Selecting controls in the Report painter

The Report painter provides several ways to select controls to act on. You can select multiple controls and act on all the selected controls as a unit. For example, you can move all of them or change the fonts used to display text for all of them.

Lasso selection Use lasso selection when possible because it is fast and easy. Lasso selection is another name for the method described below for selecting neighboring multiple controls.

To select one control in a report in the Design view:

Click it.

The control displays with handles on it. Previously selected controls are no longer selected.

To select neighboring multiple controls in a report in the Design view (lasso selection):

Press and hold the left mouse button at one corner of the neighboring controls.
Drag the mouse over the controls you want to select.

A bounding box (the lasso) displays.
Release the mouse button.

All the controls in the bounding box are selected.

To select non-neighboring multiple controls in a report in the Design view:

Click the first control.
Press and hold the Ctrl key and click additional controls.

All the controls you click are selected.

To select controls by type in the report:

Do one of the following:
- Select Edit>Select>Select All to select all controls
- Select Edit>Select>Select Text to select all text
- Select Edit>Select>Select Columns to select all columns

To select controls by position in the report:

Do one of the following:
- Select Edit>Select>Select Above to select all controls above the currently selected control
- Select Edit>Select>Select Below to select all controls below it
- Select Edit>Select>Select Left to select all controls to the left of it
- Select Edit>Select>Select Right to select all controls to the right of it

To select controls in a report in the Control List view:

Select View>Control List from the menu bar.
Click a control in the list.
Press and hold the Ctrl key and click additional controls if desired.

Displaying information about the selected control

The name, x and y coordinates, width, and height of the selected control are displayed in the MicroHelp bar. If multiple controls are selected, Group Selected displays in the Name area and the coordinates and size do not display.