Whatever their other functions, both screens and reports provide a means of presenting data to the user. In either context, a control is a tool used to present a data item (or selection of data items), or to affect the appearance of data being presented.
Because of this similarity of purpose, there is a high degree of correspondence between screen controls and report controls. The bar control, for example, draws a vertical or horizontal line on a screen. The report line control, similarly, prints a vertical or horizontal line on a report. A screen grid control and report grid control both organize data into lines and columns with an optional heading row.
Report control properties, like their screen control counterpoints, can be divided in to common and special properties. Common properties apply to many or all control types, while special properties have meaning for one or few control types.