Report Designer

This section contains information about the basic principles of creating reports with the Report Designer.

The screenshot below shows an example of a report template being edited in the Report Designer.

The table below describes the main elements of the Report Designer. For more information, see Report Designer User Interface.

Element	Description
Toolbox	Contains controls that you can add to your report by dragging and dropping its icons onto a report's area.
Design Panel	A surface where a report is being edited. The Report Designer provides a multi-document interface; you can edit several templates at once.
Smart Tag	Most report elements have Smart Tagsthat provide rapid access to the most frequently-used settings.
Tabs	Allow you to switch between different modes. For details, see Designer tab, Preview tab, HTML View tab and Scripts tab.
Report Explorer	Displays the structure of a report in a visual-tree form, which makes the report navigation easier.
Field List	Shows the structure of a report's data source and is used to bind report controls to data.
Property Grid	Used to access and modify properties of a report and all its elements (bands and controls).
Group and Sort Panel	Allows you to quickly perform grouping and sorting operations throughout a report, and visually represents the report's grouping structure.
Scripts Errors Panel	Lists errors found in a report's scripts. Clicking on an error opens the corresponding script section in the Scripts tab.