Drawing on Report, i.e. arrows, circles, rounded rectangles

[Warren]

I need to be able to draw special shapes on a report. Such as, arrows and
rectangles with rounded corners. I am using Access to print labels and signs.
I curently create images in another app and use them in the report. Very
sloppy. I am using Access 2000. Are there any special objects / Active-x
controls to do this?

Thanks,

[Tom Wickerath]

Hi Warren,

Here is a KB article that shows you how to draw a circle on a report:

How to Use the Circle Method on a Report
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/210365/

Perhaps you can draw 1/4 circles as needed, to achieve the rounded corners
effect. I dunno.

Tom Wickerath
Microsoft Access MVP

http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/expert_contributors.html
http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/search.html
__________________________________________

[Warren]

That works great to print a circle, but there is no method on the report
object called Rectangle. Plus you can not see what you are drawing withot
previewing the report. I am looking for an active-x control that will do this

Thanks for the input

[Tom Wickerath]

Well, you can have fun attempting to draw rectangles by using horizontal and
verticle lines. But you're right, you cannot see the progress in design view
if you are needing to set lengths programmatically. One thing that might help
is to know that 1440 twips is one inch.

I don't know of any such ActiveX controls, but you might start your search
by checking out Stephen Leban's site, DBI Technologies and/or FMS:

http://www.lebans.com/
http://www.dbi-tech.com/products.asp
http://www.fmsinc.com/products/components/index.html

[James A. Fortune]

Given your requirements you might want to check out:

PDF Layout Viewer
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.ms-access/browse_frm/thread/62f56b4d96ab9a82

Other posts related to pdf layouts:

Extracting image data for pdf streams
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.ms-access/browse_frm/thread/2614e0667214b24

Rounded Rectangles
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.ms-access/browse_frm/thread/9687fb0bd81cb879

Image Inclusion
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.ms-access/browse_frm/thread/af7b66c7798e973

Circles
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.ms-access/msg/035d7bafb2efed4c

Multipage PDF
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.ms-access/msg/1b176f58cab46186

The pdf files are created entirely from Access without using a printer
driver or an external dll. I have created programs that place data from
Access forms onto multipage pdf layouts. When the user is satisfied
with the pdf file, the data can be posted to an Access table for future
reference or regeneration. For your situation I think the layout viewer
(and maybe image inclusion) will be enough when combined with the
drawing commands given by Adobe to handle most needs for a sign. Labels
take a little more skill, but I've done similar things. Note in
particular that MediaBox and CropBox options allow for variable sizes
(including huge sizes) and orientation. The latest pdf specification
includes information about how to include 3D objects that can be
rotated. I will be looking at that and perhaps also the alpha
transparency and image masking options in the future. It's very
exciting to work on those capabilities but I need to smack some
alligators before draining those swamps.

James A. Fortune
MPAP...@FortuneJames.com

[James A. Fortune]

Warren wrote:
> Plus you can not see what you are drawing withot
> previewing the report. I am looking for an active-x control that will do this

Oops. I didn't see this before I posted. Ignore my previous post.

James A. Fortune
MPAP...@FortuneJames.com