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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