Report Objects

You build reports by adding objects and manipulating them to obtain the results you want. To understand how to work with objects in Report Studio, you must be familiar with the following concepts:

• object types
• objects as containers
• locking and unlocking objects
• hierarchy of objects

For information about Report Studio objects, see Report Studio Object and Property Reference.

Object Types

In Report Studio, layout objects are either inline or block. You can insert other objects on the same line as an inline object, but not on the same line as a block object. When you insert an object to the left or to the right of a block object, the object appears on the line above or below the block object, respectively. Examples of inline objects include graphics and text items. Examples of block objects include any report type (list, crosstab, chart, map, or repeater) and tables.

Note: You can also use an object's floating property to define how other objects flow around the object. For example, you can specify how text flows around an image.

Objects as Containers

Objects, such as tables , blocks , and any report frame , are containers in which you can insert other objects. For example, you can insert a list in one cell of a table and a chart in another.

Tip: You can also nest objects to create a sophisticated layout. For example, you can insert a table in a cell of another table.

Locking and Unlocking Objects

To manipulate the contents of some objects, you must first unlock the object. For example, you have a list that contains the column Product Name. You want to insert a graphic inside the Product Name column to show an image of each product. Unlocking the list allows you to insert the image object inside a list column.

Tip: From the Structure menu, click Lock Page Objects . Toggling this menu item locks and unlocks all layout objects in a report. However, this setting is not saved with the report.

Hierarchy of Objects

In Report Studio, objects are organized hierarchically. For example, a list contains list columns, and each list column contains a text item, which is the name of the inserted data item.

The hierarchy of objects is useful to remember when you apply formatting because formatting is applied to the child objects of the object. For example, you can specify that all list column titles in a list have red as the background color. The formatting is automatically applied to any new columns you add to the list because the formatting is applied to the list and is therefore applied to the objects in the list. If you apply formatting to a specific object, it will override the same formatting specified for the parent object.

Find Objects in a Report

You can quickly locate specific objects in a report by using Find.

Steps

1. From the Edit menu, click Find.

2. Click Find what and choose the type of object to find.

3. In the Options box, specify the search criteria.

   For example, if you want to find the objects that reference a specific data item, you must specify the query that contains the data item and the data item name.

4. Click Find Next.

The first object that meets the search criteria is selected in the report. Continue clicking Find Next to show all other objects that meet the search criteria.

Note: In some cases, such as searching for a data item that is used to define a conditional style, Report Studio cannot directly select the object in the report. Instead, Report Studio selects the object that uses the object for which you are searching.