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Boxes

A report can contain two types of boxes:

  1. Boxes within a section
  2. Boxes across multiple sections

Boxes Within a Section

You can insert a box using the Insert Box menu item or the Box button on the toolbar. Boxes may have rounded corners.

  • Box line properties such as style, width, line color, rounding, and fill color (gradient or solid) can be modified in the Box tab of the Field Properties dialog.
  • The following options are available on the Common tab:
  • Suppress
  • Anchor

  • Variable Height

    • Allows the box to grow dynamically if the section height increases.

  • The object order within the section determines whether the box appears above or below other objects.

Note: Options like vertical/horizontal alignment and text rotation do not apply to boxes.

Converting the section box to a box that can span multiple sections can be done via the box context menu option "Span multiple sections". The object will be removed from the objects in the section and placed inside the report explorer node labeled "Lines and Boxes Over Sections".

Boxes Across Sections

Boxes that span multiple sections begin in one section (such as a page header or group header) and end in another (such as a page footer or group footer).

  • The height setting on the Position tab is not applicable.
  • Box properties (style, width, line color, rounding, fill color (gradient or solid)) are controlled via the Box tab in the Field Properties dialog.
  • The Suppress option on the Common tab is available.
  • Variable Height is always applied for these boxes, as they must adjust dynamically with the height of the sections they span.

Note: Vertical/horizontal alignment and text rotation settings are not applicable to boxes across sections.

Boxes across sections are drawn before all other objects in the report and therefore appear behind them. In the Report Explorer, these boxes are grouped under a node labeled “Lines and Boxes Over Sections.”

Converting the box that can go across sections to a box that needs to be used inside a section can be done via the box context menu option "Span multiple sections" after reducing the height of the box to stay inside the boundaries of the starting section.