Banded List

A Banded List report item is a data region that visualizes the bound data by producing a series of sections called bands. A band is the container for data visualizers such as a TextBox or Image arranged in a free-form layout fashion.

You can use the banded list to build a Banded Report. Visit the Get Started With Banded Reports tutorial for more information.

Adding a Banded List

You can add a Banded List into a report by either double-click the corresponding item in the toolbox or drag-and-drop it to a report page area.

Banded List Designer

The following diagram depicts the default structure of the banded list designer that appears if you click anywhere inside its bounding box.

General Banded List Configuration

You can use one of two methods to load the general banded list configuration into the properties panel

• Select the banded list item in the report explorer.

• Click the Root handler in the banded list designer.

The general configuration includes Base Report Item properties, Common Style Properties, Data Region properties, Visibility, Page Break, and the following specific properties.

• If a banded list starts at the bottom of the page, then its header band could appear by itself. You can turn on the Prevent Orphaned Header switch to move a "lonely" header to the next page so that it appears together with other sections.

• Sometimes the footer band could appear by itself on the top of the page. You can turn on the Prevent Orphaned Footer switch to move a previous section to the next page so that it appears together with a "lonely" footer.

• The Keep together flag determines whether a banded list always appears on a single page if it fits.

• The Consume White Space flag indicates whether banded list sections that can shrink in size should eliminate the whitespace.

Banded List Sections

The banded list consists of sections called bands. Several band types serve different purposes but share common properties. You can click the Band Handler in the banded list designer or anywhere inside the bounding box of a band to load its configuration into the properties panel.

• The Height is the vertical size, in length units, of a band at the design-time.

• The Action property determines the interactive action that occurs when a report reader clicks within the space occupied by a band.

• The Can Grow flag indicates whether a band can increase its height at preview-time to accommodate growing content, such as a long text.

• The Can Shrink flag indicates whether a band can shrink in height if there is more available space than the content takes. This property works together with the Consume White Space flag.

• The Keep Together flag indicates whether a band always appears on a single page if it fits.

• The Page Break property determines the location of page breaks generated by band instances.

  • None - no page breaks are generated.

  • Start - each band instance inserts the page break before displaying the content.

  • End - each band instance inserts the page break after displaying the content .

  • StartAndEnd - the combination of the Start and End options.

• The Visibility configures a band's static or dynamic visibility.

Header

The Header appears at the beginning of a banded list. Also, if its Repeat On New Page switch is on, it prints on every page taken by the banded list content. You could use the header band to display the title or the logo of a banded report. For instance, the Get Started with Banded Reports demo contains the Employee Directory textbox in the header band.

Group Header

The Group Header appears at the beginning of a group instance. Also, if its Repeat On New Page switch is on, it prints on every page taken by the banded list content. You could use the group header band to display the group's field value or summary value. For instance, the Get Started with Banded Reports demo groups employees by the department name and has the group header that prints on every page and contains the {DepartmentName} textbox.

Details

The Details section repeats for each bound data set record that passed through the data set filters and data region filters. For instance, in the Get Started with Banded Reports demo, the details band displays the name, title, email, phone and photo of each employee.

If a banded list has the grouping configured, then the details bands appear between the header and footer of the enclosing group instance.

Group Footer

The Group Footer appears at the end of a group instance. Also, if its Repeat On New Page switch is on, it prints on every page taken by the banded list content. You could use the group footer band to display summary values. Also, you could turn on the Print At Bottom switch to ensure that the group footer always prints at the bottom of the page.

Footer

The Footer band appears at the end of a banded list. Also, if its Repeat On New Page switch is on, it prints on every page taken by the banded list content. You could use the footer band to display grand totals. Also, you could turn on the Print At Bottom switch to ensure that the footer band always prints at the bottom of the page.

Banded List Grouping

The banded list allows you to group Details bands by one or multiple criteria. For instance, the Get Started with Banded Reports demo groups the employee list by the department name. We recommend using the Group Editor in the banded list designer to configure grouping.

Adding Groups

You can use one of two methods to add a banded list group.

• Right-click the <Details> text in the Group Editor and select the Group -> Insert Group item in the context menu.

• Drag and drop a field that you want to group by from the Data panel to the Group Editor.

Insert child or parent groups

You can arrange data in a banded list with several nested groups. For instance, in the Get Started with Banded Reports demo, employees within each department could be grouped by the job title.

To insert a child group, right-click the parent group name in the Group Editor and select the Group -> Insert Group item in the context menu. Alternatively, you can drag-and-drop a field from the data panel to the group editor that indicates the position of a newly added group relative to existing groups with the <New Group> placeholder.

Also, you could delete a group or remove or add its header or footer by using the corresponding items of the context menu.

Group Configuration

The Group Editor enumerates group names that you can click to load their configuration into the properties panel.

• The Group Name is the group Id that displayed in the group editor.

• The Group Expressions is the collection of bound field references or more advanced expressions. Distinct values of group expressions generate Group Instances that consist of optional Group Header and Group Footer and the Details bands. For instance, the Get Started with Banded Reports demo has the {DepartmentName} group expression. Consequently, the banded list generates 17 group instances.

• The Label expression determines the text of a group instance link in the Report Map. The Get Started with Banded Reports demo uses this property.

• The Filters Editor allows you to filter out certain group instances. For example, if we want to exclude the Sales department from the Get Started with Banded Reports demo's output, then we can add the following filter for the DepartmentName group.

• The Sort Expressions is the collection of items that allows you to sort group instances. Each item consists of the expression and the sort direction. For example, in the Get Started with Banded Reports demo, we could sort the DepartmentName group instances in ascending or descending alphabetical order by using the {DepartmentName} sort expression and required sort direction.

Group Layout Configuration

• If a group instance starts at the bottom of the page, its Header band could appear by itself. You can switch on the Prevent Orphaned Header flag to move "lonely" group headers to the next page so that they appear together with the first Details band of the group instance.

• Sometimes, the Group Footer band could appear by itself on the top of the page. You can switch on the Prevent Orphaned Footer flag to move the last Details band of the group instance to the next page so that it appears together with a "lonely" group footer.

• The Keep together flag ensures that the group instance always appears on a single page if it fits.

• The Page Break property determines the location of page breaks generated by group instances.

  • None - no page breaks are generated.

  • Start - each group instance inserts the page break before the Group Header or the first Details band.

  • End - each group instance inserts the page break after the Group Footer or the last Details band.

  • StartAndEnd - the combination of the Start and End options.

  • Between - each group instance starts on the new page. The Get Started with Banded Reports demo uses this option.

• The Visibility property determines static or dynamic visibility of group instances.

• The New Section flag determines whether each group instance has its page numbering. Check the Global References documentation for more information.