Sometimes DataWindow objects contain columns whose data is of variable length. For example, a Memo column in a table might be a character column that can take up to several thousand characters. Reserving space for that much information for the column in the detail band would make the detail band’s height very large, meaning users could see few rows at a time.
The detail band can resize based on the data in the Memo column. If the Memo column has only one line of text, the detail band should be one line. If the Memo column has 20 lines of text, the detail band should be 20 lines high.
To provide a band that resizes as needed, specify that the variable-length columns and the band have Autosize Height. All bands in the DataWindow can be resized, but nested report overflow is supported only in the Detail band. If autosizing would preclude the display of at least one Detail band row per page, other bands cannot be autosized. Autosizing is not supported with the Graph, RichText, OLE, or Label presentation styles.
To create a resizable band in a DataWindow object:
Select Properties from the pop-up menu of a column that should resize based on the amount of data.
Select the Autosize Height check box on the Position page.
Clear the Auto Horizontal Scroll check box on the Edit page.
PowerBuilder wraps text in the Preview view instead of displaying text on one scrollable line.
Repeat steps 1 to 3 for any other columns that should resize.
Select Properties from the band’s pop-up menu.
Select the Autosize Height check box on the General page.
In the Preview view, the band resizes based on the contents of the columns you defined as having their height sized automatically.
When a detail band has Autosize Height set to “true”, you should avoid using the RowHeight DataWindow expression function to set the height of any element in the row. Doing so can result in a logical inconsistency between the height of the row and the height of the element. If you need to use RowHeight, you must set the Y coordinate of the element to 0 on the Position page in the Properties view, otherwise the bottom of the element might be clipped. You must do this for every element that uses such an expression. If you move any elements in the band, make sure that their Y coordinates are still set to 0.
You should not use an expression whose runtime value is greater
than the value returned by RowHeight. For example,
you should not set the height of a column to rowheight() + 30.
Such an expression produces unpredictable results at runtime.
