Managing columns/rows in a table

Cells in a table are organized into columns and rows. You can resize, insert, and delete columns/rows, convert between group and detail columns, and specify to show or hide certain columns in a table.

Note that some operations on table rows and columns are achieved by first selecting a table cell, and you may find that sometimes, a cell is entirely occupied by a field or label, and it is difficult to select the cell, in which cases, you need to first resize the field or label or the cell and then click the blank in the cell so as to select it.

Resizing a column/row

You can take one of the following ways to resize columns/rows of a table:

• To resize a column, drag the boundary on the right side of the column to the required width. If the boundary is not the rightmost one, the column width will change, but the total width of the table will not change. If you want to change both the column width and the table width, press the Shift button on the keyboard while dragging. To resize a row, drag the boundary below the row to the required height. Both the row height and the table height will change. If you want to change just the row height, press the Shift button on the keyboard while dragging the boundary, which is not the last boundary.
• Select a table cell, right-click it and then select Row Height or Column Width from the shortcut menu to access the corresponding dialog. Type a value in the dialog, click OK, and the height/width of the row/column in which the cell is located will then be changed according to your specification.
• Select the column/row, right-click it and select Column Width/Row Height from the shortcut menu. In the Column Width/Row Height dialog, type a value in the text box and click OK. The width/height of the column/row will then be changed according to your specification.

Inserting a row

1. Select a cell or a row in the table, right-click it and then click Insert on the shortcut menu.
2. In the Insert dialog, specify where the row will be inserted, above or below the selected cell.
3. Click OK. A new row will then be inserted into the table according to your selection.

Inserting a column

A table can have the following types of column: common column, summary column, detail column and group column. You can insert any type of column into a table as you want.

To insert a common column:

• Select a cell in the table, right-click it and click Insert on the shortcut menu. In the Insert dialog, specify where the column will be inserted, before or after the selected cell, then click OK. A new common column will then be inserted into the table in the position you specify.
• Select a column in the table, right-click it, then on the shortcut menu, click Insert > Common Column. A new common column will then be inserted before the selected column.
• Select the table, right-click it, then on the shortcut menu, click Insert > Common Column. A new common column will then be inserted as the last column in the table.

To insert a detail/summary column:

1. Select the table or a column in the table, right-click it, then click Insert > Detail Column/Summary Column on the shortcut menu.
2. In the corresponding insert column dialog, specify the resource you want to use for the new column.
3. Click OK. A new detail/summary column will then be inserted. However the position to which the column will be inserted differs according to where the shortcut menu is accessed. If you use the column shortcut menu to insert the column, the new column will be placed before the selected column; if you use the table shortcut menu to insert the column, it will be placed after the last detail/summary column, or as the last column in the table when there is no detail/summary column.

To insert a group column:

1. Select the table or a column in the table, right-click it, then click Insert > Group Column on the shortcut menu. The Insert Group Column dialog appears. See the dialog.

   

2. In the Resources box, select the field you want to use for the new group column and click to add it as the group by field, then specify the sorting direction of the newly added group in the Sort column, and if the type of the added field is Numeric/String/Date/Time, select a special function for the field from the Special Function column as required (for details, see group the data).
3. Specify the position of the group by field: Group Above, Group Left Above, or Group Left.
4. Repeat the above two steps to add more group columns if required.
5. Click OK to insert the group columns.

   The next time when you open the Insert Group Column dialog to add more group columns, all the added group by fields will be listed in the dialog. You can choose to remove or edit them if required.

Converting a column

You can convert a group column into a detail column, and vice versa.

• To convert a group column into a detail column, select the group column, right-click it, and select Convert to Detail from the shortcut menu, then the conversion is done.
• To convert a detail column into a group column:
  1. Select the detail column you want to convert, right-click it and select Convert to Group from the shortcut menu. The Select Group Position dialog appears. See the dialog.

     

  2. Specify the position for the newly converted group by field.
     • Group Above
       Specifies to place the group by field in its own row above the detail columns.
     • Group Left Above
       Specifies to place the group by field in its own row and column above and left of the detail columns.
     • Group Left
       Specifies to place the group by field in its own column left of the detail columns.
  3. Click OK to save the changes.

  Note: A detail column cannot be converted to a group column in the following two conditions:

  • The field bound with the detail column is also added as group by field at the same time.
  • The field bound with the detail column is unable to be used as group by field.

Showing certain columns

1. Right-click the table and select Show Column from the shortcut menu. The Show Column dialog appears. See the dialog.

   

2. All the columns in the table are listed, with text in cells of the table header row representing corresponding columns. By default, the columns are listed according to their order in the table. Check Auto Sort if you want them to be listed alphabetically.
3. Check the checkboxes ahead of the columns you want to show.
4. Click OK to accept the changes.

Hiding a column/row

To hide a table row, select the row, right-click it, and select Hide from the shortcut menu.

To hide a table column, you can use any of the following methods:

• Select the column to be hidden, right-click it, and select Hide Column from the shortcut menu.
• Select the table, right-click it and select Show Column from the shortcut menu. In the Show Column dialog, uncheck the column to be hidden.
• Select the cell in the table header, which is in the column you want to hide, right-click the cell and select Hide Column from the shortcut menu. If the table has more than one header row, use the header in the first row to access the Hide Column command.

Deleting a column/row

1. Select a cell which is in the column/row to be deleted, right-click it, and then select Delete from the shortcut menu.
2. In the Delete dialog, select Column or Row.
3. Click OK. The column or row will then be deleted from the table.

Besides, you can also select the specific column or row to be deleted, right-click it and select Delete from the shortcut menu to delete it.