Fill with lines between a header group and a footer group - RB7.01 D6.2 EndUser with RAP

rbuser

I have a report with a Header group that scans a child table. The
corresponding footer (non scanning) is set to a print position of 9
inches.

I want to fill the white space between the bottom of the header and
the top of the footer with lines.

What is the best way to do this using RAP?

I had thought of adding a subreport with just one line and setting in
RAP the Bands per Record but I am unsure of the syntax (and event) for
calculating how many lines I want. (or perhaps it is not the best
approach?)

Thanks,
Rick Matthews
Dartek Systems Inc.

digitalmetaphors

Since you manually set the footer's print position, you can use the
PageStyle band to print lines behind it in that space. The PageStyle band
prints behind all other bands on the page. This would require no RAP code.

Alternatively, you could also try using a subreport and set bands per record
to N, although I believe that you would have to hook the subreport up to a
dummy one record JIT pipeline to get it to print a single record N times, as
it should check to see if there are records in the pipeline in that case.
I'd have to try it to be sure.

If that doesn't work, then you could create lines using DrawCommands via a
RAP pass through function. Here is an example of creating draw commands on
the page to fill space from the last detail to the bottom of the page:
http://www.digital-metaphors.com/tips/FillPageWithLines.zip

Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

Thanks Jim for the suggestions:

1) Pagestyle is appealing but I can only have the lines where other
bands have not printed (even if it is white space). In my test the
lines show up as a background. I guess it would need a
"non-transparent" setting for the other bands?

2) I did try a subreport with no pipeline assigned and setting
bandsperrecord. It worked fine, but I don't know how in RAP to
calculate the number of lines I need. Can you help there?

3) I saw this demo but it wasn't using RAP so I haven't pursued it.

Thanks,

digitalmetaphors

I'll have to adapt the draw command demo to use RAP. Draw commands are
problably the way to go on this one, because they can be added after the
page has been generated by the report engine, but right before the page is
sent to the devices. The OnEndPage event is the perfect timing to alter the
appearance of the page after all the draw commands from the engine have been
added.


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

---------------------------------------
Article: Draw Command Architecture
---------------------------------------

Page Objects
-------------

When a report prints it generates Page objects. Each Page object contains an
array of DrawCommand objects (Page.DrawCommands[]) that describe what needs
to be rendered for the page.

Report --> Pages.DrawCommands[] ---> Device (Printer, Screen, ..) --> final
output


DrawCommands Objects
--------------------

Component --> DrawCommand

Each TppComponent generates a DrawCommand object each time
it prints on a page. For example if the component is a TppLabel and prints
at the top of the page - one draw command object will be created for each
page. If the Label is in the detail band, many draw commands will be created
for each page.

A DrawCommand contains a complete description of the location and content to
draw. See ppDrwCmd.pas for the existing DrawCommand class descendants
(DrawText, DrawImage, etc.)

Some of the basic DrawCommand classes such as DrawImage and DrawText, rely
on the ScreenDevice and PrinterDevice classes to render their content. Other
DrawCommand classes such as TppDrawBarCode and TppDrawRichText render
themselves to the appropriate device canvas directly.


Creating Custom Components
--------------------------

Each component has an associated DrawCommand class that is
is the value of its DrawCommandClass property. For a Label,
the DrawCommandClass is TppDrawText. This value is normally
set in the constructor. Examples of the common components
are located in ppCtrls.pas.



constructor TmyComponent.Create(AOwner: TComponent);
begin

inherited Create(AOwner);

DrawCommandClass := TppDrawText;

end;


Each time the component prints, a DrawCommand object of
the designated DrawCommand class will automatically be
created and the components PropertiesToDrawCommand method
will be called. You override this method to transfer the
appropriate property values from the component to
the drawcommand object.


{------------------------------------------------------------------------}
{ TmyComponent.PropertiesToDrawCommand }

procedure TmyComponent.PropertiesToDrawCommand(aDrawCommand:
TppDrawCommand);
var
lWrappedText: TStrings;
lTextBuf: PChar;
lPrinter: TObject;
lDrawText: TppDrawText;
llCharPos: Longint;
begin

inherited PropertiesToDrawCommand(aDrawCommand);

if not(aDrawCommand is TppDrawText) then Exit;

lDrawText := TppDrawText(aDrawCommand);

{set properties here}

lDrawText.Alignment := Alignment;
lDrawText.AutoSize := AutoSize;
lDrawText.Color := Color;
lDrawText.Left := PrintPosRect.Left;
lDrawText.Top := PrintPosRect.Top;
lDrawText.Height := PrintPosRect.Bottom - PrintPosRect.Top;
lDrawText.Width := PrintPosRect.Right - PrintPosRect.Left;
lDrawText.Text := Text;
lDrawText.Transparent := Transparent;
lDrawText.WordWrap := WordWrap;
lDrawText.Font := Font;


end;



Creating Custom DrawCommands
----------------------------

When you create a descendant component you can either
use an existing draw command class or create a new one.
For the TeeChart wrapper components, we chose to use
the existing DrawImage class to specify the TeeChart
as a metafile image. So it is not always necessary to
create a draw command class.

Examples of DrawCommand classes are located in ppDrwCmd.pas.
A drawcommand will contain published properties that
contain a complete description of the location and
content to be rendered.

DrawCommand classes must be registered - see the
initization and finalization sections at the bottom
of the ppDrwCmd.pas unit for an example.

DrawCommand classes should publish all properties
used to describe the object.

DrawCommand classes must implment the Assign
method to assign the values of all published
properties from one draw command to another.


--
Tech Support mailto:support@digital-metaphors.com
Digital Metaphors http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Thanks Jim.

1) So will you be posting a RAP demo soon?

2) It is also appealing to be able in general to be able to calculate
the amount of space from the end of one band (after it has finished)
and the start of a pre-determined band (or page location) and to use
that to set the bandsperrecord of a subreport.
That way you can fill the space with anything, not just a specific
draw command.

To do this I think I need RAP sample code to:
1) get current print position (of where the band with the
subreport will start to print).
2) get the start position of the fixed band (just the position
I think?)
3) do units conversion and calculate whole number of
bandsperrecord.


Thanks,

digitalmetaphors

Here is the FillPageWithLines tip implemented to work in RAP, along with
some other PTF to help create draw commands in RAP:)

http://www.digital-metaphors.com/tips/RAPDrawCommands.zip


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

Thanks Jim your sample looks great. I will give it a wirl in my app.

Cheers,