Report Studio

Reusing a Layout Object

You can save time by reusing layout objects that you add to a report instead of re-creating them. For example, you have a multiple-page report and you want to show the company logo in the page header of each page. Insert the logo once and reuse it on all other pages.

To Reuse a Layout Object:

Click the object that you want to reuse.

Note: To quickly select the parent of an object, click the object, and then click the select ancestor button in the title bar of the Properties pane.
In the Properties pane, in the Name property, type a value beginning with a letter to uniquely identify the object and press the Enter key.
To reuse the object in another report, open that report.
In the Insertable Objects pane, on the toolbox tab , drag the Layout Component Reference object to the location where you want to reuse the object.
In the Component Location box, do the following:
Click This report to reference an object in the current report.
Click Another report to reference an object in another report, click the ellipses (...), and open the report you want.

In the Available components to reference box, click the object you want and click OK.
Click the referenced object.
In the Properties pane, click the Embed property and specify how to store the referenced object in the report:
Click Copy to store a copy of the object.
The copy is not automatically updated if the source object is modified.
Click Reference to store a reference, or pointer, of the object.
The reference of the object is automatically updated if the source object is modified. For example, if you open or run the report, you see the modified object.

A copy or reference of the object appears where you placed the Layout Component Reference object. If a source object is changed, you can update reused objects.

Note: You can also create a new report or template and add all the objects you want to share. All your shared objects then reside in a single location, like a library.