RE: [libreoffice-users] Variable field height in LO Base reports

I found a way to do this manually.   It works the easiest when your details fields are stacked 
vertically, with maybe legends on the left, since these will each become a  table row in the final 
report.  I assume you want fields to wordwrap exactly enough so that their content cell is only as 
big as it needs to be to contain the exact text.

STEPS:  
1. View the report.  It should give you a read-only view in LibreOffice Writer.  (I haven't tried 
this with the Calc view.)

2. Click the Edit File button (the button with the pencil symbol).

3. Do an Edit | Select All (twice to get the entire table selected).

4. Click the Optimize button (the one in the Table toolbar with the check mark).  Select the 
Optimize Row Height case (the symbol of a row with arrows pointing up and down).

5. This procedure should take all of the cells that had the red pointer showing there is more text 
and expand their row vertically such that all of those cells show the full text and it is 
word-wrapped as appropriate.

I suppose one could come up with a script/macro do this in one step.  

It will depend very much on your Details layout in the report design to have this work.  I had a 
details of just two fields, one over the other (ID was one, Big Text was the other - a no-brainer 
demonstration).  The fields are each only one line high in the form design.   The idea is to expand 
the fields selectively as needed using the table optimizer, not the report design.

 - Dennis


-----Original Message-----
From: Chad Neeper [mailto:cneeper@level9networks.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 08:00
To: users@libreoffice.org
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] Variable field height in LO Base reports


On Tue, 2011-05-24 at 19:56 -0400, Chad Neeper wrote:

> I'm investigating the feasibility of using LO Base again after a
>
> My first roadblock to printing the reports I need is that I can't seem 
> to find a way to make a memo or text field with a variable height. I 
> have several fields that contain anywhere from a few to hundreds of 
> characters spanning several lines. If I'm forced to create a field in 
> the report that is big enough to display all of the largest entries, 
> I'll be needlessly blowing through reams of paper. I'm sure there must 
> be a way to create a variable height field which will grow to fit the 
> data that needs to be displayed and I'm just not finding it.
On 5/25/2011 1:53 AM, Dennis E. Hamilton wrote:
> I'm not sure how this works through the LO Base user interface, but I have some clues from the 
> ODF 1.2 Committee Specification 01 on what to look for.
>
> The only structure I'm aware of that allows variable height (other than the text flow of a 
> document itself) is the<draw:text-box>  element.  You can specify a minimum height and a maximum 
> height.  There must be a set maximum if there is a minimum (there's no setting that establishes 
> no maximum).
>
> The<draw:text-box>  must be within a<draw:frame>  in your report (which is essentially a 
> LibreOffice Writer document embedded in the Base).  The<draw:text-box>  can contain a paragraph 
> that has some content derived via a<text:database-display>  element.

> The two questions I can't answer, not using Base myself, are (1) what of the above is supported 
> in the LibreOffice Base implementation and (2) if it is supported, what are the UI ceremonies to 
> exploit the provisions in the design of a report presentation.
>
> I see Object Resizing as a formatting option in the Oracle Report Builder, but I have not found 
> something for which those provisions are not greyed out.
I've been Googling pretty extensively and as best I can determine, it looks like this feature has 
been documented and requested, but has not yet been implemented in Oracle Report Builder.

http://openoffice.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=77605
http://osdir.com/ml/openoffice.dba.user/2007-11/msg00055.html
http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=93373

It also looks like, while S/ORB has improved considerably, it's still not quite robust enough for 
what I need. *sigh* So close! Maybe I'll check back in a couple of major revs!

Thanks, all.
______________________________
*Chad Neeper*
Senior Systems Engineer

*Level 9 Networks*
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

/Full LAN/WAN consulting services -- Specialized in libraries and schools/


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