Sage 200 Report Designer - How to add lines and boxes to reports, layouts, letters and labels

Summary

Using Sage Report Designer, you can tailor your reports, layouts, letters and labels to suit your individual company needs.

Description

Lines or boxes can be used to improve the appearance of your documents, for example, to highlight certain text or to divide sections of information.This article explains how to add lines and boxes to reports, layouts, letters and labels.

NOTE: This article has been prepared and issued to you as a goodwill gesture only and Sage accepts no liability or responsibility for its use. For further support please refer to your Business Partner.

In Sage 200 2013 and above, the Dynamic Help takes you through adding text and variables step by step. For further information about the Dynamic Help feature, read more.

Resolution

To add a line to your report

Report Designer > Toolbox menu > click Draw Line

On the document where you want your line to start, click and hold the left mouse button down > drag the line to the required size > release the mouse button. If required, use the Dynamic Help pane to change the properties of the line.

NOTE: If any of the panes mentioned in this section are not visible, open the View menu and select the required pane. If the pane doesn't appear, you can reset the Report Designer view to its default. For further information about this, read more.

The following options are available:

Appearance	You can use this option to change the style, colour or width of the line. To do this, click Change line style. You can then use the following options: Style - To chage the style of this line, from the drop-down list select the required style. Colour - To change the colour of the line, from the drop-down list select the required colour. Width - To change the width of the line, from the drop-down list select the required width. You can choose between 0.25pt and 6pt. If required, to create a single straight horizontal line that spans the whole page, you can also select the span width check box. NOTE: The size and appearance of the line can also be set within the Properties pane. For further information about this, please refer to The Properties section below.
Printing	If required, to prevent the line from printing select the Do not print (suppress printing) check box.
Alignment	You can select from the following options: As drawn - To keep the line as drawn on the page, select this option. Horizontal - To ensure the line is perfectly horizontally aligned, select this option. Vertical - To ensure the line is perfectly vertically aligned, select this option.

Appearance

You can use this option to change the style, colour or width of the line. To do this, click Change line style. You can then use the following options:

Style - To chage the style of this line, from the drop-down list select the required style.
Colour - To change the colour of the line, from the drop-down list select the required colour.
Width - To change the width of the line, from the drop-down list select the required width. You can choose between 0.25pt and 6pt.

If required, to create a single straight horizontal line that spans the whole page, you can also select the span width check box.

NOTE: The size and appearance of the line can also be set within the Properties pane. For further information about this, please refer to The Properties section below.

Printing

If required, to prevent the line from printing select the Do not print (suppress printing) check box.

Alignment

You can select from the following options:

As drawn - To keep the line as drawn on the page, select this option.
Horizontal - To ensure the line is perfectly horizontally aligned, select this option.
Vertical - To ensure the line is perfectly vertically aligned, select this option.

You have now added a line to your report.

To add a box to your report

Report Designer > Toolbox menu > click Draw Box.

On the document where you want your box to start, click and hold the left mouse button down > drag the mouse to the required size of the box > release the mouse button. If required, use the Dynamic Help pane to change the properties of the box. The following options are available.

The following options are available:

Appearance	To change the border of the box click the Change border button. You can then select the following options: Style - To change the style of the border, from the drop-down list select the required style. Colour - To change the colour of the border, from the drop-down list select the required colour. Width - To change the width of the border, from the drop-down list select the required width. You can choose between 0.25pt and 6pt. Padding - This option is not currently in use. Rounded corner radius - To use rounded corners on your box, increase this value. Drop shadow depth - To use a drop shadow beneath your box, increase this value. To change the background of the box, click the Change background button. You can then select the following options: From the drop-down list, select the style you want to use for the background: Tiled pattern - To use a patterned background for your box, select this option. You can then select the pattern and colours you want to use. Linear gradient - To use a gradient colour, fading from one colour to another in a single direction, select this option. You can then select the colours that you want to use and the direction to use to fade from one to the other. Gradient colour - To use a gradient colour, fading from up to five colours into the other colour selections, select this option. You can then select the colours that you want to use. Tiled embedded image - To use an image as the background for your box, select this option. When you use this option, the image becomes part of the report. If you move, change or delete the original image, the image in the report remains the same. Tiled linked image - To use an image as the background for your box, select this option. When you select this option, Report Designer reads the image from the original location. If you change the original image, the image in the report also changes. If you move or delete the original image, you must insert the image into your report again. Solid colour - To use a solid colour as the background for your box, select this option. You can then select the colour you want to use. NOTE: The size and appearance of the box can also be set within the Properties pane. For further information about this, please refer to The Properties section below..
Printing	If required, to prevent the box from printing select the Do not print (suppress printing) check box.

Appearance

To change the border of the box click the Change border button. You can then select the following options:

Style - To change the style of the border, from the drop-down list select the required style.
Colour - To change the colour of the border, from the drop-down list select the required colour.
Width - To change the width of the border, from the drop-down list select the required width. You can choose between 0.25pt and 6pt.
Padding - This option is not currently in use.
Rounded corner radius - To use rounded corners on your box, increase this value.
Drop shadow depth - To use a drop shadow beneath your box, increase this value.

To change the background of the box, click the Change background button. You can then select the following options:

From the drop-down list, select the style you want to use for the background:

Tiled pattern - To use a patterned background for your box, select this option. You can then select the pattern and colours you want to use.
Linear gradient - To use a gradient colour, fading from one colour to another in a single direction, select this option. You can then select the colours that you want to use and the direction to use to fade from one to the other.
Gradient colour - To use a gradient colour, fading from up to five colours into the other colour selections, select this option. You can then select the colours that you want to use.
Tiled embedded image - To use an image as the background for your box, select this option. When you use this option, the image becomes part of the report. If you move, change or delete the original image, the image in the report remains the same.
Tiled linked image - To use an image as the background for your box, select this option. When you select this option, Report Designer reads the image from the original location. If you change the original image, the image in the report also changes. If you move or delete the original image, you must insert the image into your report again.
Solid colour - To use a solid colour as the background for your box, select this option. You can then select the colour you want to use.
NOTE: The size and appearance of the box can also be set within the Properties pane. For further information about this, please refer to The Properties section below..

Printing

If required, to prevent the box from printing select the Do not print (suppress printing) check box.

You have now added a box to your report.

The Properties Pane

The Properties pane contains all of the options relevant to any object in the report design. The options available depend upon the selected object.

Box properties

The following options are available when a box is selected:

NOTE: To modify an option, select its name. Depending on the option selected, you are presented with a with either a finder button or a drop-down arrow . To change the settings for the option, click the finder button or drop-down arrow. For example, to change the border of a box, from the Properties pane, select Border then click the finder button, choose the required border then click OK.

Style	Apply any required styles to your box.
Border	Choose the border style for the box.
Background	Choose the colour you want for the background of the box.
Print On First Copy Only	To print the box only on the first printed copy of the document, select True. To print the box on all copies select False.
Conditional Formatting	Choose any Conditional Formatting to be applied to the box.
Suppress Printing	To stop the selected object from printing and appearing on the preview choose True or to allow the object to print, choose False.
Visible	To make the box visible, choose True, or to make it invisible, choose False. NOTE: If you choose False, to make the box visible again once you have moved away from it, locate it via the Report Explorer pane then change the Visible property back to True.
Drill Down	Set the Drill Down properties for the box.
Locked	To lock the position of the box, choose True or to unlock the position, choose False.
Name	Enter a design name for the box.
Linked Position	Choose whether you want the position of the box to be linked to another object within the same section.
Linked Dimension Anchor	Shows which dimensions of the box are linked via the Linked Dimension property.
Dimension	To expand the area, click the plus sign. The following options are available: Height - Choose the required Height for the box. Width - Choose the required Width for the box.
Linked Dimension	The element that the object's dimensions are linked to.
Location	To expand the area, click the plus sign. The following options are available: X - Shows the horizontal position of the box within the current section. Y - Shows the vertical position of the box within the current section.
Linked Position Anchor	Shows the sides of the object that are linked to the element specified in the Linked Position property.

Line properties

The following options are available when a line is selected:

NOTE: To modify an option, select its name. Depending on the option selected, you are presented with a with either a finder button or a drop-down arrow . To change the settings for the option, click the finder button or drop-down arrow. For example, to change the style of a line, from the Properties pane, select Line Style then click the finder button and choose the style required then click OK.

Line Style	Contains the style, colour and width of the line.
Print On First Copy Only	To print the line only on the first printed copy of the document select True. To print the line on all copies select False.
Conditional Formatting	Choose any Conditional Formatting to be applied to your line.
Suppress Printing	To stop the selected object from printing and appearing on the preview choose True or to allow the object to print, choose False.
Visible	To make the line visible, choose True or to make the line invisible, choose False. NOTE: If you choose False, to make the line visible again once you have moved away from it, locate it via the Report Explorer pane then change the Visible property back to True.
Drill Down	Set the Drill Down properties for the line.
Locked	To lock the position of the line, choose True, or to unlock the position choose False.
Name	Enter a design name for the line.
Linked Position	Choose whether you want the position of the line to be linked to another object within the same section.
Start	To expand the area, click the plus sign. The following options are available: X - Shows the horizontal position of the start of the line within the current section. Y - Shows the vertical position of the start of the line within the current section.
Linked Dimension	The element that the object's dimensions are linked to.
Linked Dimension Anchor	Shows which dimensions of the line are linked to the element specified in the Linked Dimension property.
Linked Position Anchor	Shows the sides of the object that are linked via the Linked Position property.
End	To expand the area, click the plus sign. The following options are available: X - Shows the horizontal position of the end of the line within the current section. Y - Shows the vertical position of the end of the line within the current section.

NOTE: For help in saving and adding the report to Sage 200 menus, read more.

TIP: If you are viewing this article from the Sage website, a list of Sage 200 Report Designer articles are now available.

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Solution Properties

Solution ID: 200427112322759
Last Modified Date: Fri Nov 24 08:47:26 UTC 2023
Attributes: Product Details
Modules: Report Writer
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