In Reporting Services (SSRS), the
CanGrow
property indicates whether the size of the text box can increase vertically according to its content. Similarly, CanShrink
decreases theheight of the text box according to its content. Controlling dynamically the height of report elements is only possible through these properties since the Height
propertycannot be bound to an expression. These two properties are therefore useful to create reports which can be scaled to both small and large contents. Unfortunately, CanGrow
andCanShrink
behave differently for each rendering extension.Let's demonstrate such behaviors with a report created with SSRS 2005. The following elements have been created without any padding:
- A text box with a non-empty value (
Value = "Content"
) andCanShrink
set to true. - A text box with a non-empty value (
Value = "Content"
) andCanGrow
set to true. - A text box with a non-empty value (
Value = "Content"
) whereCanShrink
andCanGrow
are both set to true. - A text box with an empty value and
CanShrink
set to true. - A text box with a single space as value (
Value = " "
) whereCanShrink
is set to true. - A non-visible text box (
Visibility.Hidden = true
). - A non-visible text box where
CanShrink
is set to true.
The
FontSize
property of each text box is bound to FontSize
report parameter (= Parameters!FontSize.Value
). The available values are 6pt, 10pt, 16pt, and 30pt.Rendering Extensions
First, let's have a look on how the report is rendered with IE 7.
CanGrow
and CanShrink
behave as expected for all the text boxes having a non-empty Value
. The shrinkable text box cuts off content too big for the specified height. Similarly, thetext box which can only grow has its height unchanged when the FontSize is equal to 10pt. Notice that the text box, which can shrink but has no value, does not have its height changed. The Value
property needs to have a space to have its height resized to zero.The PDF rendering is the most accurate. Similarly to the HTML rendering, the
CanGrow
andCanShrink
modify the heights of the text boxes as expected. Furthermore, the text boxwith an empty Value
has been removed from the flow of the document. On the other hand, the hidden text boxes continue to occupy some real-estate on the report. Combining the CanShrink
property with just a space for the Value
property does not, however, hide the text box contrarily to the HTML rendering.Finally, it is obvious with the Excel rendering that the
CanGrow
and CanShrink
properties fail to adjust the height of the Excel rows. It is a frustrating limitation of the Excel rendering.Conclusions
When using
CanGrow
and CanShrink
, be aware what their behaviors can change depending on the rendering extension being used:CanShrink
will remove the text box from the document flow for only specific rendering format.- No
Value
property may cause some issues. - The
Visibility
property seems to override the intended behavior ofCanShrink
. - Padding needs to be set to zero to fully hide a shrinkable element.
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