Arrange report components

Applies to: TBM Studio 12.0 and later

TBM Studio R12 provides flexible layout tools for placing and organizing components on a report. Most of these layout tools are in the Format tab:

Select components

At least one component must be selected to activate the commands on the Format tab. To get started, click on the header of the component you wish to modify. By default, the report header displays the name of the component.

A few layout tools require multiple components to be selected. To select more than one component:

In Windows: Hold down the Ctrl key, then click the header of each component you wish to modify.
In MacOS: Hold down the Alt key, then click the header of each component you wish to modify.

Move report components

In a report, you can reposition components.

Click and hold the report component header and then drag the component to a new location.

If you move a component to a position where it overlaps with another component, you can select which components should be in front of the other.

Select the component.
On the Format tab, in the Position & Size group, click either Bring to Front or Send to Back.

Align components

Use the commands in the Align group of the Format tab to control how two or more components appear relative to each other. These commands are active only after you select two or more components in a report.

Select the two or more components you wish to align.
In the Align group of the Format tab, click the alignment options you want.

The Left, Center, and Right commands control the horizontal alignment of the selected components. The Top, Middle, and Bottom commands control the vertical alignment of the selected components.

Resize report components

Resize a report component by dragging the bottom, sides, or corners of a component's border.

Hover the mouse pointer over the bottom, side, or corner of a component's border. The mouse pointer will change to a Resize icon.If the border is hidden, position the mouse pointer anywhere over the component to see its border.
When the Resize icon appears, click and drag the border to change the height or width of the component.

Distribute components

To evenly space components horizontally or vertically in a report, use the commands in the Distribute group. The application uses the outer components to set the boundaries, then distributes the components evenly within the boundaries. If necessary, the application will overlap components.

Make components the same size

To make charts and tables in a report the same size, use the commands in the Match Size group. The application uses the first component you select as the standard and resizes all other components to match. You can resize the width, the height, or both.

Snap to Grid

When Snap to Grid is selected, components will snap to the nearest point on an invisible grid.

Set component position and size with coordinates

To position or size components precisely, use Set Position and Size. Components can be positioned relative to the report window or to a group box.

Both position and size numbers are displayed in pixels. You also can use negative numbers (up to -24 pixels) in the X-position field. This is useful if you want to hide the component's header and move the component to the top border of the group box.

Right-click the component you wish to move, then click Position and Size.
Enter the position and size values (in pixels) you want.
Click Apply to save the changes, and then click OK to close the window.

Set component visibility

You can control whether entire components appear under certain criteria.

Select a component.
In the Advanced group of the Report tab, click Visibility.
The options in the Report Component Visibility box vary, depending on the type of component you have selected.

Options may include:

Component contains data: Will hide the selected component if it does not contain or calculate data.

User's current role is: Allows you to choose specific roles that can view the selected component.

Dynamic text does not evaluate to "hidden": Hides the component if the argument resolves to "hidden."

Example: I want a component to be visible if variance is negative. If variance if positive, set as "hidden."

Printed page settings

To set the orientation and page size for printed reports, and to see the report in Page view, use the Print Layout tools. To learn more, see Print and export reports.