Tech Tip: Control UI Theme ReportBuilder 10 introduced support for Themes (Skins). There are a couple of options for specifying which theme is used. Report DesignerFrom the Report Designer select View | Themes from the main menu and then select the theme that you would like to use. The specified theme will be stored in  Full Article…

Question “How can I show/embed the Designer in a Panel?” Solution The following example uses the Designer.ShowInPanel method to display the display the designer within a panel and optionally move the menu bar to the parent form. Download: ShowDesignerInPanel.zip Sample Delphi code: procedure TForm1.btnShowDesignerPanelClick(Sender: TObject); begin ppDesigner1.ShowInPanel(Panel1); end; procedure TForm1.btnShowDesignerInPanelClick(Sender: TObject); begin // move the  Full Article…

Question “How can I select a default report explorer folder for my end-users to save their reports?” Solution The following example uses the Report.Template.OnNew and OnLoadEnd events to set the default folder for the user to save reports. Download: ReportExplorerSelectDefaultFolder.zip Sample Delphi code: procedure TmyEndUserSolution.ehReport_New(Sender: TObject); begin ppReportExplorer1.CurrentFolderId := GetFolderId('Customers'); end; procedure TmyEndUserSolution.ehReport_LoadEnd(Sender: TObject); begin  Full Article…

Question “How can I refresh the Designer Data Tree via code?” Solution The following example shows how to refresh the Data Tree window. Download: RefreshDataTreeInCode.zip Sample Delphi code: uses ppEndUsr, ppToolWnTBX, ppDesignLayoutManager, ppDesignToolManagerTBX; procedure TForm1.ppDesigner1Show(Sender: TObject); var lLayoutManager: TppDesignLayoutManager; lToolManager: TppDesignToolManager; lDataTree: TppDataTreeWindow; begin lLayoutManager := ppDesigner1.Form.LayoutManager; // get the ToolManager lToolManager := lLayoutManager.ToolManager; //  Full Article…

Question “How can I launch the Report wizard directly in code?” Solution a. Simplest solution is to use the Designer uses ppWizard; begin // note: this example works with RB 10 and later myDesigner.Form.LayoutManager.DocumentController.New(ppDefaultReportWizard); end; b. It is also possible to launch the report wizard without the Designer Start by manually creating a TppReportWizard object and implementing the  Full Article…

Question “How do I launch the label wizard directly in code without having to go through the designer?” Solution Do this by manually creating a TppLabelTemplateWizard object and executing it.  Then it is up to you to manually create the report in code based on the user selections. Download: LaunchLabelWizardInCode.zip Sample Delphi code: uses ppLabWiz;  Full Article…

Question “How can I implement custom processing when reports are loaded/saved?” Solution The following example shows how to implement the Designer OnOpenDoc and OnSaveDoc events to either override or augment the built-in save/load logic. When the OnCustomOpenDoc, OnCustomSaveDoc events are assigned, the report designer will not save or load any reports – it will instead  Full Article…

Question “How can I hide some of the object inspector properties from my end-users?” Solution The following example shows how to use the PropertyCategoryManager to hide the EmailSettings property. Download:  DesignerHideObjectInspectorProperties.zip Sample Delphi code uses ppInspector; procedure TForm1.Button2Click(Sender: TObject); var lPropertyCategory: TppPropertyCategory; liIndex: Integer; begin // remove EmailSettings from the User Interface category lPropertyCategory :=  Full Article…

Question “How can I control the visibility of the Notebook tabs?” Solution The following example shows how to use the Designer.Notebook.SetTabsVisible method to hide the Preview tab. Download: DesignerHideNotebookTab.zip Sample Delphi code: procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); var liPreviewTab: Integer; begin liPreviewTab := ppDesigner1.Notebook.PageCount-1; ppDesigner1.Notebook.SetTabVisible(liPreviewTab, False); ppDesigner1.ShowModal; end;  

Question “How do I hide some or all of the menu items for the Data Tab?” Solution Check to see that the user has the data tab active in the TabChanged event and typecast the Designer.Menu.Items property as a Data menu object to access the menu items. Download: HideDataMenuItems.zip Sample Delphi code: procedure TForm1.ppDesigner1TabChanged(Sender: TObject);  Full Article…

Question “How can I implement default report settings for new reports created by end-users? And for existing reports?” Solution The following example uses the Report.Template OnNew and OnLoadEnd events to implement default report properties. Download: DesignerInitializeReportProperties.zip Sample Delphi code: procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); begin // initialize report properties InitializeReport(ppReport1); // assign template event-handlers ppReport1.Template.OnNew := ehTemplate_New;  Full Article…

Question “How can I customize the menu and toolbars?” Solution The following example shows how to acess the menus and toolbars to add/remove items, hide toolbars, and assign custom event-handlers. Download: DesignerCustomizeMenusAndToolbars.zip Sample Delphi code: uses ppTBX, ppToolbarTBX, ppDesignLayoutManager, ppDesignLayoutMenu, ppDesignToolManagerTBX, ppDesignToolbarsTBX, ppDesignToolActions, ActnList; {****************************************************************************** Example: hide File | Print menu item ******************************************************************************} procedure TForm1.btnHideFilePrintClick(Sender:  Full Article…

Question “How can I add a custom tool window to the Designer?” Solution The example shows how to create a custom tool window and register it with the Design tools. Download: DesignerAddToolWindow.zip Sample Delphi code: uses ppDesignToolWindow, ppToolbarTBX; type // descend from TppDesignToolWindow TmyDesignToolWindow = class(TppDesignToolWindow) public constructor Create(Owner: TComponent); override; end; implementation constructor TmyDesignToolWindow.Create(Owner:  Full Article…