Rave Reports Visual Designer

DataMirrorSection component (TRaveDataMirrorSection) - Report Tab

The "DataMirrorSection" component is a section that will "Mirror" other "Sections" based on the contents of a "DataField".

This component is very flexible since it is mirroring sections. Remember that sections can contain graphics, regions, text, etc.

An example using this "DataMirrorSection" component is included in the RaveDemo project file. This example shows how to have a single report produce different envelope formats when sending to International or US addresses. The template for the international customers includes the country line and is be centered in the envelope while the US format does not have the country line and is offset to the right of center and lower on the envelope.

This example shows several techniques on how to use sections and mirrors. On page 2 there are three sections. Section 3 has the common address lines used by both templates. Section 1 and 2 contain mirrors to Section 3. The International section has the additional country line added in its template. Note, that "remarks" have been added to the page two design and they are not part of any of the sections. The "US Template" and "International Template" are just plain text remark that assist you in the purpose of each section shown.

Once you understand how the master templates were done, go to Page 1, and select the "DataMirrorSection". Notice the "DataView" and "DataField" properties have been set to the field that will be used to select which format template to mirror. To examine that logic, go to the "DataMirrors" property and click on the ellipsis to open the Data Mirror Editor. Select each "DataMirror" item and note the settings in the bottom portion of the dialog box. This example has two "templates", but you can add more to fit more complex reporting needs.

WARNING

Be sure to define one of the settings as a default. If a default is NOT defined and the field value does not match any of the other settings, then the format used will be that set in the mirror property of the DataMirrorSection. You could get unpredictable results or even strange errors with the RAV file since this is usually blank.