Common report header

[ricardojasso]

Hi all,

I have an application with many, many reports. All these reports have the same header (company name, company logo, company address, report date and time, page number, etc.) but each one is independent of the other. They were built by copying one datawindow to another. The problem is if I want to change any aspect of the header I have to change it in each report....

Is there anyway I can define a datawindow that'll contain all the header information that could be shared among all reports? This way if I ever need to change the design of the header (like right now) I would just change one datawindow and have all the reports automatically reflect the change. Sort of inheriting datawindows from a common datawindow which I know can't be done but maybe there's some other way to accomplish this.

Using PB 12.5.

Thanks in advance.

Ricardo

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Ricardo;

  FWIW: That is what Composite and Nested DataWindows were designed to help you accomplish. In either flavour of the composite or nested DW - they are designed to be the "host" (parent) for any number of child DWO's. Thus, you can design a child DW to be a standard report heading and then add this to any composite or nested DW parent in their header band.

  Many of my Canadian Government clients use the above approach to accomplish what you asked. It works very well IMHO.  

HTH

Regards ... Chris

[ricardojasso · Accepted solution]

Thanks Chris. Great suggestion. I'll try that.

Ricardo

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Tip: An External DW makes a great common header. You can just use a SetItem() method to load things like the Title, User, Report Name, Company, etc. That will then repeat on every page.

  Also, you can use the same child DW (external if you wish) approach in the Footer band to display common footer information.

  You can even extend this approach to Group Break DW's where a child DW can be placed in the Group Header band.

  Your imagination is your guide and yet, the child DW's are your standard templates.  

[Former Member]

You can also create objects using Modify()

I seem to recall having a routine that would move objects in the header band down, expand the header band appropriately then create the objects for printing. Similar footer band for page numbering etc.