Overview of the new features in List & Label 11:

Subreports / Multi Tables

With the support of sub reports / multi tables and therefore the option to connect database tables, almost any print layout can be achieved within the Designer. According to combit, this function has been one of the most eagerly awaited customers’ wishes. Even complex projects can now be easily designed, which means there is a huge range of applications. For example an invoice that includes data from six different tables, or a list of all customers, that shows the corresponding orders and positions as well. Equally, the hierarchical structures also allow to display, for instance, the corresponding order data for each order detail.

With .NET all this is supported automatically. For Delphi, Visual Basic and many other languages, combit’s developers added the necessary adaptations. Additionally, unbound data such as class arrays or similar can be used, too.
To design tables precisely, developers and end users can now create additional tick marks within the ruler area, and lock the table separators at those marks. The project wizard is now able to handle these new hierarchical structures. This will be of great help even when creating large and complex projects.

Aggregate functions, NULL Values

One of the new features to have been added to handle data are the new aggregate functions. Aggregate functions allow users to analyze whole data rows easily, as well as being able to create sums, averages, minima, maxima, and so on. Regarding the aggregate functions, the support of NULL values is a very interesting feature as well. List & Label now allows NULL values to pass and additionally offers the corresponding functions for analysis.

Extended .NET Component

To guarantee the report generator being up to date as usual, the complete database implementation and other areas of the .NET component have been revised. In addition to the automatically supported feature "sub reports" there are a lot of other examples which benefit from these improvements. According to combit, performance has increased, too – so List & Label saves time and improves workflow wherever possible.

A further significant advantage is the fact that NULL values are now passed on type safe, if a corresponding database scheme is available. Thanks to the implementation of the new "ExportOptions" collection, the developer can now set the export options at an arbitrary point in time, prior to the printing process. If desired, the print processes silently in databound mode, without even displaying a progress bar. The new context sensitive online help precisely lists properties, members etc. and makes them easily accessible. This guarantees ideal assistance and a quick start.

More Comfort for Data Output

The print option dialog now offers enhanced options to choose different printing ranges. As well as the new range specifiers (for example "1-3"), the options "even" and "uneven pages" are also available. The support of "page 1/n" saves time for the end user. Until now the developer was forced to determine the number of pages by using a two-pass technique prior to printing or outputting to an export format. With version 11, List & Label supports "page 1/n" directly. The result is an easier and faster output.

Enhanced Convenience for the Designer

There are even more Designer features that make life easier and save time for the end user. The new property editors facilitate the handling of important properties, which are used very often, as for example formatting and frames. This reduces the number of steps required for these frequent parts of the workflow or even makes them redundant. On the one hand projects become clearer, on the other hand the end user convenience increases. This makes the Designer easy to access even for beginners.

The new frame editor manages the activation and deactivation of frames by just one mouse click. Furthermore, most objects now support frames and the individual kind of frame can be determined quickly and easily, at the user's discretion.

Excel Export, Aztec Barcode, RTF Export

The Excel export has been optimized regarding criteria like quality, usability of the results within Excel and especially speed. It is now possible to save 85% of typical former printing time. Additionally, the number of cells required in each direction has been decreased by 40-50% which results in clearer layout and reusability.

List & Label already contains a really wide variety of barcodes – now combit also included the Aztec 2D barcode (Professional Edition), which is a highly optimized, fault-tolerant system. RTF export has improved, too, as line and elliptic objects become shapes, the size of files is smaller and the resulting file looks like an exact model down to the last detail.

Further new features

The preview has been enhanced with new controls for zoom selection and for the choice of the current page. It is possible to reach it with just one mouse click. Text can be rotated within table columns. This is very helpful especially if you need longer titles for narrow columns, because you no longer need to shorten or break the title.
With the enhanced dialog, it’s now possible to process conditional page wraps before group headers to reach a better optical impression. Everyone who uses line definitions will be happy to have the option to suppress single lines within the Designer.

Basic Information List & Label 11

Report Generator combit List & Label

With combit List & Label, software developers equip their applications with reports, forms, lists, diagrams, labels, mail merges and export functions by using just a few lines of code. List & Label consists of two logical parts, the printing engine and the Designer, which can be redistributed without any further royalties when using the Professional Edition.
The report generator for comprehensive reporting functionalities as well as Web reporting is available in German or English and manages nearly all character sets. Both editions of List & Label can be used with most programming languages. The Standard Edition runs at EURO 509 / USD 524, the Professional Edition at 834 Euro / 858, including VAT ID. (Based upon exchange rates from July 08, 2005. Exchange rates may vary which could cause a change in the USD price.)