Report Variables

Articles report variables are temporary storage containers that exist inside the report engine during report generation. They allow you to store values, pass information between script and expressions, and control conditional logic in headers, footers, and data bands.

Variables are defined in the Report → Variables window and can be read or written from:

• Expressions inside memo text
• PascalScript event handlers
• The application code (Delphi) before running the report

What Variables Are Used For

Articles variables are useful when you need to:

• Track state across pages (e.g., “Is this page a continuation?”)
• Store intermediate results
• Control conditional visibility or formatting
• Pass values from Delphi into the report
• Build dynamic text using expressions
• Accumulate totals or flags during script execution

They behave like simple named values that the report engine evaluates at runtime.

Variable Types

Although Article variables appear “typed,” internally they are stored as strings. The expression engine automatically converts them to:

• Numbers
• Booleans
• Dates
• Text

depending on how they are used.

Examples:

Value	Interpreted As
"1"	True / numeric 1
"0"	False / numeric 0
"2026-05-10"	Date
"Vendor Payments"	String

This makes variables flexible but also means you must compare them as strings in expressions.

Using Variables in Expressions

Inside memo text, variables are referenced using angle brackets:

Code

<VariableName>

Example:

Code

Page: <Page> of <TotalPages>

For conditions:

Code

[IIF(<IsContinued> = '1', '(Continued)', '')]

Setting Variables in Script

Articles PascalScript cannot assign directly to <VariableName>. Instead, you must write to the variable through the Report.Variables[] collection:

pascal

Report.Variables['IsContinued'] := '1';

Example in a band event:

pascal

procedure MasterData1OnAfterPrint(Sender: TfrxComponent);
begin
  if Engine.FreeSpace < MasterData1.Height then
    Report.Variables['IsContinued'] := '1'
  else
    Report.Variables['IsContinued'] := '0';
end;

Is is also important to define a Report Variables when the report starts. So in the start block set the defaults. The start block is the begin end at the bottom of the script.

begin
    Report.Variables['IsContinued'] := '0';  
end.

We use IsContinued here to show (Continued) in a memoview component when the detail does not fit one page. It tell the report use that the data on the new page is a continuation from the prior page.

Why Variables Matter

Variables are the bridge between:

• Script logic
• Expression logic
• Application logic

They allow you to build reports that are:

• Dynamic
• Conditional
• Stateful
• Data‑aware beyond the dataset

Without variables, Articles would be limited to static text and dataset fields.