iReport Ultimate Guide - Nimsoft Library

iReport Ultimate Guide• Working with Images• Working with Text• Other Elements• Adding Custom Components and Generic Elements5.1 Working with ElementsThe elements are presented in a palette, usually located in the top right portion of the main window (see Figure 5-1).Figure 5-1Tools paletteTo insert an element in a report, drag the element from the palette into a report band. The new element will be created with astandard size and will appear in the Report Inspector. To select the element, click it in the designer or in the Report Inspector.You can adjust the element position by dragging it; to modify its size, select it then drag a corner of the orange selection frame.Figure 5-2Suggested alignment with other elementsWhen dragging or resizing an element, iReport suggests places to align it, based on the elements already in the design pane,the band bounds, and (if present) guidelines.To obtain greater precision in the movement, use the arrows keys to move the element one pixel at a time; similarly, using thearrow keys while pressing the Shift key moves the element 10 pixels.If you need reference points to position and align elements in the page, you can turn on the grid in the design pane by selectingthe menu item View → Report Designer → Show Grid.To force the elements to snap to the grid, select View → Report Designer → Snap to Grid.64