Layering report items with images

jleach

Is it possible to layer report items with images in the BIRT Report Designer? Specifically I have an image I need to use which has a lot of whitespace in the center. I'm looking to put a grid in this whitespace to allow me to put additional content in the grid so that it would appear that the image just surrounds it, but actually the entire image (with the whitespace) would just be on a layer under the grid and the content. Can this be done?

I suppose a workaround would be to break the image into four separate images (without the blank center as part of the pieces) and align them so they match up like a frame and then put the content in the empty space in the middle, but I'd rather not have to do this.

Virgil Dodson

You might try using a background image either on the Grid itself or the Master Page, and then creating grid rows and columns so your content fits within the image. If you use this master page approach, you should set your report property to Fixed Layout instead of Auto Layout to get pricise positioning and then set column widths and row heights until it fits nicely. (see screenshot)

If you use a backgroud image on the grid, then position the text using the padding of the text control.

If you are presenting the data as HTML, you might also experiment with using JavaScript to position items. If you name items within a BIRT report design, then you can reference them with the getElementByID javascript method.

document.getElementById('TestTable2').style.position = "absolute";
document.getElementById('TestTable2').style.top = 345;
document.getElementById('TestTable2').style.left = 345;

A put a few examples into a ZIP file enclosed showing these various ways.