Reports

Reports in a file

A report frame is a word processor with more capabilities. Most importantly, it can have calculations, which are covered in Calculations.

Insert a new report into a file:
  1. Click the insert button.
  2. Select Report.
  3. Click OK.

Most of the basic editing features of a word processor are here, like different fonts, bold, underlined, italic, strikethrough text, and more. Change these text properties by using the toolbar or the properties window.

Reference values from other reports in a file

You can also reference values from other report frames or spreadsheets in your calculations.

Reference a value from another report or spreadsheet:
  1. Start a dynamic equation.
  2. With the equation open, navigate to the value and click it.
  3. Finish the formula and press enter.

You can also use the copy reference tool.

Header and footer

With the Header & Footer tool, you can add either simple or custom headers to your documents.

Basic header and footer

The basic header and footer lets you add simple text in the left, right, and center of the header or footer. You can also insert fields like page number and page count.

Create a basic header or footer:
  1. In a document, select Write>Header & Footer.
  2. Type in the header and footer where you want it on the page (left, center, right).
    • Use the insert button for page number or page count.
  3. Click OK.

You can have multiple lines of text in the basic header, and if the lines of text go over the margin, Blockpad will shrink the lines to fit. To fit more lines of text, change the top margin for the report by selecting the report in the list of top level frames and changing the Margin property in the properties window.

The basic header also allows for a black border around the page.

Insert a page border:
  1. In a document, select Write>Header & Footer.
  2. Select the Show Border checkbox.
    • There are also options to show borders for the header and footer.
  3. Click OK.

Custom header and footer

With the custom header and footer, you can create a customized header with borders and your company logo.

Create a custom header:
  1. In a document, select Write>Header & Footer.
  2. In the dropdown menu, change Basic header and footer to Custom.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Edit the header template like editing a table in Blockpad.
  5. Double click outside the header area to exit header editor.

A few good things to know about the custom header editor:

  • Double click the header to enter the editor, and double click outside the editor to exit.
  • To remove a custom header, enter the editor, click Options in the left of the toolbar, change Custom to Basic header and footer, and click OK.
  • To reset the header template, enter the editor, click Options in the left of the toolbar, select Reset custome header and footer, and click OK.
Editing the custom header

The cells in the custom header act like regular table cells, so besides typing in normal text, you can also press the equals sign and run equations inside.

In addition to normal equations, formulas inside the header can show useful information like page number, page count, or the name of the file. Use the special insert buttons in the toolbar to create equations that reference that information.

Note that you can combine these fields as text inside of an equation using the Concat() function or the plus sign (+) to concatenate.

You also might want to change the Blockpad logo to your company logo.

Change the image in the custom header:
  1. Inside the custom header editor, double click the Blockpad logo.
  2. Click Select File in the window that appears.
  3. Choose the image file you wish to use and click Open.
  4. Crop the image as desired, and click OK.
  5. Now that the image is inserted, adjust the size and spacing using the Height, Width, and Spacing Before properties.

Misc. document formatting

In addition to the basics in the toolbar, there are a number of tools to help you format your documents for better presentation or readability.

Headings for easy document formatting

When you have headings in a document, it's often best to specify them as headings in the program, instead of formatting each line separately. This makes it possible to use tools like table of contents and style rules to format a document without as much manual work.

Create a heading:
  1. In a report, type in the heading.
  2. In the toolbar, use the dropdown to change the paragraph type from paragraph to heading 1.
    • You can also use any other heading option.
Continuous page view

The Collapse Margins property can be set so that page breaks aren't displayed in the document. This is great for documents that will only be viewed on the computer.

Show document without page breaks:
  • While in a Report, select View>Collapse Margins in the toolbar.
Insert page breaks

When you do want page breaks, you can use page break before or page break after to specify where you want page breaks in the document.

Insert a page break:
  1. Go to the paragraph where you want the page break.
  2. Open the properties window.
  3. Under Paragraph, select Page Break After or Page Break Before.
  4. In the dropdown list, select Break.
  5. Click OK.
Break for minimum space

The page break tools also have a Break For Minimum Space option where the page breaks only if the paragraph is far enough down the page (as a percentage).

Using this setting in combination with style rules and headings, you can make a document automatically insert a page break before any heading that's far enough down in a page.

Use style rules to make page breaks that update:
  1. Make sure headings have a Heading paragraph type.
  2. In the toolbar, select Style>Manage Styles.
  3. In the window that appears, click Add.
  4. In the Object Type dropdown, select Heading.
  5. Under Properties, select Page Break Before.
  6. In the dropdown, select Break for minimum space.
  7. Set the desired percentage.
  8. Click OK.
  9. Close the Styles Manager window.
Line spacing

You can edit line spacing using the Line Height, Spacing After, or Spacing Before properties. To do so, select the lines, open the properties window, and change one of the properties mentioned.

Hyperlinks

You can insert hyperlinks that link to other places in the document or to websites, using the Insert Link button in the toolbar.

Insert hyperlink to another place in the document:
  1. Go to the desired hyperlink destination.
  2. In the toolbar, select Write>Copy Reference to Paragraph.
  3. Now, go to where you want the hyperlink.
  4. Click the Insert Link button in the toolbar.
  5. Paste in the address.
  6. Click OK.
Table of contents

Use the table of contents tool to automatically add a table of contents to your documents, based on the headers and paragraphs.

Insert a table of contents:
  1. Ensure headers have a header paragragh type.
  2. In a document, select Write>Table of Contents.
  3. Specify the frame for the table of contents.
  4. Click OK.
Style rules

You can use style rules to control the formatting of different types of content. Specifically for reports, you can change the formatting for all paragraphs or headers. You can also control formatting for dynamic equations.

Create a style rule:
  1. In the toolbar, select Style>Manage Styles.
  2. Click Add.
  3. Under Container, specify which report frame you want the style to apply to.
    • Select Frame Document to apply to the whole file.
  4. Under Object Type, specify the kind of object you want the style to apply to.
      5. Use Paragraph for regular text, Heading for headers, and Dynamic Equation for equations.
  5. Specify the properties you wish to apply to those objects.
  6. Close the Style Manager window.

 

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