Add/ Delete rows made easier in Report Table

While report users love the formatting options that the Report Table component supports, we, Carousel developers, agree that it isn’t the easiest component to use. It’s heavy and you can’t add rows wherever you want but..., even after all the formatting drudgery the results are spectacular, right? If you are a regular user of the Report Table, one of your pet peeves is likely the inability insert/delete rows or columns without major manual surgery.

The problem of inserting/deleting rows and columns wherever you please is exactly what the DreamFactory Engineering attacked last week. As of today, you can insert/delete rows and columns. All you need to do is open the Report Table properties (double click the Report Table) and go to the "Cell Layout" dialog by clicking the "Cell Layout" button. Select the cell that is part of the row/column you want to add on to (insertions are made to the row/column before the selected cell). When you right click on the cell, you are given four options: Insert Row, Delete Row, Insert Column, Delete Column. Choose the appropriate option. Voila! You are in business and all of your Carousel troubles are over (well, almost).

Please note that doing this retains cell spans as much as possible. In other words, if you are inserting a row in the middle of a cell that colspans three rows, that cell will now colspan four rows. Same goes for row span also. Try it out!

Advanced tips and tricks:
Did you know that when you decrease the rows/columns size using the main dialog of the Report Table properties to delete the end rows, the deleted rows will be remembered by Carousel? If you have custom formatting in the last row of your Report Table and reduce the number of rows, intentionally or by mistake, you can always increase the row number by one to find the row intact. Of course, if that is not what you want, you can always go into the "Cell Layout" section of the properties and use the "Delete Row" to delete the row and make Carousel forget the setting. You got the power to make the Report Table do what YOU want it to do now.

Good luck with your cell formatting!