Delphi. How do I position a Rectangle in a Rave Report around a virtual cell derived from a String Grid

something like this:

function TForm1.RvSystem1PrintPage(Sender: TObject; var PageNum: Integer):
    Boolean;
var
  iCol, iRow : Integer;
begin
  with Sender as TBaseReport do
    ....
    iCol:= 5;
    iRow:= 5;
    Rectangle( GetTab(iCol).Pos,
               iRow*LineHeight,
               GetTab(iCol).Pos + GetTab(iCol).Width,
               (iRow+1)*LineHeight
              );
 end;
end;

I am not 100% sure how you are thinking of implementinh this function with the rest of my program.  What role does PageNum in the Function parameters play?

I subsequintly used your code section inside my report building procedure.  Although I can see what your thinking is here, the report comes out very wrong as per the attached picture.  Above the red line, the String Grid and below, the resulting report.  This is what my code looks like:

        CellText := ReportStringGrid.Cells[iCol, iRow];

        if iCol = 0 then
        SetFont('Arial', 8)
        else
        SetFont('Arial', 10);

        if CellText = '' then
        Begin
          PrintTab('  ' + chr(7));
        End
        else
        Begin
          if ReportStringGrid.Cells[iCol, iRow] = '[   ]' then
          Begin
             Rectangle( GetTab(iCol).Pos, iRow*LineHeight,
             GetTab(iCol).Pos + GetTab(iCol).Width,
             (iRow+1)*LineHeight );
          End
          else
          PrintTab(ReportStringGrid.Cells[iCol, iRow]);
        End;
      End;
      NewLine;

Also, I would like to replace the large dots in the empty cells with a smaller dot.  chr(7) is all I can find that works, is there a better way to do this?
Cell-Borders-In-Rave-Report.png

as I thought you asked about about absolute coordinates, but if you draw a rectangle whilr printing text it would be better to use current y pos like this:

          ....
          if ReportStringGrid.Cells[iCol, iRow] = '[   ]' then
          Begin
            Rectangle( GetTab(iCol+1).Pos,
                              YPos - LineHeight,
                              GetTab(iCol+1).Pos + GetTab(iCol+1).Width,
                               YPos );
            PrintTab(''); // print nothing to go next tab
          End
          else
          ....        

>> Also, I would like to replace the large dots in the empty cells with a smaller dot.  chr(7) is all I can find that works, is there a better way to do this?

Originally, chr(7) produces beep. So it would be better use dot or other char. To make it smaller you can just change font like this:

    // set smaller font
   SetFont('Arial', 5);
   PrintTab(' . ');
   // return original font
   SetFont('Arial', 10);

>> as I thought you asked about about absolute coordinates, but if you draw a rectangle whilr printing text it would be better to use current y pos like this:

The TopLeft of the Tab and LinHeight works fine adn the rectangle starts in the correct place and is the correct height.  The width of the rectangle however spans over about 3 consecutive tabs.

Originally, chr(7) produces beep. So it would be better use dot or other char. To make it smaller you can just change font like this:

I originally used ' . ' instead of chr(7).  The problem is that I would like the dot to be in the middle of the row not the bottom as with ' . '.  Can one perhaps use some other graphic dot from the Rave Functions instead?
 

try to use chr(149) instead of dot

>> The width of the rectangle however spans over about 3 consecutive tabs.

Hm. It works well for me. Could you show the full procedure and produced report?

Ok 149 just prints blank in columns.

Attached my whole Procedure as its now.  The report has to include a page break when the number of lines (children) underneath certain section is too long in order to keep the sections on one page.  In preparation of the Text Grid, I add the characters *(xx), where xx represents the number of children under that parent) at the end of the lines where the children under that line is to be grouped with the parent line.  Children can be seen as indented under the parents.

procedure TReportsFrm.PrintReportStringGrid(Sender: TObject);
Const Col0Width = 3.8;
      CheckColWidth = 0.2;
      HeaderHeight = 2.0;
 procedure PrintGridHeader;
  var
    iCol: Integer;
    curY: Double;
  begin
    with Sender as TBaseReport do
    begin
      SetFont('Arial', 14);
      NewLine;
      PrintCenter(ReportName, 4); // Report Title
      YPos:= YPos + HeaderHeight; // Sets bottom start for bottom of vertical text header cols
      SetFont('Arial', 10);
      FontRotation:= 90;
      Bold := True;
      TabJustify:= tjLeft;
      for iCol:= 1 to ReportStringGrid.ColCount-1 do
      begin
        curY:= YPos;

        PrintXY( Col0Width{Col[0] width } + iCol*CheckColWidth {Col width} + 0.15{some shift}, YPos, ReportStringGrid.Cells[iCol, 0]);
        YPos:= curY;
      end;
      //NewLine;
      Bold := False;
      FontRotation:= 0;
      YPos := YPos + 0.15;
      MoveTo( 0.2, YPos );
      LineTo( PageWidth - 0.2, YPos );
      YPos := YPos + 0.2;
    end;
  end;

  procedure PrintGridFooter;
  var QtyPages : Integer;
  begin
  with Sender as TBaseReport do
    begin
      YPos := YPos + 0.1;
      MoveTo( 0.15, YPos);
      LineTo( PageWidth - 0.2, YPos ); // Line at bottom of the page
      NewLine;
      NewLine;

      QtyPages := (ReportStringGrid.RowCount div 50);
      if (ReportStringGrid.RowCount mod 50) > 0 then
      inc(QtyPages);
      PrintCenter('Page ' + IntToStr(CurrentPage) + ' Of ' + IntToStr(QtyPages), PageWidth/2);
    end;
  end;

var
  iCol, iRow, QtyChildren, ChildCountPos : Integer;
  PageInfoStr, CellText : String;
  CurrentFont : TFont;
begin
  with Sender as TBaseReport do
  begin
    //NewLine;
    // PrintCenter(ReportType, 4); // Report Title
    //NewLine;
    ClearTabs;
    SetTab(0.2, pjLeft, Col0Width, 0, 0, 0); // SetTab(NewPos: double; NewJustify: TPrintJustify; NewWidth: double; NewMargin: double; NewLines: byte; NewShade: byte);
    for iCol:= 1 to ReportStringGrid.ColCount-1 do
      SetTab(Col0Width + iCol*CheckColWidth, pjRight, 0.5, 0, 0, 0);

    PrintGridHeader;

    Bold := False;
    for iRow := 1 to ReportStringGrid.RowCount - 1 do
    begin
      for iCol:= 0 to ReportStringGrid.ColCount-1 do
      Begin

        CellText := ReportStringGrid.Cells[iCol, iRow];

        if iCol = 0 then
        Begin
          ChildCountPos := Pos(' *(', CellText);
          if ChildCountPos > 0 Then
          Begin
            //CTL := Length(CellText);
            //ChildCountPos := ChildCountPos + 3;
            //ChildrenText := Copy(CellText,(ChildCountPos + 3), Length(CellText) - (ChildCountPos + 3));
            QtyChildren := StrToInt(Copy(CellText,(ChildCountPos + 3), Length(CellText) - (ChildCountPos + 3)));
            if iRow + QtyChildren > 49 then
            Begin
              PrintGridFooter;
              NewPage;
              PrintGridHeader;
            End;
          End;
        End;

        if iCol = 0 then
        SetFont('Arial', 8)
        else
        SetFont('Arial', 10);

        if CellText = '' then
        Begin
          PrintTab('  ' + chr(7));
        End
        else
        Begin
          if ReportStringGrid.Cells[iCol, iRow] = '[   ]' then
          Begin
            Rectangle( GetTab(iCol+1).Pos,
                              YPos - LineHeight,
                              GetTab(iCol+1).Pos + GetTab(iCol+1).Width,
                               YPos );
            PrintTab(''); // print nothing to go next tab
          End
          else
          PrintTab(ReportStringGrid.Cells[iCol, iRow]);
        End;
      End;
      NewLine;

      // 50 lines per page
      if (iRow mod 50) = 0 then
      begin
        PrintGridFooter;
        NewPage;
        PrintGridHeader;
      end;

    end;
    PrintGridFooter;
  end;
end;

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Cell-Borders.png

I see. You didn't change the tab width to the new right value. Change it here and your code will work:

    for iCol:= 1 to ReportStringGrid.ColCount-1 do
        SetTab(Col0Width + iCol*CheckColWidth, pjRight, CheckColWidth, 0, 0, 0);

>> I see. You didn't change the tab width to the new right value. Change it here and your code will work:

Thanks, Stupid mistake, I guess I still have to used to Rave Reportsm but I like what I see so far.


>> 2. you can draw a dot instead of printing it. Use this method:

This work fine.