Adobe 38043740 - ColdFusion Standard - Mac Development Manual page 1022

DEVELOPING COLDFUSION 9 APPLICATIONS
Working with Documents, Charts, and Reports
Do not confuse the RDS password with the ColdFusion Administrator password, which you also manage through
the ColdFusion Administrator.
Specifies whether to prompt for an RDS password each time you use the Query Builder. If
Prompt for password
you select this option, leave the User Name and Password fields blank.
Designate a default RDS server
1 Open the Preferences dialog box by selecting Edit > Preferences from the menu bar.
Click Server Connection.
2
Select an RDS server from the Preferred RDS Server pop-up menu, and click OK.
3
The Report Builder automatically connects to the specified server when you display the Query Builder or Chart
Wizard.
User interface usage, tips, and techniques
The Report Builder workspace includes the following areas:
• Toolbox: Contains nonvariable elements placed in a report, including text, shapes, images, subreports, and graphs.
To use toolbox elements, click the element, and then drag in the report band to define the element's size. After you
place an element on a report band, you can modify its appearance and behavior by using the Properties panel.
• Alignment panel: Use Control-click or Shift-click to select multiple elements in a report band, and then click the
appropriate alignment icon. You can also use Control+A to select all elements in a report band.
• Report bands: Place toolbox elements, query fields, and calculated fields on report bands. The default report bands
are report header, page header, column header, page footer, report footer, and watermark. Page header, page footer,
and watermark are closed by default; to open them drag one of the adjacent splitter bars. To define additional bands
for groups, select Report > Group Management.
ColdFusion provides three panels that you use to place and format data elements in the workspace:
• Properties panel: Contains display and report characteristics for the selected field. To display the Properties panel,
choose Window > Properties Inspector from the main menu. To change a property value, type or select a new value,
and press Enter. For complete information on properties, see the Report Builder online Help.
• Fields and parameters panel: Contains items for query fields, input parameters, and calculated fields. To display
the Fields and parameters panel, choose Window > Fields and Parameters from the main menu. Use the add, edit,
and delete icons to manage these fields. After you define a field, drag the field name to add the field, its associated
label, or both, to a report band.
• Report styles panel: Contains the styles that you define for a report. To display the Report styles panel, choose
Window > Report Styles from the main menu. Use the add, edit, and delete icons to manage report styles. After you
define styles, you apply them to elements on the report instead of specifying font, font size, and so on, for each
individual element. If your report layout, platform, or font availability requirements change, you can modify the
style to apply the changes throughout the report. Additionally, you can specify a style as the default for the report:
if no other style is applied to an element in the report, Report Builder applies the default style to that element.
The View menu lets you control whether toolboxes and panel windows appear. Also, you can click a window's title to
undock it and drag it to another area of the screen. For example, you can drag all three panels and dock them in the
same window. Report Builder lets you switch between them by clicking the tabs at the top of the window. To redock a
tool window or panel, drag it to the side or corner until a rectangle appears, and then release the mouse button.
For more information, see "Common reporting tasks and techniques" on page 1019 and the online Help.
Last updated 1/20/2012
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