Under Review
Last Updated: 26 Mar 2021 16:36 by ADMIN
Mark
Created on: 21 Nov 2017 17:05
Type: Feature Request
11
Position of report book table of contents to be customisable
I have a requirement for my report book to feature a title page and *THEN* a table of contents for the report book, followed by the report book's content. Currently, the TOC for a report book can only go at the beginning or the end of the book. My requirement required the ability to specify the TOC position more generally.
Here are two possible approaches:

1. Implement the requirement as it is stated by allowing the report book's TOC to be positioned after such and such a report - the nth, or some other means of identification.
2. Honour the TOC for a report book that is nested inside another. I created a 'sub book' with the TOC as its first page and then added this an outer book. Unfortunately, the inner book's TOC was not honoured and the report was skipped.

To my mind, the second suggestion above feels easier to implement (but I am guessing, of course). It certainly would allow just about any combination.
7 comments
ADMIN
Milen | Product Manager @DX
Posted on: 26 Mar 2021 16:36

Hi Mark and all,

I would ask you to review the attached solution so that we are on the same page if the current workings of the Toc + ReportBook cover the described user scenario. I believe that not the internal setup, but the user outcome is the important one. Thanks for your input!

Regards,
Milen
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ADMIN
Milen | Product Manager @DX
Posted on: 23 Mar 2018 13:29
Hi Mark. In this thread you may find an example report setup that fully cover the scenario of a book that has some preamble content and then the ToC part. Please give it a try and write back with your feedback. Thanks!
Mark
Posted on: 19 Feb 2018 12:01
I can’t really see why an example is required. Think of a book. Have you ever seen a book with the table of contents on the front (or back) cover? No. Me either. Instead, the book has an outer cover, which we can consider to be the title page and then – inside the book – we have a table of contents, possibly after a few other pages of preamble. In Telerik reporting this could be emulated by nesting a report book that is configured to contain the TOC on its first page within an outer report book that lacks a TOC. There is *no* requirement for the TOC in the inner book to 'reach out' to the outer book: it simply needs to reference the bookmarks within its owning report book. So: that is my requirement:

1. Keep the current scheme whereby TOC for a report book can be placed at the start or the end of the report book.
2. Keep the current ability to nest one report book inside another.
3. Change Telerik reporting so that the TOC of an inner report book is honoured. This inner report book only has to consider the report book in which it is defined as its 'scope' - there is no requirement to show bookmarks from the outer report book or any sibling report books. At present, TOCs in nested report books are ignored. Page numbers may be an issue - see below.

I suppose the one complication in all of this is page numbering For my requirement it would suffice to restart at page 1 when a child report book with a TOC is found but this will almost certainly prove too restrictive. Perhaps this aspect could also be addressed if it isn't already. That is; when a report or report book is added to an outer report book, then can we specify a continuation or restart of page numbering? I believe this functionality already exists somewhere but I cannot recall specifics.

Mark Ward
ADMIN
Milen | Product Manager @DX
Posted on: 14 Feb 2018 08:10
Hi Mark, did you get a chance to try the provided example?
ADMIN
Milen | Product Manager @DX
Posted on: 13 Dec 2017 09:37
Hi again, thank you for your contribution to the project. Having the exact requirements of your use case, we have prepared an example that should cover it fully (find attached). Please give it a try and share your feedback.
Mark
Posted on: 08 Dec 2017 10:05
My business requirement is simple and - I would have thought - not at all uncommon. Put simply, I need a title page, aka a front cover, that features database-derived values on it - e.g. the name of the fund, the report date, the company name. THEN I need the TOC and then the content. I am using report books to try to achieve this and  I have never seen a book where the TOC is effectively on the cover!
For me, a perfect solution to this scenario would be a report book within a report book. The outer book contains the title page (aka the front cover) and perhaps some extra information on extra pages before the inner book starts. The inner book would then contain the TOC (that refers only to its own content, not that of the outer book) followed by the content proper.
Unfortunately, this did not work as the inner book's TOC is not honoured.
I do not accept that this requirement is in any way odd. Perhaps the ability to fully customise the TOC's position, as I also suggested, would be that way, but to honour the TOC of a nested  report book would give MUCH more flexibility than the schemes already in place, which I do not believe work for me. 
I do not ask that the TOC reaches out to the outer report book. It should refer to its own content only. That is fair and reasonable. It should, of course, retain accurate page numbering, reflecting the TOC's true position in the resulting document.
ADMIN
Milen | Product Manager @DX
Posted on: 08 Dec 2017 09:47
Hi, ToC is a relatively simple concept, with a clear purpose. I will try to explain why we implemented it the way we did for each of the points of the feature request.
1. The report book ToC aggregates all shortcuts from all reports included in the book. We could not find a good reason to place it in the middle of the book. First, it will be hard to find, second, part of its links will lead to the front of the composite report, and part, to the back. Instead, we made the ToC of the report book a full report definition that you can place in front or in the back of the rest of the reports forming the book. Inside this dedicated report, you can put the ToC section Before  / After the ReportHeader/Footer section, which ensures great flexibility of content that can be output before or after the ToC. This covers the described scenario I believe. Does this work for you?
2. Each ToC definition should display the ToC items from the scope it is defined in. If we respect nested report book's ToC, it would only contain the items of the nested book. Such functionality would lead to complexity without bringing much value. Please share a business scenario requiring this functionality that we can discuss further.
And thank you for your input!