Activity Summary Layout Tab (1)

Use the Layout tab to set the font, margins, orientation, page size, and other formatting options for the report. (For mailing labels, formatting options are on the General tab instead of the Layout tab.)

The default margins for a report are one of the following:

  • The DPS default margins
  • The default margins set up for you on the Users form in Settings
  • The default margins set on the Reporting tab of the My Preferences dialog box
  • The margins specified in the report file

You can specify different margins for a report, no matter what the default source is.

Contents

Field Description
Unit of Measure

Select the unit of measure, inches or millimeters, to use for the following measurement fields on the report Options dialog box:

  • Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margin fields on the Layout tab.
  • Dimension Width and Height fields on the Layout tab.
  • Left margin for first column and Width fields on the Columns tab.
  • Left margin indent for groups on the Sorting/Grouping tab.
  • Height, Width, Top, and Left fields on the Graph tab.

When you switch from one unit of measure to the other, the measurements that are currently entered or displayed in the measurement fields are automatically converted to the new unit of measure (1 inch = 25.4 millimeter).

Margins

Field Description
Top Enter the margin for the top of the page. Use the unit of measure (inches or millimeters) that you entered in the Unit of Measure field on this tab. If your unit of measure is inches, use decimals for fractions of an inch (for example, 0.75 or 1.20).
Bottom Enter the margin for the bottom of the page. Use the unit of measure (inches or millimeters) that you entered in the Unit of Measure field on this tab. If your unit of measure is inches, use decimals for fractions of an inch (for example, 0.75 or 1.20).
Left Enter the margin for the left edge of the page. Use the unit of measure (inches or millimeters) that you entered in the Unit of Measure field on this tab. If your unit of measure is inches, use decimals for fractions of an inch (for example, 0.75 or 1.20).
Right Enter the margin for the right edge of the page. Use the unit of measure (inches or millimeters) that you entered in the Unit of Measure field on this tab. If your unit of measure is inches, use decimals for fractions of an inch (for example, 0.75 or 1.20).

Report heading

Field Description
Override Heading Dates

By default, DPS uses the starting and ending dates for the accounting period that you selected when you logged in to DPS.

To specify different period dates for the report heading, select Override Heading Dates and enter the dates that you want in the For the Period start and end date fields.

Default Formats

Field Description
Override regional settings If you want to use formatting for numbers or currency amounts for a report that is different than the default formatting in Regional and Language Options in the Windows Control Panel, select the Override regional settings check box and select the culture associated with the format that you want from the drop-down list. If you select a different culture, DPS automatically displays the default formats associated with that culture in the Number, Currency, and Date fields.

If you do not select Override regional settings, the format settings are the settings specified for your computer in Regional and Language Options in the Windows Control Panel.

Number

This field displays the default format for non-currency numbers for the report. This format is the default format for each numeric field on the report.

  • To change the default format, click to open the Format Number dialog box.
  • To change the format for an individual report column, go to the Columns tab, click the Format grid column for the report column, and click to open the Format Number dialog box.
Currency

This field displays the default format for currency amounts for the report. This format is the default format for each currency field on the report.

  • To change the default format, click to open the Format Currency dialog box.
  • To change the format for an individual report column, go to the Columns tab, click the Format grid column for the report column, and click to open the Format Currency dialog box.
Date

This field displays the default date and time format for the report. This format is the default format for each date or date-and-time field on the report.

  • To change the default format, click to open the Format Date dialog box.
  • To change the format for an individual date column, go to the Columns tab, click the Format grid column for the report column, and click to open the Format Date dialog box.
Report language

If you use multiple languages, this field displays the language in which the report will be generated. For standard reports, this field displays the language that you specified when you logged in. For favorite reports or reports for which you select a saved set of options, it displays the language that was active when you created the favorite or the options set.

You cannot use this field to change the language. To generate a report in a different language, do one of the following:

  • Select that language when you log in and then generate the report. (This only applies to standard reports. For favorite reports, the language specified when you created the favorite is used, whether or not it matches the language you selected when you logged in.)
  • Select a set of saved options that you created for that language.
  • Select a favorite version of the report that you created for that language.

Page

Field Description
Orientation Select one of the following options for the orientation of the report on the printed page:
  • Automatic: DPS selects the most appropriate orientation based on the columns you select for the report, the page size, and the margins. If the columns fit across the narrow dimension of the page, DPS uses portrait orientation. If the columns do not fit across the narrow dimension, DPS uses the landscape orientation.
  • Portrait: Select this option if you always want the long dimension of the page to be vertical.
  • Landscape: Select this option if you always want the long dimension of the page to be horizontal.

The Orientation option is available only for reports for which you can select columns.

Size Select the page size for the report. The width and height of the page size that you select in this field display in the Dimension Width and Height fields below the Size field.

When you select the Custom size, the Dimension Width and Height fields are enabled so you can enter a width and height of your choice.

Dimensions (Width and Height) The Width and Height fields display the width and height of the page size that you select in the Size field. The measurements display in either inches or millimeters based on which one you selected in the Unit of Measure field on this tab.

If you select Custom in Size, enter the width and height that you want.

Miscellaneous

Field Description
Font Name

Use this option to change the font for the report. The default font for a report is one of the following:

  • The default font (Arial)
  • The default font set up for your username and password in the Users form in Settings
  • The default font that you selected on the Reporting tab of the My Preferences dialog box
Heading background color Select a background color for the report row that displays column headings. Use this option to make the headings stand out from the rest of the report data, for example.
Use Dashpart Report Layout

Select this check box to generate the report using the special formatting applied when you display a report as a dashpart on your Dashboard.

The following are the main formatting characteristics:

  • The report header information is displayed in the lower-left corner of the final report page.
  • The default font size is applied to the report title, replacing the larger font that is normally used.
  • Page headers and footers are not displayed.

You normally do not use this option except when you want to generate a report as an archive report and you want to display that archive report as a dashpart. When DPS displays an archive report as a dashpart, it does not actually run the report, so it cannot automatically apply the dashpart report layout as it does with other reports. As a result, you must use this option when you generate the archive report if you want the normal dashpart report layout.

Show grid lines on report To generate the report with grid lines separating data fields, select this check box. Some reports are easier to read with grid lines displayed.
HTML Formatting

This check box applies only to memo fields. Select this check box if you want to apply HTML formatting (bold, underlining, colors, and so on) to the contents of all memo fields on a report based on the formatting applied when the text was originally entered in each memo field.

If you do not want to apply HTML formatting for all memo fields, clear this check box to print or display the text in all memo fields without any special formatting. You may want to do this if, for example, the formatting was applied inconsistently during data entry or the formatting is unsatisfactory for some other reason.

Instead of turning on or off HTML formatting for all memo fields on a report, you can turn on or off HTML formatting individually for memo fields. In the grid on the Columns tab in a report's options dialog box, select a memo field and clear the HTML Formatting check box in the grid for it.

Alternate detail background color To generate the report with alternating detail lines against a background color, select this check box. Some reports are easier to read with a color background for every other detail line.
Report Footer Enter the text for the report footer. Do not remove the [version] - [options] portion of the footer. For more formatting options, click Edit to open the Text Editor.