PDF Export - incorrect order of elements/texts even for a simplest report

PDF Export - incorrect order of elements/texts even for a simplest report

Posted by: mlk20 on 29 September 2022, 4:55 am EST

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  mlk20

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  Posted 29 September 2022, 4:55 am EST - Updated 30 September 2022, 4:19 pm EST

  Hi,

  Please see attached SimpleReportWithSubReport.rpx, SimpleReportWithSubReport.pdf (report exported to pdf) and SimpleReportWithSubReportPdfSecection.gif (video showing how selection in PDF behaves).

  SimpleReportWithSubReport contains only two TextBoxes and a subreport between them (subreport contains the third Textbox).

  After the report is merged and exported to PDF…

  1. It is impossible to select the text by natural way (from top to bottom). Selection behaves in a strange way.

  2. If you copy all the text and paste it into notepad - the texts sequence is incorrect:
     
     TEXT BEFORE (IN MAIN REPORT)
     
     TEXT AFTER (IN MAIN REPORT)
     
     TEXT IN THE MIDDLE (INSIDE SUBREPORT)
     
     instead of the correct sequence:
     
     TEXT BEFORE (IN MAIN REPORT)
     
     TEXT IN THE MIDDLE (INSIDE SUBREPORT)
     
     TEXT AFTER (IN MAIN REPORT)

  3. If you use screen/text reader for the PDF, it is read out loud incorrectly so such a PDF cannot be used by end-user with visual disabilities.

  How can we achieve the correct/natural order of elements/texts for exported PDFs?

  Thank you

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  mlk20

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  Posted 29 September 2022, 4:57 am EST

  And attachment with report and pdf.SimpleReportWithSubReport.zip

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  akshay.rajput

  

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  Posted 30 September 2022, 8:20 am EST

  Hi,
  
  As per my understanding this is a design limitation for exporting reports. The exported document renders the objects in the same hierarchy as they are in the rendered report or the report document itself which is why you are seeing this behavior.

  However, I have still asked the development team for this so we can confirm if any think can be done at our end to change this behavior [AR-29478]. I will get back to you once I have any updates on the same.

  Regards,
  
  Akshay

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  mlk20

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  Posted 7 October 2022, 6:31 am EST - Updated 7 October 2022, 6:36 am EST

  Any update?

  If this is the root cause: “exported document renders the objects in the same hierarchy as they are in the rendered report or the report document itself”, then it looks like this is NOT working as it should. No matter how internal contents of the report are managed… At the end, the document MUST be filled from top to bottom to allow successful/correct export. See also attached gif, that shows another functionality that does NOT work correctly - searching inside the merged (RDF) report - because of incorrect fields sequence.

  Either the sequence of elements in RDF should be corrected or these functionalities - “Search” and “Export to PDF” - must be corrected, so they work correctly ( irrespective of the elements sequence).
  
  

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  akshay.rajput

  

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  Posted 10 October 2022, 7:12 am EST

  Hi,
  
  I have discussed with the development team on this. Unfortunately, this is a limitation in ActiveReports.
  
  We have escalated this issue to the Project Managers and this is currently under discussion. I will let you know once there is any update on this.

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  mlk20

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  Posted 29 November 2022, 3:44 am EST

  Hi,

  Is there any update from Project Managers?

  Thank you.

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  akshay.rajput

  

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  Posted 1 December 2022, 4:24 am EST

  Hello,

  I have asked the team for an update on this limitation. We are expecting to get an update from them by Monday. I will get back to you with an update on the same as soon as possible.

  Thank you for your patience.

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  mlk20

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  Posted 6 December 2022, 1:47 pm EST

  Any update from the team?

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  akshay.rajput

  

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  Posted 7 December 2022, 12:08 am EST

  Hello,

  We have an update on this enhancement request, and I have a message from the team for you: “Sorry, unfortunately, this behavior is a limitation of our rendering engine for now. It is possible to change but would require some very significant changes to the rendering engine that could cause performance issues and a plethora of other unexpected issues. This would be a major task that we can’t take on right now, but we will add it to the backlog and consider looking into this deeper sometime in the future. Thank you very much for your feedback, and I apologize that I couldn’t give you better news.”

  Apologies for the inconvenience. As mentioned above we currently do not have any plans to execute such a change but we have added it to the backlog.