We will introduce Free Report – Custom Parent-Child Cell of FineReport reporting tool in this article.In this article we will learn hou to make free report-Custom Parent-Child Cell.

1. Overview

There is a list of Employees in the built-in database with many fields, which are all displayed in a report. If they are displayed on the same row, it appears crowded; if image fields are displayed in a report, displaying both image fields and non-image fields on the same row seriously compromises the visual effect. In this case, the fields can be made into a free report. For example, as the following free report of order statistics shows:

A free report is not as regularly formed as a grid report or a grouping report. It features placing one database record on several rows instead of only one row and displaying records by blocks or by pages to improve the readability and aesthetics of a report.

2. Formation steps

2.1 Create a new workbook and add data set

Create a new workbook and add data set ds1 with SQL statement SELECT * FROM [ORDER].

2.2 Design sample table

A free report is free in format. Just drag data columns to the corresponding cells according to the desired style, as shown below:

2.3 Set parent cell

As data columns are not on the same row, no parent-child cell relation forms automatically. Hopefully, data columns such as Client ID and Order Date can be subordinate to Order ID for extension, while report header and data column header will be copied following the extension of Order ID.

Set the cell of Order ID as the parent cell of cells B1 – B6.Similarly, set the cell of Order ID as the parent cell of cells C3 – C6. Preview is shown above.

Note: Based on the concept of parent-child cell, no additional parent cell is set for cells D3 – E6 as they automatically take cells C3 – C6 as their left parent cells.

2.4 Save and issue reports

For completed templates, refer to %FR_HOME%\WebReport\WEB-INF\reportlets\doc\Primary\FreeReport\Free.cpt.

Click Free.cpt to check template effect online.

For the address of online video in the section of Free Report, please refer to [Free Report].