4. Page setup and bands

This chapter explains how a page is built: the page size and margins, the six bands, and how content grows and breaks across pages. Read it before designing a document that can run longer than one page.

Page size, orientation and margins

Open the Report tab, section Page.

1. Choose a Size: Letter (8.5 × 11 in), Legal (8.5 × 14 in), Tabloid (11 × 17 in), A3, A4, A5, B5 or Custom.
2. Choose an Orientation: Portrait or Landscape.
3. For Custom, type the Page width and Page height. Example: a 4 × 6 in thermal label is 288 × 432 pt (enter 4 and 6 with units set to inches).
4. Set the Margins (top, right, bottom, left).

Warning: Most office printers can't print closer than about 0.25 in (6 mm) to the paper edge. Thermal label printers usually can print to the edge.

Tip: Set Designer → Units on the Report tab to the unit you think in. Positions are always stored in points, so changing the unit never moves anything.

The six bands

 ┌───────────────────────────── page ─────────────────────────────┐
 │  (top margin)                                                   │
 │ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
 │ │ PAGE HEADER      repeats at the top of pages (fixed height) │ │
 │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │
 │ │ REPORT HEADER    once, at the start of page 1               │ │
 │ │ BODY             flowing content: grows, continues on the   │ │
 │ │                  next page when it runs out of room         │ │
 │ │ REPORT FOOTER    once, after the body ends                  │ │
 │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │
 │ │ PAGE FOOTER      repeats at the bottom of pages (fixed)     │ │
 │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
 │  (bottom margin)                                                │
 │ BACKGROUND: behind everything, positioned from the page corner │
 └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Turning bands on and off. On the Report tab, section Bands, check or uncheck each band. A switched-off band takes no space and prints nothing. Its elements are kept, so you can switch it back on later.

Resizing a band. Drag the band's bottom edge on the canvas, or select the band (click an empty spot in it) and type its Height in the Properties tab.

Choosing which pages a header or footer prints on

Select the page header or footer (click an empty spot in it). In Properties, or on the Report tab, choose Print on:

Note: A header or footer set to First page only or All but the first takes space only on the pages where it prints, so the body uses the free space. Last page only and All but the last keep the space reserved on every page, because the engine doesn't know which page is last until the document is finished. The band is blank on the pages where it doesn't print.

Example: different headers on page 1 and the following pages. Enable both the page header and the report header. Put the full letterhead (logo, addresses, barcode) in the Report Header. Put a compact title and the "Page X of Y" in the Page Header with Print on: All but the first. Page 1 shows the full letterhead, and every page after it shows the compact header.

How content flows: growth and push-down

In the Report Header, Body and Report Footer, some elements can grow taller than you drew them:

• Text with Stretch to fit content turned on grows to fit its wrapped lines.
• Tables grow by one row per data item.
• Repeaters grow by one block per data item.

When an element grows, everything below it moves down by the same amount, like a word processor. Elements to its left or right are not affected:

 Designed:                         Rendered (table has 30 rows):

 ┌──────────────┐ ┌───────────┐    ┌──────────────┐ ┌───────────┐
 │ Ship from    │ │ Carrier   │    │ Ship from    │ │ Carrier   │
 └──────────────┘ └───────────┘    └──────────────┘ └───────────┘
 ┌──────────────────────────────┐  ┌──────────────────────────────┐
 │ Items table (3 rows drawn)   │  │ Items table                  │
 └──────────────────────────────┘  │ … 30 rows …                  │
 ┌──────────────┐                  │                              │
 │ Total weight │                  └──────────────────────────────┘
 └──────────────┘                  ┌──────────────┐
                                   │ Total weight │  ← pushed down
                                   └──────────────┘

The rules, precisely:

1. An element is pushed down by the growth of the elements above it that overlap it horizontally. An element that sits to the side of a growing table stays where it is.
2. When an element has nothing above it in its own column, it moves with the largest growth of everything above it, so the rows of your layout stay in order.
3. Pinned elements (Behavior → Pinned (not pushed down by growing elements)) never move. Use this for an element that must stay at an exact spot in the band.
4. Rotated elements don't grow.

Tip: To draw a box around a growing area, don't put a fixed rectangle behind a growing table, because the rectangle doesn't grow. Use the table's own Grid lines and borders, or the text element's Borders, which grow with the content.

How page breaks work

The body area of a page runs from just below the page header to just above the page footer. When the next element doesn't fit in the space left on the page:

The content then continues at the top of the next page's body area, and the elements after it keep their spacing.

Forcing a page break. Drag a Page Break from the Insert tab into the Body at the point where a new page should start. It shows as a dashed PAGE BREAK line on the canvas. Content below it starts on a new page. Page breaks work only in the Body.

Tip: To start each group of a grouped table on a new page (for example one page per zone on an inventory report), don't use page breaks. Use the table's Start each group on a new page option (Tables).

Page numbers

Add Page No. from the Insert tab, or type the variables into any text:

Page {{page}} of {{pages}}

page is the current page number and pages is the total. They work in any band. In a batch (see Records), they restart for each copy of the document.

The background band and watermarks

The Background band covers the whole page and is positioned from the page corner, ignoring the margins. It is drawn first, so all other bands print over it.

Example: a "COPY" watermark.

1. On the Report tab, under Bands, check Background.
2. Add a Text to the background band, type COPY, and set Font size (pt) to 120, Bold, and a light gray Text color.
3. Set Rotation (degrees) to -45 and Opacity (%) to 15. Center it on the page.
4. To print it only on reprints, set Visible if to isReprint. Your system then sends "isReprint": true for copies.

Note: The license watermarks (Licensing) are separate. The engine adds them on top of everything, and they can't be changed in the designer.

Worked example: a multi-page pick list

A pick list for a large wave can run to several pages. A good setup:

1. Page Header (All pages): the title "Pick List", the wave number with a Code 128 barcode, and Page {{page}} of {{pages}}.
2. Report Header: wave details (warehouse, zone, picker, release time).
3. Body: a repeater or table of pick lines, sorted by location.
4. Report Footer: totals and the "Picked by / Checked by" signature boxes.
5. Page Footer: the print date.

When the pick lines run past page 1, the lines continue on page 2 under the repeated page header. The signature boxes print once, after the last line. Open the built-in Pick List template from the gallery to see this setup.