Bricks
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This document provides an overview of one of the most fundamental elements that are used to construct any document in the XtraPrinting Library - bricks.
A brick is a simple element with a specified size, contents and location that is used to display text, image, shape, barcode, or any textual and/or graphic information on a document page.
Brick types vary depending on the kind of information they are used to display. The most basic brick types are:
- ImageBrick - displays images;
- PageInfoBrick - displays document-specific information, such as page numbers and date stamps;
- PanelBrick - contains other bricks;
- RichTextBrick - displays rich text;
- ShapeBrick - decorates a report with geometric shapes;
- TextBrick - displays simple text.
The hierarchy of all brick types available in the XtraPrinting Library is published in Classes Hierarchy: Bricks. To learn how to use different brick types, see How to: Use Bricks of Different Types.
All bricks are descendants of the base VisualBrick class, which defines a set of properties that allow the PrintingSystem component to create and render a document. A Visual Brick is rendered on a page as a simple rectangle.
You are not restricted by the set of standard brick types. To provide minor customizations, you can inherit from any brick type. Alternatively, you can create a descendant of the UserVisualBrick class. To learn more on this, see the following tutorials.
- How to: Create a Custom Brick Inherited from a Standard Brick
- How to: Create a Custom Brick Implementing the IBrick Interface