Side-by-Side Installation

Once ActiveReports 9 is installed on your system, it becomes the primary report designer. This means that when Visual Studio opens one of our proprietary file types, RPX or RDLX, it uses the ActiveReports 9 version of the following Visual Studio integrated features:

Integrated report designer
Report menu
ActiveReports toolbar
Report Explorer
Toolbox tabs

In ActiveReports 9, ReportDesigner.Switcher tool allows you to change packages which are registered in Visual Studio. You can change between ActiveReports 8 and ActiveReports 9 for the RPX designer and the RDLX designer.

Tip: You can still access some of the integrated features even if they are hidden.

Right-click in the Visual Studio toolbar area to select which toolbars to show.
The Visual Studio View menu, under Other Windows, lets you select Report Explorer versions.
Toolbox tabs are still visible for other versions, but ones that do not work with the current designer are disabled.

In order to work with ActiveReports 8 RPX reports, you must run the Switcher tool and change the Primary RPX designer to ActiveReports 8. If you don't, the reports open in the ActiveReports 9 designer, and the toolbar does not work.

Switching between ActiveReports 8 and ActiveReports 9

Close all instances of Visual Studio.
In ...\Common Files\ComponentOne\ActiveReports 9, double-click ReportDesigner.Switcher.exe to run the switcher tool.
In the dialog that appears, under Primary RPX designer, choose the radio button for the product you want to use and click OK.

Similarly, in order to work with ActiveReports 8 RDLX reports, you must run the Switcher tool and change the Primary RDLX designer to ActiveReports 8.