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In a page report, you can create a master report that you apply to any number of content reports to keep common styles in one easy-to-maintain location. See Master Reports for more information.

To design a master report

These steps assume that you have already added a Page Report template and connected it to a data source. As the Master Report feature is available in Continuous Page Layout (CPL), convert your report to this layout, in case you have a Fixed Page Layout (FPL) open.

See the topics, Adding an ActiveReport to a Project and To Convert an FPL to CPL in Exploring Page Reports for further information.

1. With focus on the report, from the Report Menu, select Convert to Master Report to create a master report.
2. Right-click the ruler area to the top or left of the report and choose Page Header, then Page Footer.
3. From the toolbox, drag and drop controls in the page header and footer. These controls that appear on every page of every report to when you apply the master report. For e.g., an image of the company logo, or a textbox with the company Web site address.
4. From the toolbox, drag and drop a ContentPlaceHolder control to the report. This control defines where you want to allow controls to be placed on content reports that use the master report.

   Add a ContentPlaceHolder

   A ContentPlaceHolder control appears in the toolbox when you convert a CPL report to a Master Report. This control provides the region to use for creating or designing a content report after applying a master report template. Use the following instructions to add the ContentPlaceHolder control in the master report.

   • From the toolbox, drag and drop the ContentPlaceHolder control onto the report design surface.
   • Right-click the control and from the context menu that appears, select Properties to open the properties window.
   • Set the following properties for the ContentPlaceHolder control.
     

     Property	Description
     Location	To position the control with respect to the top left corner of the container.
     Size	To set the control size for determining the space available to design a content report.
     Text	To add instructive text for the user. E.g. "Design your content report here". This caption appears in the design view and not the final output.

5. With the report selected, go to the Report menu > Save Layout.
6. In the Save As dialog that appears, navigate to the location where you want to save the report and click Save to save the report in the rdlx-master file format.  

To use a master report

These steps assume that you have already added a Page Report template and converted it to a CPL report. This report functions as a content report.

1. With focus on the report to which you want to apply the master report, from the Report menu, select Set Master Report.
2. In the Open dialog that appears, navigate to the location where you saved the master report and open it. The master report layout is applied to the content report with all areas locked except for the region with the ContentPlaceHolder, which is available for use.

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