How do I set a textbox to multi-line in SSRS? - reporting-services

I have a report with many fields that I'm trying to get down to 1 page horizontally (I don't care whether it's 2 or 200 pages vertically... just don't want to have to deal with 2 pages wide by x pages long train-wreck). That said, it deals with contact information.
My idea was to do:
Name: Address: City: State: ...
Jon Doe Addr1 ThisTown XX ...
Addr2
Addr3
-----------------------------------------------
Jane Doe Addr1 ThisTown XX ...
Addr2
Addr3
-----------------------------------------------
Is there some way to set a textbox to be multi-line (or the SQL result)? Have I missed something bloody obvious?
The CanGrow Property is on by default, and I've double checked that this is true. My problem is that I don't know how to force a line-break. I get the 3 address fields that just fills a line, then wraps to another. I've tried /n, \n (since I can never remember which is the correct slash to put), <br>, <br /> (since the report will be viewed in a ReportViewer control in an ASP.NET website). I can't think of any other ways to wrap the text.
Is there some way to get the results from the database as 3 lines of text/characters?
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Alter the report's text box to:
= Fields!Addr1.Value + VbCrLf +
Fields!Addr2.Value + VbCrLf +
Fields!Addr3.Value

I had an additional problem after putting in the chr(10) into the database.
In the field (within the report) add in:
=REPLACE(Fields!Addr1.Value, CHR(10), vbCrLf)

My data was captured in a SL application, needed this for the field expression
=REPLACE(Fields!Text.Value, CHR(13), vbCrLf)

Hitting Shift+Enter while typing in the textbox creates a line break.

I believe you need to set the CanGrow property to true on the Textbox. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms159116(SQL.90).aspx for some details.

link break do this
chr(10)

Try this one :
= Fields!Field1.Value + System.Environment.NewLine + Fields!Field2.Value

In RDLC reports, you can convert a textbox to placehoder.
Then right click that textbox placeholder, select placehoder properties and select HTML. Then for multiline to take effect, you have to insert <br/> tag between those lines.

Related

SSDT using multiple input fields in expression to create hyperlink

I am building an expression for a hyperlink in SSDT but I am trying to build it with 2 field inputs.
Here is what I started with in the expression box and it works.
="http://s1324.com/Report&Car=Toyota&Model=Celica"
Then i substituted Celica for &Fields!Model.Value and that URL worked. (where Fields!Model.Value = Celica)
="http://s1324.com/Report&Car=Toyota&Model="&Fields!Model.Value
Now i am trying to also substitute the word Toyota for a Car value (where Fields!Car.Value = Toyota) but i cant seem to complete the entire correct url
="http://s1324.com/Report&Car="&Fields!Car.Value"&Model="&Fields!Model.Value
Is there a way to use 2 inputs to create a URL?
Thanks
You've missed the ampersands in the middle part. Try this
="http://s1324.com/Report&Car=" & Fields!Car.Value & "&Model=" & Fields!Model.Value
If you put spaces between operators it's easier to read

Microsoft SSRS: How to make horizontal flowing fill-in text

Apologies if this has been asked before, I did look around but I'm new to SSRS and I might not know the right keywords to find what I'm looking for.
I am trying to make a new report with a couple of sentences like:
The purpose of this report is to determine an academic plan for student __________, by listing all the courses they will take.
I would like this to display in my report "just like" a paragraph of text, except that I would like the blank filled in with the student's name.
I understand how to do "basic" textboxes and how to bind values to them.
But how to I get a textbox that knows to expand horizontally until it reaches the end of the line, and then continues on the next line? If this was HTML (with some binding libraries like Knockout), I'd stick it all in a <p>, like:
<p>The purpose... <span data-bind="studentName" />, by listing ... </p>
You need to use placeholders, they will do exactly what you want.
Create a text box with the full sentence, then at the position where you want the student name to appear, right-click on the actual text and choose 'create placeholder'.
Once the placeholder is visible, right-click and choose properties, then just set the value to whatever you want.
The placeholder is like an inline textbox, you can set it to be the contents of a field or an expression, give it it's own formatting etc...
If you need a field in a text box with static text, you'd put the text in quotes and use the & to combine them
="The purpose of this report is to determine an academic plan for student " & Fields!NAME.Value & " by listing all the courses they will take."
Text boxes don't expand horizontally though. The text will take up as much room in the text box as it can and then will make a new line in the text box - expanding vertically.
Hoping you are using BI Studio to do this.
I am assuming that your underlying query just produces one value called FieldName and your data source is called DataSource. The text will wrap to your textbox but you can add in a vbCrLf if you want to force linebreak. Concatenating strings you can use + or &.
In your textbox make a formula and set it to:
="First part of string "+First(Fields!FieldName.value, "DataSource")+" rest of sentence"+vbCrLf+"more string"

Text Box Formatting

How do I display address values in one row in a Text Box?
Currently values are appear as multiple rows one under another for example:
5,Irivine Place
po box 2345
usa
I'm looking for something like:
5,Irivine Place,po box 2345,usa
If your address is one row in the database then linefeeds must also be being stored. You need to replace these with something else -i.e. a ", " e.g.
=Replace(Fields!Address.Value,VBCRLF,", ")
You would need to get rid of the final ", " in the line so it then becomes:
LEFT(Replace(Fields!Address.Value,VBCRLF,", "),LEN(Replace(Fields!Address.Value,VBCRLF,", ")-2)
Of course you will need to substitute VBCRLF with whatever linefeed character your database is using.

Way to add a calculated number of X's to a form input?

I have certain product codes with varying number of letters/digits e.g. 53HD6J, HH88WBD3 (varies between 5 to 10 letters/digits). In order for our barcode to scan these correctly there has to be 13 letters/digits. I don't want to make the user to input -XXXX after each code but rather have Access calculate the difference between 13 and the length of the code and fill the remaining with a X's. Is this possible either by vba or and expression?
I currently am using about 6 IIFs in one formula to fill remaining blanks with X's but hoping there is an easier way.
I have a form to enter in the batch number (product code). Once that form is submitted it links to a report that is printed. On the report are those batch numbers (53HD6J, HH88WBD3). The spot I want to have this feature is in a text box right next to the codes where Access determines the length of the codes and computes the remaining X's to add. This is in barcode font so this text box is where the 53HD6JXXXXXXX would go. Hope that clears it up!
So I have that part figured out. My problem now is my barcode font reads the text no matter what and translates it still so barcode shows up when the batch number is blank (I have four spots for batch codes to be inputted). So what I had before was =IIf([Text31]="",""&[Text31]&"","") which seemed to work. Hopefully I can continue this with the new formula. If that's unclear let me know.
**(The "" & & "" is so the barcode can be scanned).
My formula was wrong right above with the IIf. I figured it out! Forgot I had used ' Like "*" '. Thanks!
You can do what you want with String() and Left().
Here is an example from the Access Immediate window:
product_code = "53HD6J"
? product_code & String(13, "X")
53HD6JXXXXXXXXXXXXX
? Left(product_code & String(13, "X"), 13)
53HD6JXXXXXXX
Based on the update to your question, I think you can use that approach for the Control Source of a text box where you want to display the "expanded" product code.
Pretend your report has a text box named txtProduct_code where the raw product code, such as 53HD6J, is displayed. And there is a second text box where you want to display that value with the required number of X characters (53HD6JXXXXXXX).
Use this as the Control Source property of that second text box:
= Left([txtProduct_code] & String(13, "X"), 13)
Alternatively, you could make it a field expression in the report's Record Source query.
SELECT
product_code,
Left(product_code & String(13, "X"), 13) AS expanded_product_code
FROM YourTable;

How do I best display CheckBoxes in SQL Server Reporting Services?

One of the many quirks of Reporting Services we've run across is the complete and utter lack of a CheckBox control or even something remotely similar.
We have a form that should appear automatically filled out based on information pulled from a database. We have several bit datatype fields. Printing out "True" or "False" just looks silly, as this is supposed to look like a form that has been auto-filled out, so we want to have a series of checkboxes and labels that are either checked or unchecked.
We are running SSRS 2005 but I'm not aware of SSRS 2008 having added a CheckBox control. Even if it did, we'd need to have an alternative for the time being. The best we've found so far is:
use Wingdings
use images
use text boxes with borders and print a blank/space or a capital X
All three approaches require IIF expression shenanigans.
The Wingdings approach seemed to work acceptably, and was the most aesthetically pleasing except that for whatever reason it didn't always print correctly. More importantly, PDF exports, also for whatever reason, converted all fonts (generally) to Arial and so we got funky letters instead of the Windings dingbats.
Images, being a pixel-based raster, don't do so well when printed along side vector stuff like text. Unless handled carefully, they tend to stretch, pixelate, and do other unprofessional looking things.
While these methods do work (some with limitations as mentioned above) none of them are particularly elegant.
Are we missing something obvious? Not so obvious? Does someone at Microsoft have a good reason why such a control was not provided in SSRS 2000, let alone 2 versions and 8 years later? This can't be the first time this issue has come up...
I, along with others in my shop, have used images, toggling the hidden attribute based on the field value (true or false). We haven't had any problems with blurring or scaling, unless we tried to increase the scale of the image beyond 100% obviously.
Another option I've used is similar to the wingdings idea, but I just use a plain old "X". On our forms at least, it is not uncommon for someone to use an X in a box instead of a check mark, so it looks completely acceptable. Plus, you don't have to worry about strange characters when printing.
As for why Microsoft does not include a checkbox control, I can't answer that as I've been wondering the same thing myself for a long time now.
I just wanna share the idea on this blog. SSRS: How to Display Checkbox on Report
First create a textbox
Then change the font family to Wingdings
Insert an expression on the textbox and write this expressions.
=IIF(Fields!Active.Value,chr(254),"o")
Fields!Active.Value could be anything from your query that should return a boolean value 1 or 0.
Then click Preview and see the checkbox ;)
More styles can be selected on the blog that I shared above.
Here is an example of my output
What I have used to display a check box (or ballot box):
1- create textbox (that will become your check box)
2- change font to Arial Unicode MS
3- in the expression window use:
ChrW(&H2611) for a filled-in checkbox
ChrW(&H2610) for an empty checkbox
Besides the different methods already presented, as of SQL Server 2008 R2 there's a built-in control that can be used for checkbox-alike functionality: the Indicator!
Have a look here for details on how to use it: https://web.archive.org/web/20190916105459/http://blog.hoegaerden.be/2012/08/04/displaying-checkboxes-in-an-ssrs-report/
To be able to use a field of type bit, you'll have to cast it to int first. This can be done either in the dataset query or by adding a calculated field to the dataset.
If you want the NULLs to come up as yellow, then you'll need to build the expression that way so it takes that requirement into account as well.
Here's a possible expression for a calculated field:
=Switch(
IsNothing(Fields!YourBoolean.Value), 50,
Fields!YourBoolean.Value = False, 0,
Fields!YourBoolean.Value = True, 100)
Depending on the meaning of your fields - is False good or bad - you may need to swap the zero and 100.
Another way to do thisd is go to "Placeholder properties" of TextBox and check Html - Interpret HTML tag as styles
Then in the Value - Expression put this line of code for checked:
="<font face=""Wingdings 2"" color=""green"">" & Chr(81) &"</font>" & "some other text"
Or this code sample for unchecked:
="<font face=""Wingdings 2"" color=""red"">" & Chr(163) &"</font>" & "some other text"
This way you can have checkbox and text in the same textbox.
Later edit:
If you are having problem displaying Wingdings 2 on Azure, then use Wingdings.
Apparently it works.
="<font face=""Wingdings"" color=""green"">" & Chr(253) &"</font>" & "some other text"
Or this code sample for unchecked:
="<font face=""Wingdings"" color=""red"">" & Chr(168) &"</font>" & "some other text"
You can also use a string calculated field like "[X]" or "[ ]". It's less pretty than the textbox with border but you don't have to put a specific control for the value and you can fill table or matrix with this.
At least there is some solution for the checkbox. I'm still looking for full justification for my text (In fact I'm looking for another solution than SSRS know).
ACCESS 97 could make this kind of thing but not SQL SERVER 2012.
I think there is a bug with SSRS and embedding font characters above 128 (some thing todo with ANSI encoding). Basically you can use 1-128 fine, the rest show up as tall rectangular blocks.
I like NY's idea of the textbox with a border and an optional X - this sounds simple and effective.
This is building on Dragos Durlut's answer. I don't have a high enough reputation to comment but I can answer...
I needed a checkbox as part of text that is passed as a parameter. The parameter contains HTML and is used in a placeholder set up just like Dragos suggests: HTML - Interpret HTML tags as styles.
Instead of having to switch between the HTML and the strings, you can use the HTML Escape Codes (& + # + CharCode + ; --> ¨)
="<font face='Wingdings'>¨</font> Empty checkbox"
Since mine is a parameter, it just pass in the string:
<font face='Wingdings'>¨</font> Empty checkbox
If you need the checkbox selected, you would pass in either ý or þ instead:
<font face='Wingdings'>ý</font> filled with an x
<font face='Wingdings'>þ</font> filled with a checkmark