How To…Fill a Page With Lines

Question

“How can I fill the remaining space of a page with lines after the last detail has printed?”

Solution

Use a group to keep track of the position of the last detail band on a page. The GroupFooterBand.AfterPrint event can be used to mark the position.
The Report.OnEndPage event can then be used to manually add line drawcommands to the page from the marked position to the bottom.

Sample Delphi code:

uses
  ppDrwCmd;

procedure TForm1.ppGroupFooterBand1AfterPrint(Sender: TObject);
begin
  //find the current position after the group footer prints.
  FCurrentPosition := ppReport1.Engine.PrintPosRect.Top;

end;

procedure TForm1.ppReport1EndPage(Sender: TObject);
var
  lDrawLine: TppDrawLine;
  liTop: Integer;
  liLineTop: Integer;
  liBottom: Integer;
begin

  if (FCurrentPosition <> -1) then
    begin

      liTop := FCurrentPosition;
      liBottom := ppReport1.Engine.PageBottom;
      liLineTop := liBottom;

      //Add a new line until space runs out on the page.
      while liTop < liLineTop do
        begin

          lDrawLine := TppDrawLine.Create(nil);

          lDrawLine.Page := ppReport1.Engine.Page;

          lDrawLine.Left := ppReport1.PrinterSetup.PageDef.mmMarginLeft;
          lDrawLine.Top := liLineTop;
          lDrawLine.Width := ppReport1.PrinterSetup.PageDef.mmPrintableWidth;

          {change 9075 to change the space between lines}
          liLineTop := liLineTop - 9075;

        end;

    end;

end;