Using the Designer Events

The runtime designer uses four main events to control the actions performed by the end user. These events are LayoutChanged, SelChange, StatusChange and ValidateChange.

LayoutChanged

LayoutChanged fires when the designer's layout is changed. The event can be used to monitor changes made to the report layout and update any dependent data such as SQL queries or custom user interfaces. The following list gives a description for the different layout changes.

Setting	Description
ddLCControlMove	0 – A control's position has changed.
ddLCControlSize	1 – A control's size has changed.
ddLCControlDelete	2 – A control has been deleted.
ddLCSectionSize	3 – A section's size has changed.
ddLCSectionDelete	4 – A section is deleted.
ddLCSectionMove	5 – A section is moved.
ddLCReportSize	6 – The report's size is changed.
ddLCControlAdd	7 – A new control has been added to the report.

SelChange

SelChange fires when an item in the designer is selected. The event can be used to identify the selected item by accessing the designer's SelectedObjects property.

StatusChange

StatusChange fires for each change in the status of the designer action. Designer actions represent the commands typically invoked from UI elements such as toolbars or menus. The following list gives a description for all of the actions:

Setting	Description
ddActionFOpen	1 - File: Open.
ddActionFSave	2 - File: Save.
ddActionFPageSetup	3 - File: Page Setup.
ddActionECut	4 - Edit: Cut.
ddActionEPaste	5 - Edit: Paste.
ddActionECopy	6 - Edit: Copy.
ddActionEUndo	7 - Edit: Undo.
ddActionEDelete	8 - Edit: Delete.
ddActionEDeleteSection	9 - Edit: Delete Section.
ddActionEInsertReportHF	10 - Edit: Insert Report Header/Footer.
ddActionEInsertPageHF	11 - Edit: Insert Page Header/Footer.
ddActionEInsertGroupHF	12 - Edit: Insert Group Header/Footer.
ddActionEReorderGroups	13 - Edit: Reorder Groups.
ddActionEInsertField	14 - Edit: Insert Field.
ddActionViewExplorer	15 - View: Report Explorer.
ddActionViewFieldsList	16 - View: Fields List.
ddActionViewPropertyList	17 - View: Property Listbox.
ddActionViewGrid	18 - View: Grid.
ddActionViewSnapToGrid	19 - View: Snap to grid.
ddActionViewFullScreen	20 - View: Full screen.
ddActionViewCodeEditor	21 - View: Script Code Editor.
ddActionFoAlignLefts	22 - Format: Align Control Lefts.
ddActionFoAlignRights	23 - Format: Align Control Rights.
ddActionFoAlignCenters	24 - Format: Align Control Centers.
ddActionFoAlignTops	25 - Format: Align Control Tops.
ddActionFoAlignMiddles	26 - Format: Align Control Middles.
ddActionFoAlignBottoms	27 - Format: Align Control Bottoms.
ddActionFoAlignToGrid	28 - Format: Align to Controls Grid.
ddActionFoAlignCenterInSec	29 - Format: Align: Center Control in Section.
ddActionFoSizeSameWidth	30 - Format: Size controls to the same width.
ddActionFoSizeSameHeight	31 - Format: Size controls to the same height.
ddActionFoSizeSameBoth	32 - Format: Size controls to the same width and height.
ddActionFoVSpaceEqual	33 - Format: Space controls even vertically.
ddActionFoVSpaceIncrease	34 - Format: Increase vertical spacing.
ddActionFoVSpaceDecrease	35 - Format: Decrease vertical spacing.
ddActionFoHSpaceEqual	36 - Format: Space controls even horizontally.
ddActionFoHSpaceIncrease	37 - Format: Increase horizontal spacing.
ddActionFoHSpaceDecrease	38 - Format: Decrease horizontal spacing.
ddActionFoOrderBringToFront	39 - Format: Bring control to the foreground.
ddActionFoOrderSendToBack	40 - Format: Send control to the background.
ddActionFoLockControls	41 - Format: Lock controls size and position.
ddActionFoStyle	42 - Format: Style.
ddActionFoFontName	43 - Format: Font name.
ddActionFoFontSize	44 - Format: Font size.
ddActionFoFontBold	45 - Format: bold.
ddActionFoFontItalic	46 - Format: Italic.
ddActionFoTextAlignLeft	47 - Format: Align text left.
ddActionFoTextAlignCenter	48 - Format: Align text center.
ddActionFoTextAlignRight	49 - Format: Align text Right.
ddActionFoForeColor	50 - Format: Set foreground color.
ddActionFoBackColor	51 - Format: Set background color.
ddActionFoLineStyle	52 - Format: Set line style.
ddActionFoLineColor	53 - Format: Set line color.
ddActionFoBorder	54 - Format: Set border styles.
ddActionFoBullets	55 - Format: Set bullet style.
ddActionFoIndent	56 - Format: Indent text.
ddActionFoOutdent	57 - Format: Outdent text.
ddActionFoUnderline	58 - Underline.

Note: The ExecuteAction method can be used to execute most of the actions above. The items that cannot be executed with this method are items requiring parameters, such as color, font, size and style.

ValidateChange

ValidateChange fires before an item is moved, sized or deleted. This event can be used to control the end user's actions. For instance, this event can be used to prevent the user from removing or moving an important control.

These events can be demonstrated by adding the following to the sample project.

Select the following components from Visual Basic's components list:
Microsoft Windows Common Controls 6.0

Microsoft Common Dialog Control 6.0
Add a status bar to the bottom of frmMain and change its name to sb.
Add a second panel to the status bar and set its AutoSize property to 1-sbrSpring.
Add a common dialog control to frmMain and set its name to cmDLG.

Add the following main menu item to Visual Basic's menu editor:

Caption	&File
Name	mFile

Add the following submenu item to the File menu:

Caption	&Exit
Name	mExit

Add the following second main menu item to the menu editor:

Caption	&Edit
Name	mEdit

Add the following submenu item to the Edit menu:

Caption	&Font
Name	mFont

Modify the projects code to handle the added menu items:

Private Sub mExit_Click()
	Unload Me
End Sub
 
Private Sub mFont_Click()
	'Show the font dialog box
	cmDLG.Flags = cdlCFBoth
	cmDLG.ShowFont
 
	'Updated the selected item(s) with the new font specs
	For x = 0 To ard.SelectedObjects.Count - 1
		ard.SelectedObjects(x).Font.Name = cmDLG.FontName
		ard.SelectedObjects(x).Font.Size = cmDLG.FontSize
		ard.SelectedObjects(x).Font.Underline = cmDLG.FontUnderline
		ard.SelectedObjects(x).Font.Italic = cmDLG.FontItalic
	Next x
End Sub

Modify the prepPreview and prepDeisgner subs to handle the menu items:

Private Sub prepPreview()
On Error GoTo errHndl
'Writes the designer's layout
'to the report so it can be previewed.
ard.SaveToObject rpt
'Saves the report object to the specified style
rpt.Save App.Path & "\sample report.rpx", ddSOFile
'Resets report
rpt.Restart
'Run the new report
rpt.Run False
'Add the report to the veiwer
Set arv.ReportSource = rpt

'Disable menu items in preview mode
mFile.Enabled = False
mEdit.Enabled = False

Exit Sub

errHndl:
MsgBox "Error Previewing the Report: " & Err.Number & " " & Err.Description
End Sub

Private Sub prepDesigner()
On Error GoTo errHndl

If Not arv.ReportSource Is Nothing Then
arv.ReportSource.Cancel
Set arv.ReportSource = Nothing
End If

'Load the saved RPX file into a report object
rpt.Load App.Path & "\sample report.rpx"
'Load the report object into the designer
ard.LoadFromObject rpt

'Enable the menu items in design mode
mFile.Enabled = True
mEdit.Enabled = True

Exit Sub
errHndl:
MsgBox "Error in Design Preview: " & Err.Number & " " & Err.Description
End Sub

Add the following code to the project to handle each of the above events:

Private Sub ard_LayoutChanged(ByVal changedObject As Object, ByVal changeType As DDActiveReportsDesignerCtl.ayoutChangeTypes)
Dim cnv As DDActiveReports2.Canvas
Dim w As Long, h As Long
Dim sLCaption As String

'The following code checks to see if a lable has been added
'If a label is added, it will prompt the user for a caption
'And set the lable's width and height to fit the caption

'Check if a label as been added
If TypeOf changedObject Is DDActiveReports2.Label And changeType = ddLCControlAdd Then
'Get a caption for the label
sLCaption = InputBox("Enter a Caption for the Label", "Enter Caption")

'If no caption is given, use the added object's name
If sLCaption = "" Then sLCaption = changedObject.Name

'Set the added label's caption to the given caption
changedObject.Caption = sLCaption

'Use the canvas object to get a width and height for the caption
Set cnv = New DDActiveReports2.Canvas

'makes sure the canvas is measures with the same font size
cnv.Font = changedObject.Font
cnv.MeasureText sLCaption, w, h

'Change the added controls width and height
changedObject.Width = w
changedObject.Height = h

'unload the canvas
Set cnv = Nothing
End If

End Sub

Private Sub ard_SelChange()
Dim sControl As String
'Following code displays the selected label or field's name,
'Top, left, height and width
If ard.SelectedObjects.Count = 1 Then
If TypeOf ard.SelectedObjects(X) Is DDActiveReports2.Field Or _
TypeOf ard.SelectedObjects(X) Is DDActiveReports2.Label Then
sControl = ard.SelectedObjects(X).Name
sControl = sControl & " Top:" & ard.SelectedObjects(X).Top
sControl = sControl & " Left:" & ard.SelectedObjects(X).Left
sControl = sControl & " " & ard.SelectedObjects(X).Height & _
" twips X "
sControl = sControl & ard.SelectedObjects(X).Width & " twips"
End If
Else
sControl = ""
End If
sb.Panels(2).Text = sControl
End Sub

Private Sub ard_StatusChange(ByVal action As DDActiveReportsDesignerCtl.DesignerActionTypes)
Select Case action
Case ddActionFoFontName
'Enable/Disable the font menu option
mFont.Enabled = ard.QueryStatus(ddActionFoFontName)
End Select
End Sub

Private Sub ard_ValidateChange(ByVal changedObject As Object, ByVal changeType As DDActiveReportsDesignerCtl.LayoutChangeTypes, Cancel As Boolean)
'The following code prevents the end user from deleting the
'Data control
If TypeName(changedObject) = "DataControl" Then
If changeType = ddLCControlDelete Then
MsgBox "You are not allowed to delete the report's data control", _
vbCritical, "Cannot Remove Control"
Cancel = True
End If
End If
End Sub

Save and run the project.