Defining web control values

After you have inserted a web control into a report, the next is to define its values to meet your requirements. To do this, right-click the web control and select Display Type from the shortcut menu. The Display Type dialog will appear for you to set attributes of the web control. The following paragraphs detail the settings for each web control.

Text field
Hidden field
Text area
Checkbox/Radio button
Image button
Button
List/Drop-down list

See also Display Type dialog for details about options in the dialog.

Text field

To define the values of a text field:

In the Web Options panel of the Display Type dialog, select the type of the text field: Standard or Password.
Standard means that the text field will be a normal text field. Password means that the text field will be a password box in which the typed characters will be displayed as asterisks.
Enter the name, value for the text field as required in the Name and Value fields.
In the Tool Tip field, enter the tip you want to show for the text field. Then after the report is exported to HTML or DHTML, when you hover the mouse over the text field, the tool tip will be displayed.
Set the character width in the Display Width field, and the maximum number of characters the user can enter in the Max Length field.
Check the Read Only option if you would like to set this text field to be read-only.
Check the Disabled checkbox if you want to make the text field disabled.
Bind some web actions to the text field in the Web Behaviors box as required.
Upon finishing, click the OK button to close this dialog.

Hidden field

A hidden field is visible only in design mode.

To define the values of a hidden field:

In the Web Options panel of the Display Type dialog, specify the name and value of the hidden field.
Bind some web actions to the hidden field in the Web Behaviors box as required.
Upon finishing, click the OK button to close the dialog.

Text area

A text area allows you to input a multi-line string.

To define the values of a text area:

In the Web Options panel of the Display Type dialog, enter the name, value of the text area in the Name and Value fields as required.
In the Tool Tip field, enter the tip you want to show for the text area. Then after the report is exported to HTML or DHTML, when you hover the mouse over the text area, the tool tip will be displayed.
Set the character width in the Display Width field.
Specify the number of lines that the text area will allow in the Number of Lines field, and choose whether or not to wrap the text by selecting true or false from the Auto Wrap drop-down list.
Check the Read Only option if you would like to set this text area to be read-only.
Check the Disabled checkbox if you want to make the text area disabled.
Bind some web actions to the text area in the Web Behaviors box as required.
Upon finishing, click the OK button to close this dialog.

Checkbox/Radio button

The way to define the values of a checkbox and radio button is the same.

To define the values of a checkbox or radio button:

In the Web Options panel of the Display Type dialog, specify the name, value of the checkbox/radio button in the Name and Value fields.
In the Tool Tip field, enter the tip you want to show for the checkbox/radio button. Then after the report is exported to HTML or DHTML, when you hover the mouse over the checkbox/radio button, the tool tip will be displayed.
Set Initially Checked to true if you want the checkbox/radio button to be selected by default.
Check the Disabled checkbox if you want to make the checkbox/radio button disabled.
Bind some web actions to the checkbox/radio button in the Web Behaviors box as required.
Upon finishing, click OK to close this dialog.

Image button

To define the values of an image button:

In the Web Options panel of the Display Type dialog, click the Browse button to specify the image source.

Note: For a DBField, formula, or a summary, you can also check the From DBField radio button to make the value of the DBField/formula/summary the image source. If you choose this option, the Decode Type drop-down list is enabled, from which you can specify the type for decoding the image.
Enter the name, value of the image button in the Name and Value fields.
Type a string in the Alternate Text field to serve as content when the image cannot be rendered.
In the Tool Tip field, enter the tip you want to show for the image button. Then after the report is exported to HTML or DHTML, when you hover the mouse over the image button, the tool tip will be displayed.
Check the Disabled checkbox if you want to make the image button disabled.
Specify the scaling mode of the image button from the Scaling Mode drop-down list, and the maximum scaling ratio in the Max Ratio field. By default the scaling ratio of the image button is not limited. If it is set to any value greater than 0, the actual scaling ratio will be less than or equal to it.
Specify the size of the image button as required.
- If you choose to use the original size of the image, check the Original Size option.
- If you want to use customized image size, uncheck Original Size, and then set the display width and height of the image in the Width and Height fields. Check the Constrain Proportion option if you want to constrain aspect ratio of the image when setting the width and height.
Bind some web actions to the image button in the Web Behaviors box as required.
Upon finishing, click the OK button to close the dialog.

Button

A button is for submitting or resetting a form.

To define the values of a button:

In the Web Options panel of the Display Type dialog, enter the name, value of the button in the Name and Value fields.
In the Tool Tip field, enter the tip you want to show for the button. Then after the report is exported to HTML or DHTML, when you hover the mouse over the button, the tool tip will be displayed.
Select the action of the button according to your requirements: None, Submit Form or Reset Form.
Check the Disabled checkbox if you want to make the button disabled.
Bind some web actions to the button in the Web Behaviors box as required.
Upon finishing, click OK to close this dialog.

List/Drop-down list

List and drop-down list are generally called multivalue container. A list or drop-down list provides a list of values for users to select from. While, a drop-down list occupies a smaller space than a list box so that a report can be laid out more compactly.

To define the values of a list or drop-down list:

In the Web Options panel of the Display Type dialog, enter a name for the list/drop-down list in the Name field.
In the Tool Tip field, enter the tip you want to show for the list/drop-down list. Then after the report is exported to HTML or DHTML, when you hover the mouse over the list/drop-down list, the tool tip will be displayed.
Specify the item labels and the value of each item in the items box by inputting some strings as the labels and values respectively.
If you want to use a DBField/formula field/parameter field to control the value, click in the Value column to insert one with the Insert Fields dialog, and then select the format for the inserted field from the drop-down list in the Item Label column.
If the display type is defined as List, you can check the Allow Multiple checkbox if you want to allow multiple items to be selected.
In the Selected field, specify the selected value for the list/drop-down list.
Specify to use the runtime value as the selected value by checking Use Run Time Value.
If you want to disable the list/drop-down list, check the Disabled option.
Bind some web actions to the list/drop-down list in the Web Behaviors box as required.
When done, click OK to apply the settings.

Notes:

Some of the web control values can be controlled by formulas. To control a value by a formula, click the button behind the text field of the value and then select a formula from the drop-down list. If the given formulas cannot meet your requirements, click the <CREATE FORMULA> item in the list to create one as required.
When the report is opened in HTML or DHTML, the tool tip of the web control will be displayed differently on different browsers:
- On Internet Explorer, the tip text will be automatically wrapped if its length exceeds the maximal tip width the browser allows. In addition, for Internet Explorer, you can manually make some text displayed in a new line by adding &#10 or &#13 ahead of the text when editing it in the Tool Tip field.
- On Firefox and Netscape, the tip text will be displayed in one line with the maximal tip width the browser allows, and the text that cannot be displayed within the width will be cut off and replaced by ellipsis.