<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  User Interface Reference > Report Designer > Report Designer for WinForms > Report Designer Reference > Report Controls > Shape

Interface Elements for Desktop > Report Designer > Report Designer for WinForms > Report Designer Reference > Report Controls > Shape

The Shape control allows you to embed simple graphic objects into your report. You can choose one of multiple predefined shapes (e.g. rectangles, ellipses, arrows, polygons, crosses and brackets of various kinds).

In the Property Grid, the Shape's properties are divided into the following groups.

Appearance

•Background Color

Specifies the background color for the control. This option is also available in the Formatting Toolbar ().

•Borders, Border Color, Border Dash Style and Border Width

Specify border settings for the control.

•Fill Color

Specifies the color to fill the contour of a Shape, if applicable. It is transparent by default.

•Foreground Color

Determines the color of a Shape's contour. This option is also available in the Formatting Toolbar ().

•Formatting Rules

Invokes the Formatting Rules Editor allowing you to choose which rules should be applied to the control during report generation, and define the precedence of the applied rules. To learn more on this, refer to Conditionally Change a Control's Appearance.

•Line Width

Here you can set the width of a line used to draw the Shape, expressed in the measure units defined by the report's Measure Units property. To learn more about this, refer to Change Measurement Units of a Report.

•Padding

Specifies indent values which are used to render the contents of the control.

•Style Priority

Allows you to define the priority of various style elements (such as background color, border color, etc.). For more information on style inheritance, refer to Understanding Style Concepts.

•Styles

This property allows you to define odd and even styles for the control, as well as to assign an existing style to the control (or a newly created one). For more information on style inheritance, refer to Understanding Style Concepts.

Behavior

•Anchor Horizontally

Specifies the horizontal anchoring style of the control, so that after page rendering it stays attached to the left control, right control, or both. This property defines how a report control is resized to maintain the distance to the left and right edges of its container control.

•Anchor Vertically

Specifies the vertical anchoring style of the control, so that after page rendering it stays attached to the top control, bottom control, or both.

•Angle

The value in degrees specifies the rotation angle of a Shape. It indicates counterclockwise rotation.

You can hold CTRL while pressing the left mouse button to rotate a Shape within the control's borders.

•Can Publish

Specifies whether or not a report control is displayed in a printed or exported document.

•Scripts

This property contains events, which you can handle with the required scripts. For more information on scripting, refer to Handle Events via Scripts.

•Shape

Determines which of the various built-in shapes to use within the control.

A certain shape has its own unique set of properties. The following list is intended to give a brief overview of these special properties specific to a certain shape.

•Stretch

If the Shape is rotated to some degree (that is, its Angle property is not zero), you may turn on the Stretch property. The Shape image will be stretched to cover maximum space within the control's borders.

•Visible

Specifies a value indicating whether the current control should be printed (when set to Yes) or hidden (No) on report generation.

Data

•(Data Bindings)

If the current report is bound to data, this property allows you to bind some of the control's properties (Bookmark, Navigation URL and Tag) to a data field obtained from the report's data source, and to apply a format string to it. For more information on this, refer to Displaying Values from a Database (Binding Report Elements to Data).

•Tag

This property allows you to add some additional information to the control; for example its id, by which it can then be accessible via scripts.

If the current report has a data source, the Tag property can be bound to a data field obtained from the data source. To do this, expand the (Data Bindings) property and in the Tag.Binding drop-down selector, select the required data field.

Design

•(Name)

Determines a control's name, by which it can be accessed in the Report Explorer, Property Grid or via scripts.

Layout

•Location

Specifies the control's location, in report measurement units.

•Size

Specifies the control's size, in report measurement units.

•Snap Line Margin

Specifies the margin (in report measurement units), which is to be preserved around the control when it is aligned using Snap Lines, or when other controls are aligned next to it.

Navigation

•Bookmark and Parent Bookmark

These properties are intended for the creation of a hierarchical structure within a report called a document map. For an explanation and help, refer to Add Bookmarks.

If the current report has a data source, the Bookmark property can be bound to a data field obtained from the data source. To do this, expand the (Data Bindings) property and in the Bookmark.Binding drop-down selector, select the required data field.

•Navigation URL and Navigation Target

Use the Navigation URL property to specify a URL for web browser navigation when a user clicks the control. The web browser displays a page in a window or a frame as specified by the Navigation Target property. Note that a URL should have an appropriate prefix (e.g. "http://"). You can create cross-references within the report by assigning the name of the target control to the Navigation URL property, and setting the Navigation Target property to "_self". For more information, refer to Create Hyperlinks.

If the current report has a data source, the Navigation URL property can be bound to a data field obtained from the data source. To do this, expand the (Data Bindings) property and in the Navigation URL.Binding drop-down selector, select the required data field.

Copyright (c) 1998-2016 Developer Express Inc. All rights reserved.

Send Feedback on this topic to DevExpress.