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You can create compound reports and coordinated compound reports in one integrated process with Document Composer.
The Add Procedure dialog box opens.
Document Composer opens.
Note: QuickLinks is turned off by default.
The New Procedure File dialog box opens.
Document Composer opens.
Note: Document Composer is the default for the Coordinate reports and graphs QuickLink.
When you open Document Composer, it appears similar to the following image:
The main elements of Document Composer are:
Displays menus for Document Composer.
Displays tool buttons, such as Open and Run.
Displays buttons, such as Copy and Paste, that enable you to edit the layout.
Displays buttons that insert objects, such as Reports and Graphs, into the layout.
Displays buttons that align objects and control the appearance of the layout.
Displays buttons that format and align text when using a text element in the layout.
Displays the properties of objects in the layout.
Enables you to view thumbnails of each page in the layout. Thumbnails work similarly to thumbnails in AdobeĀ® PDF, in that they enable you to scroll to different pages. Select an image from the Thumbnails tab to jump to the selected object in the layout. You may also refresh the Thumbnails tab, enlarge or reduce the thumbnails, and select pages to be reordered directly from the Thumbnails tab. For more information, see Moving Pages With the Thumbnails Tab.
The Standard toolbar contains the following buttons:
Button |
Description |
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Saves the existing procedure (.fex) and output files to the current project. This button is unavailable once the layout is saved and no new changes have been made. When a change has been made to the layout, the Save button is active until the report is saved again. Note: The Save icon drop-down list offers options to Save Document As and Save Current Document As. For details, see How to Save a Page Master in Document Composer and How to Save an Individual Page Layout in Document Composer. Save Document As and Save Current Page As will be grayed out and unavailable when Document Composer is accessed through HTML Composer. |
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Removes the highlighted object(s) and saves it to the clipboard. |
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Copies the highlighted object(s) to the clipboard. |
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Pastes the object(s) to the specified location. |
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Deletes the highlighted object(s). |
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Resets the layout by reversing the last action performed. |
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Repeats the last action performed. |
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The Refresh All option enables you to view any edits or changes that you have made to your document. Refresh All reloads all pages and reruns the reports and graphs in Design View. Note: Refresh All also shows changes made to reports and graphs that are referenced in your document. |
The Components toolbar contains the following buttons:
Button |
Description |
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Inserts a report object into the layout. |
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Inserts a graph object into the layout. |
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Inserts a placeholder for an image. You can multiselect image files from the Get source files dialog box. The files will be cascaded on the canvas and can then be moved as required. |
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Inserts text. |
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Inserts a line. |
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Inserts a text box into an active report, active Flash file, or active PDF file. |
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Inserts a drop-down list box into an active report, active Flash file, or active PDF file. |
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Inserts a list box into an active report, active Flash file, or active PDF file. |
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Inserts a check box into an active report, active Flash file, or active PDF file. |
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Inserts a radio button into an active report, active Flash file, or active PDF file. |
The Positioning toolbar contains the following buttons:
Button |
Description |
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Toggles between displaying and hiding the grid. |
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Aligns objects to the left. |
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Aligns objects to the right. |
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Aligns objects by the top of the highest selected object. |
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Aligns objects by the bottom of the lowest selected object. |
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Aligns objects at the horizontal center point of the canvas in Design View. |
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Aligns objects at their vertical center (or middle) point of the canvas in Design View. |
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Makes two or more objects the same width. |
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Makes two or more objects the same height. |
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Makes two or more objects the same size. |
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Aligns objects to the center of the canvas in Design View. Note: You can also select any of the align options from the drop-down list. |
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Sets the relationship between selected objects. |
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Breaks the relationship between objects. |
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Shows or hides the arrow indicating relationships between objects. |
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Creates a new page layout. |
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Moves up one level to the next page (for multiple page layouts). |
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Moves down one level to the next page (for multiple page layouts). |
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Adds a control to a chain. Each time a selection is made, all chained controls will be dynamically updated. Note: The Add to current chain button is available when controls are multi-selected on the canvas. This button is disabled if you multi-select controls that are already in a chain. |
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Removes a control from a chain. Note: The Remove from current chain button is available when controls are multi-selected on the canvas. This button is disabled for the first control in a chain but is enabled for all others. |
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Shows the chaining order of all controls that are currently part of a chain. |
For more information about positioning objects, see Controlling the Overflow and Relative Positioning of Objects.
The Formatting toolbar contains options that can be applied to individual strings of text, as well as to the entire text element, with the exception of the alignment options. The alignment options can only be applied to the text element.
For more information about using text elements, see Formatting Text in Document Composer.
Button |
Description |
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Applies bold formatting to the text. |
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Applies italic formatting to the text. |
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Applies underline formatting to the text |
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Applies superscript typography to the text. |
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Font style opens the Font dialog box where you can set the Font, Font Style, Size, Color, and Effect of the text. |
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Aligns the text element to the left. |
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Aligns the text element to the center. |
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Aligns the text element to the right. |
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Aligns the text to fill the width of the text element. |
The following image is the Properties window for Compound documents:
The Compound Document Properties window contains options that control the properties of your report and reporting objects. The properties are:
Determines whether the compound document will have bookmarks. The options are Off (default) and On.
Determines whether the compound document will be bursted by the primary sort value. The options are Off (default) and On.
Sets the output format for the document. The options are:
Sets the background color of the page. Opens the Color Picker dialog box where you can either choose from preset colors or set your own custom color.
Note: This option is only available for active report and active Flash output formats. The option will be hidden in the Properties window until you select either active report or active Flash from the Output format property.
Determines the bottom margin of the page. The default value is 0.5.
Determines the left margin of the page. The default value is 0.5.
Determines the right margin of the page. The default value is 0.5.
Determines the top margin of the page. The default value is 0.5.
Determines the orientation of the page. The options are Portrait (default) and Landscape.
Determines the size of the page. The options are:
Note: When using a Dashboard Bar, it is advised that you use Page size options D or E. If you use other Page size options, text in the Dashboard Bar may overlap.
Sets the units of measurement for the development environment. The options are Inches (default), Centimeters, and Points.
These properties adhere to Microsoft standards. For more information on Microsoft object properties, see your Microsoft documentation.
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