anywhere inside the area occupied by any of the selected elements and drag the elements to a new position. When you release the mouse button the elements will be moved.

note You can also press the arrow keys on the keyboard to nudge the selected elements left, right, up or down by a certain distance (which can be changed in the System Settings (“nudge factor”). This distance also depends on the current zoom factor. If you want to force movement by 1 design unit only, hold down the Shift key while pressing arrow buttons.

Deleting Elements

To delete report elements:

Make sure that the elements are selected – see Selecting Elements.
Press the Del key on the keyboard. Alternatively, right click inside the element to bring up the context menu and select “Delete” from this menu. An element can also be deleted from the Outline View window - right click on the textual entry of the report element in the Outline View to bring up the context menu and then select “Delete” in this menu.

Copying and Pasting Elements

To copy report elements to the clipboard:

Make sure that the elements are selected – see Selecting Elements.
Press Ctrl-C key on the keyboard. Alternatively, right click inside the element to bring up the context menu and select “Copy” from this menu. An element can also be copied from the Outline View window - right click on the textual entry of the report element in the Outline View to bring up the context menu and then select “Copy” in this menu.
To paste elements from the clipboard Press Ctrl-V key on the keyboard. Alternatively, right click on the spot in the Design Area where you want pasted elements to appear and select Paste from the context menu.

Changing Element Properties

Once an element or elements are selected (see Selecting Elements) it is possible to edit them in the Selection Properties window.

Most properties are specific to the type of element being edited, however, some general properties are common for any element.