User`s guide

13 Create a Report Program

13-26

Create Object Containers

You can use an mlreportgen.dom.Container object to create an HTML container

object, such as a div, section, or article, not otherwise supported by the DOM API

and to simulate HTML format inheritance in Word output.

In HTML output, a Container object generates an HTML element of the type specified

by its HTMLTag property and containing HTML elements corresponding to its DOM

contents. For example, a Container object with the HTMLTag property div and that

contains the text Hello World generates this markup:

<div><p><span>Hello World</span></p></div>

The generated HTML container element has the class and style properties specified

by the Container object StyleName and Style properties, respectively. The rules

of HTML CSS (cascading style sheets) format inheritance assure that the generated

children of the Container object inherit the formats specified by the Container object

Style and StyleName properties. For example, if the Container object specifies red as

its text color and none of its text children specify a color, the text children are colored red.

For Microsoft Word report output, a Container object simulates container format

inheritance, applying the formats specified by the Container object Style attribute

to each child, unless overridden by the child, and then appending the child to the

Word output. The Word output ignores the HTMLTag and StyleName properties of the

Container object.

Tip You can use mlreportgen.dom.Container or mlreportgen.dom.Group objects to

produce collections of document elements.

• Use a container object to apply format inheritance to a set of objects and to create

HTML container elements not otherwise supported by the DOM, such as div, section,

and article.

• Use a group object to append the same content in multiple places in a document

without cloning the group.