Bookshelf v7.5.2: Adding Label and Data Elements to the Design

Siebel Reports Administration Guide > Creating a Simple List Report > Example—Creating a Simple List Report >

Adding Label and Data Elements to the Design

At this point, you have created the report design file and three of its key structural components: the report design (root), the report section, and the pagelist. You have also obtained the datasource, by reference, from the datasource library file that you previously generated, and put it in the report section whose data it will supply. Now you create a frame for the page header to define the elements that appear at the top of each page, and a main content frame to define the elements that appear in each report row.

To add text and label elements to the design

Drag and drop the ssTxt component from the Library Browser window onto the empty Content child slot of the content frame (ssFrmOpportunityContent).

The Component Properties dialog box appears.

In the Component Properties dialog box, select the ssName field from the datastream by clicking it in the drop-down list, then click OK to dismiss the Component Properties dialog box.

You specify the source of data for a data control in the ValueExp property.

Resize the new data control on the layout grid to make it the appropriate size for name data (if it is too narrow, the name will be truncated).

Right-click the data control and select Rename in the menu. Give the text control a unique descriptive name, in this case txtOpportunity.

You generally obtain the prefix in a report design component from somewhere in the name of its parent library component. The txt prefix (from ssTxt) is a reasonable standard for dynamic data controls derived from ssTxt and is consistent with naming in standard reports.

Right-click the data control and select Properties in the menu. Check the CanGrow property to verify that it is set to TRUE.

When this property is TRUE, multiple-line values in the business component fields print as multiple-line values in the report. When it is FALSE, only the first line of each value prints.

NOTE: When possible, use the Default button in the Component Editor window to reset a property such as CanGrow to its default (TRUE in this case) rather than entering the value manually. This helps to keep the inheritance intact by eliminating unnecessary subclassing.

Repeat Step 3 through Step 7 to add the following:

A control called txtAccount based on the ssAccount datastream variable

A control called txtRevenue based on ssRevenue_Formatted

A control called txtCloseDate based on ssClose_Date

Note that you drop the ssTxt component on the parent content frame (ssFrmOpportunityContent) because there are no empty child slots for the purpose. Also note that you need to reposition each data control in the layout pane to the right after it is created.

Drag and drop the ssFrmBlueBack library component onto the empty page header slot. Subclass the new frame component (using the subclassing instructions from Creating a Report Design in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional) and rename it ssFrmOpportunityHeader.

The page header will contain the column headings. Bold white column heading labels on a blue-green background are standard in Siebel reports and give your custom report the same appearance.

Drag and drop the ssLblHead component onto the page header frame (ssFrmOpportunityHeader), once each to create the labels indicated below. Set the Text property for each label as indicated. You will need to resize, reposition, and rename each label after it is created. Each label should be aligned vertically with the corresponding data control:

A label called lblOpportunity, with a Text property value of Opportunity

A label called lblAccount, with a Text property value of Account

A label called lblRevenue, with a Text property value of Revenue

A label called lblCloseDate, with a Text property value of Close Date

Set the AlternateLines attribute of the ssFrmOpportunityContent frame to 1. A line separator is automatically added to each displayed content row frame.

The separator line creates a demarcation between report rows.

Right-click the top-level report component and choose Properties. Enter a value of Test Report in the ssReportTitle property.

This defines the title to be printed in the blue-green area on the upper left.