Design View
Use Design view to arrange report items in the report. Design view is sometimes called the design surface or layout view.
Report Design Surface
The design surface consists of three sections: report body, page header, and page footer. Use the Toolbox to select items to place in any of these three sections. Use the Report Data pane to view images, parameters, data sources, and datasets, including dataset queries and field lists. After you add report items to the design surface, drag dataset fields from the Report Data pane onto data regions such as table, matrix, or list. Each item on the report design surface contains properties that can be managed using a properties dialog box or the Properties pane.
Toolbox
The Toolbox lists data regions and other report items that are available for your report. To add report items from the Toolbox, double-click the item or drag it to the design surface. You can then change the shape and size by using the object handles.
Report Data Pane
To view the Report Data pane, on the View menu, click Report Data. Use this pane to define parameters, images, data sources, and datasets, and to reference built-in fields such as ReportName. To add a new item, click the New menu and select an item. To add calculated fields to an existing dataset, click Dataset, and in the Dataset Properties dialog box, select Fields. Select an item and click Edit to open the Properties dialog box. You can also right-click items in the Report Data pane to add items or update their properties.
Drag items from the Report Data pane to data regions and text boxes on the design surface to add data and images to a report.
For more information, see Report Data Pane.
Grouping Pane
Groups are used to organize your report data into a visual hierarchy and to calculate totals. Use the Grouping pane to view the groups defined for a table, matrix, or list data region. By default, the Grouping pane displays all the groups for the selected data region as a flattened list. The Grouping pane is disabled for Chart and Gauge data regions.
To see the groups in relationship to one another, toggle the Grouping pane to Advanced mode. This mode displays the hierarchy of group members, a visual display of cells in the data region that correspond to each group.
For more information, see Grouping Pane.
Page Header and Page Footer
A page header and page footer run along the top and bottom of each page, respectively. Headers and footers can contain static text, images, lines, rectangles, borders, background color, and background images. To add report items to the header or footer, right-click the design surface and select Header or Footer. Header and footer sections appear on the design surface.
Properties Pane
Use the Properties pane to view properties for the currently selected report item on the design surface or the currently selected group in the Grouping pane. Alternatively, you can right-click on a selected report item or group and then click Properties to open the corresponding Properties dialog box for the report item or group.