ActiveReports allows you to create Master Detail reports by using subreports to retrieve and group data.

This walkthrough illustrates how to create a Master Detail report with subreports.

This walkthrough is split up into the following activities:

Adding two ActiveReports to a Visual Studio project
Connecting the Master report to a data source
Connecting the Detail report to a data source
Adding controls to rptMaster to contain data
Adding controls to rptDetail to contain data
Adding code to retrieve the subreport data at run time
Viewing the report

To complete the walkthrough, you must have access to the Northwind database.
A copy is located at C:\Program Files\Data Dynamics\ActiveReports for .NET 3.0\Data\NWIND.MDB.

When you have completed this walkthrough, you will have a report that looks similar to the following.

Adding two ActiveReports to a Visual Studio project

To add two ActiveReports to your project

Open a new project in Visual Studio.
From the Project menu, select Add New Item.
Select ActiveReports 3.0 File and rename the file rptMaster.
Click Open.
From the Project menu, select Add New Item.
Select ActiveReports 3.0 File and rename the file rptDetail.
Click Open.

Connecting the Master report to a data source

To connect the Master report to a data source

Click the gray report DataSource icon in the Detail section to open the report DataSource dialog.
Select the "OLE DB" tab.
Click the Build button.
Select Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider and click Next.
Click the ellipsis button to browse for the access path to the Northwind database. Click Open once you have selected the appropriate access path.
Click OK to continue.
In the Query field, type "Select * from orders".
Click OK to return to the report design surface.

Connecting the Detail report to a data source

To connect the Detail report to a data source

Click on the gray report DataSource icon in the Detail section to open the report DataSource dialog box.
Select the "OLE DB" tab.
Click the Build button.
Select Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider and click Next.
Click the ellipsis button to browse for the access path to the Northwind database. Click Open once you have selected the appropriate access path.
Click OK to continue.
In the Query field, type "Select * from [order details] inner join products on [order details].productid = products.productID where [order details].orderID = <%OrderID%>".
Click OK to return to the report design surface.

Adding controls to rptMaster to contain data

To add controls to rptMaster

Add a shape control to the detail section and make the following changes to it:
- Set the BackColor property to Indigo
- Set the LineColor property to Transparent
- Set the Location property to 0, 0
- Set the Size property to 6.5, 0.2

Add labels with the following properties to the shape control:

Font Style ForeColor Name Text Location

Bold White lblOrderDate Order Date 0, 0

Bold White lblShipName Ship Name 0.85, 0

Bold White lblShipDate Ship Date 2.25, 0

Bold White lblShipAddress Ship Address 2.98, 0

Bold White lblShipCountry Ship Country 5, 0

Bold White lblFreight Freight 5.97, 0

Make the following changes to the detail section:
- Set the BackColor property to MediumPurple
- Set the CanShrink property to True

Font Style	ForeColor	Name	Text	Location
Bold	White	lblOrderDate	Order Date	0, 0
Bold	White	lblShipName	Ship Name	0.85, 0
Bold	White	lblShipDate	Ship Date	2.25, 0
Bold	White	lblShipAddress	Ship Address	2.98, 0
Bold	White	lblShipCountry	Ship Country	5, 0
Bold	White	lblFreight	Freight	5.97, 0

Add the following controls to the detail section below the shape control:

Control DataField Name Text Miscellaneous Location Size

Textbox OrderDate txtOrderDate Order Date OutputFormat = MM/dd/yy 0, 0.25 0.75, 0.19

Textbox ShipName txtShipName Ship Name 0.85, 0.25 1.34, 0.19

Textbox ShippedDate txtShippedDate Shipped Date OutputFormat = MM/dd/yy 2.25, 0.25 0.65, 0.19

Textbox ShipAddress txtShipAddress Ship Address 2.98, 0.25 2, 0.19

Textbox ShipCountry txtShipCountry Ship Country 5, 0.25 0.9, 0.19

Textbox Freight txtFreight Freight OutputFormat = Currency 5.97, 0.25 0.5, 0.19

Subreport ctlSubReport 0.06, 0.53 6.38, 1

Label lblWhiteLine BackColor = White 0, 1.66 6.5, 0.19

Control	DataField	Name	Text	Miscellaneous	Location	Size
Textbox	OrderDate	txtOrderDate	Order Date	OutputFormat = MM/dd/yy	0, 0.25	0.75, 0.19
Textbox	ShipName	txtShipName	Ship Name		0.85, 0.25	1.34, 0.19
Textbox	ShippedDate	txtShippedDate	Shipped Date	OutputFormat = MM/dd/yy	2.25, 0.25	0.65, 0.19
Textbox	ShipAddress	txtShipAddress	Ship Address		2.98, 0.25	2, 0.19
Textbox	ShipCountry	txtShipCountry	Ship Country		5, 0.25	0.9, 0.19
Textbox	Freight	txtFreight	Freight	OutputFormat = Currency	5.97, 0.25	0.5, 0.19
Subreport		ctlSubReport			0.06, 0.53	6.38, 1
Label		lblWhiteLine		BackColor = White	0, 1.66	6.5, 0.19

Adding controls to rptDetail to contain data

To add controls to rptDetail

Delete the page header section. (Page headers are not displayed in subreports, so deleting them saves on processing time.)
Set the ShowParameterUI property of the report to False to avoid asking users for parameters.
Add a group header/footer to the report by right-clicking on the report and selecting Insert > Group Header/Footer.
Set the BackColor property of the group header to LightBlue.

Add labels with the following properties to the group header section:

Font Style	Name	Text	Location
Bold	lblOrderID	Order ID	0, 0
Bold	lblProductID	Product ID	0.81, 0
Bold	lblProductName	Product Name	2.25, 0
Bold	lblQuantity	Quantity	4.8, 0
Bold	lblDiscount	Discount	5.5, 0

Make the following changes to the detail section:
- Set the BackColor property to LightBlue
- Set the CanShrink property to True

Add the following controls to the detail section:

Control DataField Name Text Miscellaneous Location

Textbox OrderID txtOrderID Order ID 0, 0

Textbox products.ProductID txtProductID Product ID 0.81, 0

Textbox ProductName txtProductName Product Name 2.25, 0

Textbox Quantity txtQuantity Quantity 4.8, 0

Textbox Discount txtDiscount Discount OutputFormat = Currency; Alignment = Right 5.5, 0

Control	DataField	Name	Text	Miscellaneous	Location
Textbox	OrderID	txtOrderID	Order ID		0, 0
Textbox	products.ProductID	txtProductID	Product ID		0.81, 0
Textbox	ProductName	txtProductName	Product Name		2.25, 0
Textbox	Quantity	txtQuantity	Quantity		4.8, 0
Textbox	Discount	txtDiscount	Discount	OutputFormat = Currency; Alignment = Right	5.5, 0

Adding code to retrieve subreport data during run time

To write the code in Visual Basic or C#

Double-click the Detail section of rptMaster to create an event-handling method for rptMaster's Detail_Format event. Add code to the handler to:

Retrieve subreport data at run time

The following example shows what the code for the method looks like.

'Visual Basic
Private Sub Detail_Format(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles _
	  Detail.Format       
    Dim rpt As New rptDetail()
    Me.ctlSubreport.Report = rpt
End Sub

//C#
private void Detail_Format (object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
	rptDetail rpt = new rptDetail();
	this.ctlSubReport.Report = rpt;
}

Viewing the report

To view the report

Add the ActiveReports viewer control to a Windows Form.
Add the code needed to set the viewer document equal to the report document of rptMaster. See Using the ActiveReports Windows Form Viewer for help.

You can quickly view your report at design time by clicking the Preview tab at the bottom of the designer.

ActiveReports for .NET 3 Online Help	Request technical support
Walkthrough: Master Detail Reports with Subreports
See Also