Displays a multi-line block of text defined within the report.
The text item allows the developer to provide the text as part of the report design. The multi-line data item displays blocks of text retrieved from the database, from a file, or from an expression. The text can be plain text, HTML. The format of the text can be fixed at design time, or can be dynamically selected at run time to match the format of the incoming text.
Text element
The formatting within the text: HTML / plain text
The user can explicitly identify the format of the text using the Content Type property. Or, the user can set the property to "auto", (or omit the property) and BIRT will infer the format from the text itself.
BIRT determines the text format by examining the first few characters of the string. If the first characters are "<HTML>" (in either upper case or lower case), then the string is assumed to be HTML. Otherwise, the text is plain text. Any white space before these characters is ignored. That is, "<html>" and " <html>" are both taken to indicate that the text is formatted in HTML.
An expression that provides the text
The value expression provides the text to display. The expression is most often simply a reference to a query column. But, it can also reference a report parameter, a formula, a special value, a file, or other data item.
Script executed when the element is created in the Factory.
Executed when the element is created in the Factory. Called after the item is created, but before the item is saved to the report document file. See the scripting spec for additional information about this script. Applications should perform visual customization in the on-render script instead.
It is for a script startup phase. No data binding yet. The design of an element can be changed here.
It is for a script startup phase. No data binding yet. The design of an element can be changed here.
Script executed when the element is prepared for rendering in the Presentation engine.
Executed when the element is prepared for rendering in the Presentation engine. Changes made to the element are written to the target output format, but not saved to the report document file. This is the preferred place for visual customizations.