1. Select the Windows Form in your application and go to the Properties Window to change the Name property to formDesigner and Text to Active Reports 8. 
2. Resize the Form so that you can comfortably add the controls.
3. From the Visual Studio toolbox, drag the following controls onto the Form in the order listed below, setting the properties as indicated (If you have not yet added the ActiveReports controls to your toolbox, see the Adding ActiveReports Controls topic).

   Controls for the form

   Control	Parent	Name	Dock	Property Value
   ToolStripContainer	formDesigner	ToolStripContainer1	Fill	LeftToolStripPanel - Enabled = False RightToolStripPanel - Enabled = False
   SplitContainer	ToolStripContainer1	SplitContainer1	Fill	FixedPanel = Panel1
   Designer	SplitContainer1.Panel2	arDesigner	None	Anchor = Top, Bottom, Left, Right Resize and move as necessary.
   ReportExplorer	SplitContainer1.Panel2	arReportExplorer	None	ReportDesigner = arDesigner Anchor = Top, Right Resize and move as necessary.
   PropertyGrid	SplitContainer1.Panel2	arPropertyGrid	None	Anchor = Top, Bottom, Right Resize and move as necessary.
   Toolbox	SplitContainer1.Panel1	arToolbox	Fill	-

4. Select arDesigner and in the Properties window, drop down the PropertyGrid property and select arPropertyGrid.
5. With the controls added in the correct order and all of the above properties set, the form looks similar to the following:

1. Right-click the form and select View Code.
2. In the code view that appears, add the following code to give your project access to the Toolbox library.

The following examples show what the code looks like.

To write the code in Visual Basic.NET

'Add the following Imports statements
Imports GrapeCity.ActiveReports
Imports GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Design
Imports GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Design.Toolbox
Imports GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReportModel
Imports GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Data

To write the code in C#

//Add the following using statements 
using GrapeCity.ActiveReports;
using GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Design;
using GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Design.Toolbox;
using GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReportModel;
using GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Data;

1. Right-click in any section of formDesigner, and select View Code.
2. In the code view that appears, add the following code to create an OnExit method that you can call from the Exit menu item we create later.

The following examples show what the code looks like.

To write the code in Visual Basic.NET

Private Sub OnExit(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
   MyBase.Close()
End Sub

To write the code in C#

private void OnExit(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Close();
}

1. Add the following code to create a data group on the toolbox.
2. This code creates a LoadTools method that you can call in the formDesigner_Load event to load the new toolbox group into the toolbox.

The following examples show what the code looks like.

To write the code in Visual Basic.NET

Private Sub LoadTools(ByVal arToolbox As GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Design.Toolbox.Toolbox)
   'Add Data Providers
   Me.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(New System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(GetType(System.Data.DataSet)), "Data")
   Me.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(New System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(GetType(System.Data.DataView)), "Data")
   Me.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(New System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(GetType(System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection)), "Data")
   Me.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(New System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(GetType(System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter)), "Data")
   Me.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(New System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(GetType(System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnection)), "Data")
   Me.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(New System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(GetType(System.Data.Odbc.OdbcDataAdapter)), "Data")
   Me.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(New System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(GetType(System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection)), "Data")
   Me.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(New System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(GetType(System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter)), "Data")
End Sub

To write the code in C#

private void LoadTools(GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Design.Toolbox.Toolbox arToolbox)
{
   //Add Data Providers
   this.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(new System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(typeof(System.Data.DataSet)), "Data");
   this.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(new System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(typeof(System.Data.DataView)), "Data");
   this.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(new System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(typeof(System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection)), "Data");
   this.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(new System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(typeof(System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter)), "Data");
   this.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(new System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(typeof(System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnection)), "Data");
   this.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(new System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(typeof(System.Data.Odbc.OdbcDataAdapter)), "Data");
   this.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(new System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(typeof(System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection)), "Data");
   this.arToolbox.AddToolboxItem(new System.Drawing.Design.ToolboxItem(typeof(System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter)), "Data");
}

1. In the Design view of the form, double-click the title bar of formDesigner. This creates an event-handling method for the formDesigner Load event.
2. Add code to the handler to:
   • Set up the toolbox
   • Set up the menu and tool strips
   • Add an Exit command to the menu

The following examples show what the code for the method looks like.

To write the code in Visual Basic.NET

' Add controls to the toolbox
LoadTools(arToolbox)
arDesigner.Toolbox = arToolbox

' Add Menu and ToolStrips to Form
Dim menuStrip As ToolStrip = arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Menu)(0)
Dim fileMenu As ToolStripDropDownItem = CType(menuStrip.Items(0), ToolStripDropDownItem)

' Add an Exit command to the File menu
fileMenu.DropDownItems.Add(New ToolStripMenuItem("Exit", Nothing, AddressOf OnExit))

Dim panel As ToolStripPanel = ToolStripContainer1.TopToolStripPanel
panel.Join(menuStrip, 0)
panel.Join(arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Zoom)(0), 1)
panel.Join(arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Undo)(0), 1)
panel.Join(arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Edit)(0), 1)
panel.Join(arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Report)(0), 1)

panel.Join(arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Layout)(0), 2)
panel.Join(arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Format)(0), 2)

To write the code in C#

// Add controls to the toolbox
LoadTools(arToolbox);
arDesigner.Toolbox = arToolbox;

// Add Menu and CommandBar to Form
ToolStrip menuStrip = arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Menu)[0];

ToolStripDropDownItem fileMenu = (ToolStripDropDownItem)menuStrip.Items[0];

// Add an Exit command to the File menu
fileMenu.DropDownItems.Add(new ToolStripMenuItem("Exit", null, this.OnExit));
ToolStripPanel panel = ToolStripContainer1.TopToolStripPanel;
panel.Join(menuStrip, 0);
panel.Join(arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Zoom)[0], 1);
panel.Join(arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Undo)[0], 1);
panel.Join(arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Edit)[0], 1);
panel.Join(arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Report)[0], 1);

panel.Join(arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Layout)[0], 2);
panel.Join(arDesigner.CreateToolStrips(DesignerToolStrips.Format)[0], 2);

1. Press F5 to run the project. The End User Report Designer opens with a section layout.
2. Go to the File menu and select New to open the Create New Report dialog.
3. From Templates, select Page Report to open a page layout in the designer along with its corresponding toolbox controls and report explorer items.
4. Go to the File menu again. Notice that an Exit menu item has been added to the listed menu items.