Text and Image Repetition in Pixel Perfect Reports
Pixel Perfect Reports is a powerful tool for creating reports. One common requirement when designing reports is to repeat text (labels) or images across multiple pages. In this blog post, we’ll examine how easy it is to have repeating elements in Pixel Perfect Reports.
Methods for Repeating Text and Images in Pixel Perfect Reports
In Pixel Perfect Reports, repeating an element such as text or image across pages is straightforward. You select the element by clicking on it. Then, in the property pane, select 'PrintOnEveryPage' from the 'Recurrence' combobox. That’s it! The element will be repeated on every page in the report.
Comparison to SSRS and Crystal Reports
In Pixel Perfect Reports, whether an element, such as text, repeats on every page is a property of the element itself. In other words, you directly set the Recurrence property of the element to control this behavior. This is in contrast to other reporting tools, such as SSRS and Crystal Reports, where such behavior is determined by the section in which the element is located. In SSRS and Crystal Reports, to make an element repeat across pages, you place it in a section such as the Page Header or Page Footer. Since the location of these sections is predefined, this approach heavily restricts where you can place an element that needs to repeat across pages.
For example, it is impossible to repeat an element across pages if the element is in the middle of a page, as sections like the Page Header or Page Footer are located at the top and bottom of the page, respectively. Pixel Perfect Reports, on the other hand, does not have these kinds of constraints because you control the repeating behavior of an element by setting its Recurrence property, regardless of its location on the page.
Conclusion
Repeating an element in Pixel Perfect Reports is straightforward compared to SSRS and Crystal Reports. Not only that, it avoids the constraints found in SSRS and Crystal Reports, which arise from the differences in their mechanisms. Specifically, in Pixel Perfect Reports, the behavior of whether an element repeats on every page is determined by the element’s property, rather than by the section in which the element resides.