Reporting Direction for Forms

The reporting direction for forms is defined via the Form orientation property. This property defines the sequence in which the form is filled during the report - either by row or by column. "By row" means that first all the cells of a row are filled before switching to the next row. "By column" means that first all the cells of a column are filled before switching to the next column.

In addition, the properties Column width and Row height are also relevant to the reporting direction. By entering positive or negative values in these properties, you specify whether the report is generated from left to right, from top to bottom or in reverse.

Report by row

In the tables, a "+" entry represents a positive value, and a "-" entry a negative value.

Report from top to bottom and from left to right

Property	Value
Form orientation	By row
Column width	+
Row height	+

Report from top to bottom and from right to left

Property	Value
Form orientation	By row
Column width	-
Row height	+

Report from bottom to top and from left to right

Property	Value
Form orientation	By row
Column width	+
Row height	-

Report from bottom to top and from right to left

Property	Value
Form orientation	By row
Column width	-
Row height	-

Report by column

In the tables, a "+" entry represents a positive value, and a "-" entry a negative value.

Report from left to right and from top to bottom

Property	Value
Form orientation	By column
Column width	+
Row height	-

Report from left to right and from bottom to top

Property	Value
Form orientation	By column
Column width	+
Row height	+

Report from right to left and from top to bottom

Property	Value
Form orientation	By column
Column width	-
Row height	-

Report from right to left and from bottom to top

Property	Value
Form orientation	By column
Column width	-
Row height	+

Example:

In this example, a terminal diagram is to be created, where several columns are represented on a report page. For this purpose, a report is generated for the form by row; the rows are filled from top to bottom, and the columns are run through from left to right. The form used for the terminal diagram is set up as follows:

Property	Value
Form orientation	By row
No. of columns	4
No. of rows	12
Column width	90.00 mm
Row height	8.00 mm
Reuse header for new column	deselected

The report is generated from top to bottom and from left to right. A report page can contain up to four columns (in the figure, numbered from 1 to 4). First, the rows of the first column are filled one by one, followed by the rows of the second column, etc. (In the figure, the reporting direction is illustrated by the arrows in the red-framed box.) The report page then appears as follows:

Notes:

Use the No. of rows and Row height form properties to define the maximum evaluation range of the page in dynamic forms: The two values are multiplied, and give the value (in "mm") for the (not visible) boundary line after which the break occurs. The boundary line is calculated in reference to the end of the header. For the above example, this means: If the number of rows = 12 and the row height = 8 mm, the break is placed after 12 x 8 mm = 96 mm.
If the Reuse header for new column form property is deactivated, the header will be displayed only in the first column. In the following columns, then, more data rows are displayed than have been defined in the No. of rows property.