Under Review
Last Updated: 13 Jun 2014 10:34 by ADMIN
Kevin
Created on: 08 May 2014 18:13
Type: Feature Request
3
Custom Control Properties
We have developed additional logic around the Telerik Reporting Engine so I don't know if this would be valuable to anyone else or not but I would love to have the ability to associate custom properties to a control.  

The use case that comes to mind most is the logic we have implemented to auto size text that displays on a report to fit in the area provided.  We use a control naming scheme to determine what controls should be auto sized and how they should be sized in relation to other parts of the report.  It is typically assigned used with a Panel, a TextBox, or an HTMLTextBox.

I would love to have the ability to add two associate two additional properties to these controls that could be used in the stand alone designer to allow users to set an AutoSize (true / false) and a SizingGroup (string) property on these controls rather than worry about making sure the control is named properly.  I would allow users to more easily leverage this functionality.

I realize that it is unlikely that this will be implemented since it wouldn't be widely used but I like to dream.
3 comments
ADMIN
Nasko
Posted on: 13 Jun 2014 10:34
Hello Kevin,

If you would like to share a sample of your solution with us, so we can see if the approach is applicable in general in the Reporting Engine, please open a new support ticket and send us the information and samples there. We will be happy to review them and will let you know if it is possible to implement such solution in our product.
Kevin
Posted on: 12 May 2014 16:06
As I mentioned I know this is very specific to my situation and is unlikely to ever make it into a release but I thought I would put it on your radar on the off chance someone else could benefit from something similar.

The reason why we implemented auto sizing functionality for the reports that we are creating is because we are developing labels that may contain large amounts of regulatory required statements that all have to be squeezed onto a single page.  We didn't want to have to design the labels for the worst case scenario (for example always have a 6 point font when a 12 point font would work).  

The logic that was developed allows a sizing container (Panel, TextBox, or HtmlTextBox) to be specified by adding a known suffix to the control name.  The sizing container determine the bounds for the text that needs to be displayed and we define a minimum and maximum font size setting in our database.  The logic works by scaling text proportionally compared to all of the fonts specified in the sizing container starting from the maximum font size and dropping a point size each time until it is determined that it will fit.  In the event that the minimum font size is reached then it scales the fonts accordingly and allows the control to grow as it normally would.

The naming scheme allows us to identify the sizing containers by looking for any control that has a name that ends with "_autosize".  We then also allow a number to be added to the suffix to separate different controls into groups.  Each group that exists is sized proportionally to each other so if one group requires a smaller font size then all groups will use that font size.

If you would like to consider adding a standard implementation for auto sizing text we would be happy to share the logic that we developed.  In that case though I would probably prefer to submit it through a support ticket.
ADMIN
Nasko
Posted on: 12 May 2014 14:39
Hello Kevin,

Thank you for your feedback.

Note that this is very specific functionality and we have to also consider the demand for it before we start the research and development process. In the meantime, it will be greatly appreciated if you share more details about your approach, how you implement the auto sizing using the naming scheme, and what is the purpose of such solution.