Filler dots for Table of Contents in Reporting Services

Question

Does anyone have a slick way of adding filler dots to a table of contents page in RS?

This would not be a problem were it using proportional fonts.

e.g.

Monkey.........5
House..........1
Tree...........11
Underpants.....2

Obviously the example above sucks as the font is proportional

Answer 1

This does not appear to be possible in SQL Server Reporting Services 2008.

Answer 2

You can do this using a PlaceHolder.

1. Create a Table with two columns.
2. In the column on the right put the page number.
3. In the column on the left put in your page name.
4. Place the cursor just to the right of the page name and right-click.
5. Select Create Placeholder.
6. Enter Dots (or whatever) for the Label.
7. Click the Function button next to the Value textbox.
8. Enter the following expression: =StrDup(600, ".")
9. Click OK.
10. You should end up with this:
11. Click off of the grid to loose focus.
12. Right-click the lower half of the left column.
13. Select Text Box Properties.
14. Under General->Sizing Options deselect Allow height to increase
15. Click OK.

Pay no attention to the page numbers in the screen shot. I know they are wrong.

Answer 3

I'm not sure whether this is helpful or not, but since you have control over the TOC, rather than building it as a single field, do you have the option to set it up as a table with three columns (the title, the dots, the page number)?

Whilst this would give you white-space between the title and the start of the dots, it would at least mean that the padding would be of a consistent length.

In this scenario, you could alternatively generate the dots as a patterned line inside the table cell, rather than with repeated characters.