Dynamic columns in RS reports

I have to design a report that will have a dynamic number of columns, in a
dynamic order.
For example: items and a selection from their attributes
ITEM Attr 1 Attr 2
Attr3 Attr 4
I1 5 Realy large text
........................................ Short text
12305
etc...
I know the matrix is used to obtain dynamic number of columns, but the
problem is that the columns in matrix have the same width
and i need different column widths (for text attributes and numeric
attributes for example), and the column width can have only numeric
(and fixed) values - i mean you can put there a function call..
Is there any way other than generating the rdl at run time to obtain such
dynamic table ?
Thanks in advance for any advice.This is not really feasible as far as I can tell, in the way you are
asking.
You can't set column width dynamically, which sounds like a big problem
for you.
But you may be able to get some way towards it if you compromise a
little.
In terms of no. of columns, you'd need to set a maximum number, make
sure you always return that number in the dataset even if they contain
nulls you can then allow for the maximum in your report and just hide
or show them as needed. You'd have to do it this way because you will
be referring to the columns with a field name and the report validates
that those fields will be returned when it renders.
You can then hide table columns or text boxes in a list control based
on the number of columns you're expecting that scenario. You could have
several table columns geared to one dataset column, all set differently
according to data type, then hide the columns that you don't need based
on whats returned in the query.
Chris
Razvan Popov wrote:
> I have to design a report that will have a dynamic number of columns,
> in a dynamic order.
> For example: items and a selection from their attributes
> ITEM Attr 1 Attr 2
> Attr3 Attr 4
> I1 5 Realy large text
> ........................................ Short text
> 12305
> etc...
> I know the matrix is used to obtain dynamic number of columns, but
> the problem is that the columns in matrix have the same width
> and i need different column widths (for text attributes and numeric
> attributes for example), and the column width can have only numeric
> (and fixed) values - i mean you can put there a function call..
> Is there any way other than generating the rdl at run time to obtain
> such dynamic table ?
> Thanks in advance for any advice.|||Thank you for your suggestion. But my problem is a little worse than that:
I don't have a maximum number of columns (the user can add attributes and
select them into the report at runtime).
And if i set a maximum number of X columns as constraint. I don't know which
will be the X attributes the user selected to
be displayed into report and for that I have no way of presetting the width
of the columns (which should be dependent on attribute type)..
I have as the last option to generate dinamically the RDL (or parts of it)
but this is prety complex solution and i would like to be sure that there is
no
simpler solution before i start coding such scenario...
Thx
"Chris McGuigan" <chris.mcguigan@.zycko.com> wrote in message
news:u%23XoXUncFHA.2436@.TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> This is not really feasible as far as I can tell, in the way you are
> asking.
> You can't set column width dynamically, which sounds like a big problem
> for you.
> But you may be able to get some way towards it if you compromise a
> little.
> In terms of no. of columns, you'd need to set a maximum number, make
> sure you always return that number in the dataset even if they contain
> nulls you can then allow for the maximum in your report and just hide
> or show them as needed. You'd have to do it this way because you will
> be referring to the columns with a field name and the report validates
> that those fields will be returned when it renders.
> You can then hide table columns or text boxes in a list control based
> on the number of columns you're expecting that scenario. You could have
> several table columns geared to one dataset column, all set differently
> according to data type, then hide the columns that you don't need based
> on whats returned in the query.
> Chris|||Razvan,
You've got a pretty complex scenario, I think you're going to need a
complex solution!
It sounds like you're developing a form of end-user report builder?
Have you taken a look at Cizer (www.cizer.com) or Report Builder in
SQL2005?
Chris
Razvan Popov wrote:
> Thank you for your suggestion. But my problem is a little worse than
> that: I don't have a maximum number of columns (the user can add
> attributes and select them into the report at runtime).
> And if i set a maximum number of X columns as constraint. I don't
> know which will be the X attributes the user selected to
> be displayed into report and for that I have no way of presetting the
> width of the columns (which should be dependent on attribute type)..
> I have as the last option to generate dinamically the RDL (or parts
> of it) but this is prety complex solution and i would like to be sure
> that there is no
> simpler solution before i start coding such scenario...
> Thx
>
> "Chris McGuigan" <chris.mcguigan@.zycko.com> wrote in message
> news:u%23XoXUncFHA.2436@.TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> > This is not really feasible as far as I can tell, in the way you are
> > asking.
> > You can't set column width dynamically, which sounds like a big
> > problem for you.
> >
> > But you may be able to get some way towards it if you compromise a
> > little.
> > In terms of no. of columns, you'd need to set a maximum number, make
> > sure you always return that number in the dataset even if they
> > contain nulls you can then allow for the maximum in your report and
> > just hide or show them as needed. You'd have to do it this way
> > because you will be referring to the columns with a field name and
> > the report validates that those fields will be returned when it
> > renders.
> >
> > You can then hide table columns or text boxes in a list control
> > based on the number of columns you're expecting that scenario. You
> > could have several table columns geared to one dataset column, all
> > set differently according to data type, then hide the columns that
> > you don't need based on whats returned in the query.
> >
> > Chris|||Thank you for your help..
If i find any solution simpler than generating rdls dynamically i'll post it
here..
Razvan