Character Comb Control

Description

The Character Comb control displays text so that each character is printed in an individual cell.

An example of a Character Comb control

Properties Common to Most Controls

For more information about the properties listed below, see Properties Common to Most Controls.

For more information regarding each of the property groups, see the Control Reference.

Actions

Actions

Fit Bounds to Text Resize the bounds of a control to fit static text exactly.

Text

Type: String

Can be configured in the Properties or Expressions panel.

Sets the text to appear in the print template control.

The value of the Text property can be set in a few different ways:

  • Double-click the control to start entering text.
  • Select the control and then enter text into the Text property.
  • Drag a field from the Field List onto the print template to automatically populate the Text property.

Text Format String

The Text Format String Editor provides the ability to apply formatting to data. You can select one of the pre-built formats or create your own.

The Text Format String Editor cannot format values that have been manually entered into a control.

For more information, see the help regarding the Format String Editor and Format Specifiers.

Summary: Running

Sets the print template area that the summary function applies to.

The summary function must be configured in the Text property of the Expressions panel. You must set the Summary Running property to a value other than None for the Expression Editor to show Summary functions.

The report areas available from the drop-down list include:

  • None: No summary is calculated.
  • Group: Calculates a value for the current group.

    The control must be placed in the Group Header Band, Group Footer Band or Detail Band for the control to display the value for the current group.

  • Print Template: Calculates a value for the entire print template.

  • Page: Calculates a value for the page where the control is printed.

Summary: Ignore Null Values

Type: Boolean

Sets whether null values should be ignored when a summary is calculated. If null values are included in the calculation, they are treated as zeros.

Summary: Treat Strings As Numerics

Type: Boolean

Determines whether a summary function should treat strings as numeric values.

Auto Width

Type: Boolean

Specifies whether or not the width of a control depends on the text within it.

Enable this property to print the text of a control in full without it being cut off by the dimensions of the control. This may be required when the contents of a control are populated using a data source and the full length of the value is unknown until runtime. Contents will be cut off if they reach the bounds of the page.

This setting has no effect on the width or position of other controls. This means that if the control expands to fit its contents, it may overlap with nearby controls.

If Word Wrap is enabled, the control's width can only be decreased. If Word Wrap is disabled, the control's width can be increased or decreased to best fit a label's contents.

Can Grow

Type: Boolean

Sets whether the control's height can grow to display the contents at runtime.

Enabled by default.

If there are other controls below the selected control, they will be moved down to prevent overlapping.

If the Label control is used to calculate a summary, the Can Grow property value is ignored.

Can Shrink

Type: Boolean

Sets whether the control's height can decrease if the contents do not completely fill the control at runtime.

If there are other controls below the current control, they will be moved up to remove the unused space.

If the Label control is used to calculate a summary, the Can Shrink property value is ignored.

Multiline

Type: Boolean

Sets whether the control respects carriage returns entered into the Text property.

Enabled by default.

Word Wrap

Type: Boolean

Determines how text is rendered when it does not completely fit into the bounds of the control. When enabled, text will start a new line once it meets the right side of the control. Otherwise, the text is displayed on a single line.

Enabled by default.

Appearance

Text Alignment

Can be configured in the Properties or Expressions panel.

Specifies the alignment of the print item's text.

 

Behavior

Auto Width

Type: Boolean

Specifies whether or not the width of a control depends on the text within it.

Enable this property to print the text of a control in full without it being cut off by the dimensions of the control. This may be required when the contents of a control are populated using a data source and the full length of the value is unknown until runtime. Contents will be cut off if they reach the bounds of the page.

This setting has no effect on the width or position of other controls. This means that if the control expands to fit its contents, it may overlap with nearby controls.

If Word Wrap is enabled, the control's width can only be decreased. If Word Wrap is disabled, the control's width can be increased or decreased to best fit a label's contents.

If this property is enabled along with Can Shrink, the number of cells corresponds to the number of characters in the control's text. Otherwise, the number of cells corresponds to the specified cell size and control size.

If this property is enabled along with Can Shrink, the number of cells corresponds to the number of characters in the control's text. Otherwise, the number of cells corresponds to the specified cell size and control size.

Can Grow

Type: Boolean

Sets whether the control's height can grow to display the contents at runtime.

Enabled by default.

If there are other controls below the selected control, they will be moved down to prevent overlapping.

Can Shrink

Type: Boolean

Sets whether the control's height can decrease if the contents do not completely fill the control at runtime.

If there are other controls below the current control, they will be moved up to remove the unused space.

Multiline

Type: Boolean

Sets whether the control respects carriage returns entered into the Text property.

Enabled by default.

Process Duplicates Mode

Sets how print controls with duplicate records should be processed. The data type that is processed must be set in the Process Duplicates Target property.

Methods for processing duplicate data include:

  • Leave: The duplicate control is always printed.
  • Merge: The identical data values are merged into a single column.
  • Suppress: A blank space is printed in place of the duplicate data.
  • Suppress and Shrink: The control that contains duplicate data is not printed.
  • This setting has no effect on intersecting controls or in vertical bands.

If there are no controls in a band after duplicates are removed, VertiGIS Studio Reporting does not print the band.

Process Duplicates Target

Sets what data is processed by the Process Duplicates Mode property.

Options include:

  • Value: The value of the control.
  • Tag: The data in the control's Tag property.

For the Character Comb control, the Text property is assigned to the Value option.

Process Null Values

Specifies how a print item containing a null value should be processed.

Methods of processing the null values include:

  • Leave: The print item is always printed.
  • Suppress: A blank space is printed in place of the null data.
  • Suppress and Shrink: The print item that contains null data is not printed.
  • This setting has no effect on intersecting controls or in vertical bands.

If there are no controls in a band after duplicates are removed, VertiGIS Studio Printing does not print the band.

Text Fit Mode

This property is not available if Can Grow, Can Shrink, or Auto Width are enabled.

Specifies how the text of a control can be resized to fit the boundaries of the control.

The options for modifying the control's text size include the following:

  • None: The text size is unchanged.
  • Grow Only: The text size can be increased to occupy the entire area of the control.
  • Shrink Only: The text size can be decreased so that it all displays in the bounds of the control.
  • Shrink and Grow: The text size can be increased or decreased to fit the bounds of the control.

Word Wrap

Type: Boolean

Determines how text is rendered when it does not completely fit into the bounds of the control. When enabled, text will start a new line once it meets the right side of the control. Otherwise, the text is displayed on a single line.

Enabled by default.

Data

Null Value Text

Type: String

Specifies the text shown in the control when the value of its bound data field is null.

Summary: Running

Sets the print template area that the summary function applies to.

The summary function must be configured in the Text property of the Expressions panel. You must set the Summary Running property to a value other than None for the Expression Editor to show Summary functions.

The report areas available from the drop-down list include:

  • None: No summary is calculated.
  • Group: Calculates a value for the current group.

    The control must be placed in the Group Header Band, Group Footer Band or Detail Band for the control to display the value for the current group.

  • Print Template: Calculates a value for the entire print template.

  • Page: Calculates a value for the page where the control is printed.

Summary: Ignore Null Values

Type: Boolean

Sets whether null values should be ignored when a summary is calculated. If null values are included in the calculation, they are treated as zeros.

Summary: Treat Strings As Numerics

Type: Boolean

Determines whether a summary function should treat strings as numeric values.

Text

Type: String

Can be configured in the Properties or Expressions panel.

Sets the text to appear in the print template control.

The value of the Text property can be set in a few different ways:

  • Double-click the control to start entering text.
  • Select the control and then enter text into the Text property.
  • Drag a field from the Field List onto the print template to automatically populate the Text property.

Text Format String

The Text Format String Editor provides the ability to apply formatting to data. You can select one of the pre-built formats or create your own.

The Text Format String Editor cannot format values that have been manually entered into a control.

For more information, see the help regarding the Format String Editor and Format Specifiers.

Layout

Cell Height

Type: Single

Specifies the height of cells in the control.

This setting is ignored when the Cell Size Mode property is set to Auto Size or Auto Height.

Cell Horizontal Spacing

Type: Single

Specifies the horizontal spacing between adjacent cells in the control. This value does not depend on the specified border width of a control.

An example where Cell Horizontal Spacing is set to 5 and Cell Vertical Spacing is set to 5

Cell Size Mode

Specifies whether or not the cell size should depend on the current font size.

Options for this property include:

  • Custom: The cell size is determined by the Cell Height and Cell Width properties.

    The actual cell size is the specified Cell Height and Cell Width values minus the Border Width value.
  • Auto Width: Only the cell width depends on the current font size of the control. The Cell Height must be specified manually.

    The actual cell width does not depend on the specified border width of a control. The actual cell height is the difference between the Cell Height value and the Border Width value.
  • Auto Height: Only the cell height depends on the current font size of the control. The Cell Width must be specified manually.

    The actual cell height does not depend on the specified border width of a control. The actual cell width is the difference between the Cell Width value and the Border Width value.
  • Auto Size: The cell size depends on the current font size of the control.

Cell Vertical Spacing

Type: Single

Specifies the vertical spacing between adjacent cells in the control. This value does not depend on the specified border width of a control.

An example where Cell Horizontal Spacing is set to 5 and Cell Vertical Spacing is set to 5

Cell Width

Type: Single

Specifies the width of cells in the control.

This setting is ignored when the Cell Size Mode property is set to Auto Size or Auto Width.

Printing

Right to Left

Specifies the layout of the content within a print item.

The options include:

  • Inherit: The item inherits the printing configuration set at the parent level. This is the default.
  • Yes: The content is aligned to the right.
  • No: The content is aligned to the left.

Related Tutorials

Refer to the following resources for additional help on implementing this control: