As with any tutorial – it is always recommended to read through the tutorial first, and then perform the steps of the tutorial.
In this tutorial we will go through the steps to customize the sample AVERY 5160 Address Label report template.
First we will remove the Company datafield so the company name no longer displays when printing. Then we will add the Company datafield onto the template so it does display when printing
It is recommended that you review the Report Designer Features topic before proceeding if you have not yet done so
| 1. | In Addressinator!, click on the menu item File, then click on Report Designer |
| 2. | This will open up the Report Designer screen - no report template is yet selected so the Design Panel is empty |
| 3. | Select menu File -> Open (or the menu Open on the toolbar) |
or 
| 4. | Select the report AVERY 5160 Address Label that we want to customize |
| 5. | The report template opens in the designer |
| 6. | The sample report template AVERY 5160 Address Label that comes with the default installation of Addressinator! displays four lines of data for each contact that is printed - these were placed onto the template by dragging from the Fields tab, or from a specific script to display combined fields together. You are encouraged to review the other report template tutorials to get further review of report designing with Addressinator! |
| 7. | If we select the Preview option at the bottom of the Design Panel, we will see how this report presently prints. |
| 8. | Return to the Designer Panel by selecting the Designer option at the bottom |
| 9. | Now we will delete the existing Company datafield from the report template so that it no longer displays the company name - even if the contact has a company name entered. |
| 10. | Use your mouse to click on the [ACOMPANY] datafield - note how the field is highlighted when it is selected |
| 11. | Now right-click on this highlighted field and select Delete |
| 12. | The datafield is now deleted |
| 13. | Select the Preview option at the bottom again - see how the company name no longer displays |
| 14. | If you now save and exit out of the report designer, this report template will now no longer show the company name. But in this tutorial, we will also show how to add a datafield onto an existing report template |
| 15. | Return to the Designer Panel by selecting the Designer option at the bottom |
| 16. | You may want to expand the screensize of the report designer, or change the size of the tabs on the left by click and dragging to the right |
| 17. | Now select the Field List tab which shows a list of all possible datafields that can be displayed on a report template from a contact |
| 18. | Click and drag the ACOMPANY datafield and drop it onto the design panel above the combined title,first,last name field |
| 19. | Now you are going to want to move this so that it does not overlap the field below it, as well as stretch the field (for long company names) |
| 20. | I find it a lot easier to see what the size and height is of the other field and than make it the same |
| a. | click on the combined field below |
| b. | click on the Properties tab which will show the properties of that field |
| c. | expand the Size property |
| 21. | Now we know that the other field has a width of 242, and a height of 18 - so we can either use our mouse to click and drag and change the size of the Company datafield, or we can directly change its field's property |
| a. | Select the Company datafield again |
| b. | Expand the Size property for it |
| c. | change its width Size property also to 242 and its height also to 18 |
| d. | tab off |
| e. | we now have to move it so that it does not overlap outside of the design panel |
| f. | Click on the datafield with your mouse and drag it to the left till it is no longer overlapping the edge |
| 22. | If you print preview, you will see that the Company field has a border and is left justified whereas the other fields do not have a border, and are centered. |
| 23. | Again, it is suggested to view the properties of the field that you do want to emulate - see what is different about it compared to the Company datafields property |
| 24. | So we will edit the properties for the Company datafield so it too has a BorderWidth of 0 and a TextAlighnment property of TopCenter |
| 25. | Now when you print preview the company name will display for contacts that have a company name entered |
| 26. | Save the report template and exit |
Congratulations! You just completed your first customization of a report template. We highly encourage you to try many things in the report designer. It is suggested that you export report templates to a file as a backup if you will be making a lot of changes, so that if a report template goes haywire from testing and trying out different things, you can easily import back in the original - refer to the Report Designer section on how to export and import a report template for further details.