Label Reports

You can create reports with data arranged in columns and rows to print on label sheets. Let's take a look at how to do this with each type of report.

Page Reports

With Page reports, you can create a label report using a List control and an OverFlowPlaceHolder control. For specifics, check out the Reports Gallery sample. Details are in the User Guide Reports Gallery topic under Page Report, Other folder, TackSeal. In this sample, ActiveReports renders a report in three columns, starting from the top left to the bottom left of the page, then continuing to the second column, then the third.

Note: This is the same as setting the ColumnDirection property to DownAcross in a Section report. See ColumnDirection = DownAcross in the image below.

To change the rendering direction of labels in a Page report, we rearrange the control locations. Here is a sample that renders the report like the AcrossDown example in the image below: download sample report. To change the start point at which to render labels in a Page report, you can add empty records to the data source.

RDL Reports

With RDL reports, you can create a label report using a List control and the Columns property. For specifics, check out the Columnar Layout Reports (RDL) walkthrough in our User Guide. In this walkthrough, ActiveReports renders a report in two columns, from the top left downward, and then from the top of the second column downward.

Note: This is the same as setting the ColumnDirection property to DownAcross in a Section report. See ColumnDirection = DownAcross in the image below.

Although you can't modify the direction that labels render in RDL reports, you can modify the start point by adding empty records to the data source.

Section Reports

With Section reports, you can create a label report by dividing the Detail section into columns or rows using the ColumnCount property of the Detail section. You can set the direction in which to render data using the ColumnDirection property, and even set the space between columns or rows using the ColumnSpacing property. Check out the following topics in our User Guide that show you how to create label reports.

• Reports Gallery (Reports > Section Reports > LabelReport)
• Address Labels

You can set the number of columns using the ColumnCount property. The column width is determined by the margin settings, and the row count depends on the height of each section. You can control the label rendering start point with the LayoutAction property. For example, if you want ActiveReports to start rendering from the fourth label, add code like this.

C#  

public int iSkipLabels = 3;  
private void Detail_Format(object sender, EventArgs e)  
{  
　　if (iSkipLabels > 0)  
　　{  
　　　　iSkipLabels = iSkipLabels - 1;  
　　　　this.LayoutAction = LayoutAction.MoveLayout;  
　　}  
}

VB.NET  

Public iSkipLabels As Integer = 3  
Private Sub Detail_Format(...) Handles Detail.Format  
　　If iSkipLabels > 0 Then  
　　　　iSkipLabels = iSkipLabels - 1  
　　　　Me.LayoutAction = LayoutAction.MoveLayout  
　　End If  
End Sub

For more information, see the LayoutAction topic in our User Guide.