ActiveReports allows you to add pages to your report in Visual Studio for previewing in the viewer control or printing. The document containing the inserted pages can also be saved to an RDF file or exported.

This walkthrough illustrates how to create two reports and insert the second report as a cover page for the first one.

This walkthrough is split up into the following activities:

• Adding two ActiveReports to a Visual Studio project
• Connecting the report to a data source
• Adding controls to both reports
• Adding code to the Form_Load event to insert the second report as a cover page
• Viewing the report 

To complete the walkthrough, you must have access to the NorthWind database (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 a Visual Studio project

1. Open a new project in Visual Studio.
2. Click on Project > Add New Item.
3. Select ActiveReports file and rename the file rptInsertPage.
4. Click Open.
5. Click on Project > Add New Item.
6. Select ActiveReports file and rename the file rptCoverPage.
7. Click Open.

Connecting the report to a data source

To connect rptInsertPage to a data source

1. Click on the yellow report DataSource icon in the Detail section. This brings up the report DataSource dialog box.
2. Click on Build...
3. Select Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider and click Next >>
4. Click on the ellipsis to browse for the access path to NWind.mdb. Click Open once you have selected the appropriate access path.
5. Click OK to continue.
6. In the Query field, type "Select * from products order by productname".
7. Click OK to return to the report design surface.

Adding controls to display the data

To add controls to the reports

1. Add a GroupHeader/Footer section to rptInsertPage.
2. Make the following changes to the group header:
   • Change the name to ghProducts
   • Change the DataField property to ProductName
   • Change the GroupKeepTogether property to FirstDetail
   • Change the KeepTogether property to True
3. Add the following controls to the GroupHeader section of rptInsertPage:

   Control	Name	Text/Caption	Location
   Label	lblProductID	Product ID	0, 0
   Label	lblProductName	Product Name	1.312, 0
   Label	lblUnitsInStock	Units In Stock	2.625, 0
   Label	lblUnitsOnOrder	Units On Order	3.937, 0
   Label	lblUnitPrice	Unit Price	5.25, 0

4. Add the following controls to the Detail section of rptInsertPage:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Misc Details	Location
   TextBox	ProductID	txtProductID	Product ID	(Empty string)	0, 0
   TextBox	ProductName	txtProductName	Product Name	(Empty string)	1.312, 0
   TextBox	UnitsInStock	txtUnitsInStock	Units In Stock	(Empty string)	2.635, 0
   TextBox	UnitPrice	txtUnitPrice	Unit Price	OutputFormat = Currency	5.25, 0
   TextBox	UnitsOnOrder	txtUnitsOnOrder	Units On Order	(Empty string)	3.937, 0

5. Add the following controls to the PageHeader section of rptCoverPage:

   Control	Name	Text/Caption	Section	Misc Details	Location
   Label	lblCompanyInfo	Company Street Name Company City, Company State Company Zip Code	PageHeader	Text-Align = Center	0.0625, 0.0625
   Label	lblCompanyName	Company Name	PageHeader	Text-Align = Center	2.437, 0.0625
   Line	Line1	(Empty string)	PageHeader	(Empty string)	X1 = 2.437 Y1 = 0.0625 X2 = 6.437 Y2 = 0.0625
   Line	Line2	(Empty string)	PageHeader	(Empty string)	X1 = 2.437 Y1 = 0.625 X2 = 6.437 Y2 = 0.625
   Line	Line3	(Empty string)	PageHeader	(Empty string)	X1 = 0.0625 Y1 = 0.0625 X2 = 0.0625 Y2 = 0.625
   Line	Line4	(Empty string)	PageHeader	(Empty string)	X1 = 2.312 Y1 = 0.0625 X2 = 2.312 Y2 = 0.625
   TextBox	txtComments	Comments:	Detail	(Empty string)	0.875, 2.437

6. Add the following controls to the Detail section of rptCoverPage:

   Control	Name	Text/Caption	Misc Details	Location
   Label	lblFax	Fax	Text-Align = Center	0.0625, 0.0625
   Label	lblTo	To:	(Empty string)	1, 0.75
   Label	lblFax2	Fax #:	(Empty string)	1, 1
   Label	lblPhone	Phone #:	(Empty string)	1, 1.25
   Label	lblRe	Re:	(Empty string)	1, 1.5
   TextBox	txtTo	(Empty string)	(Empty string)	1.875, 0.75
   TextBox	txtFax	(Empty string)	(Empty string)	1.875, 1
   TextBox	txtPhone	(Empty string)	(Empty string)	1.875, 1.25
   TextBox	txtRe	(Empty string)	(Empty string)	1.875, 1.5
   Label	lblCC	CC:	(Empty string)	3.0625, 1.5
   Label	lblDate	Date:	(Empty string)	3.0625, 1.25
   Label	lblPages	Pages:	(Empty string)	3.0625, 1
   Label	lblFrom	From	(Empty string)	3.0625, 0.75
   TextBox	txtFrom	(Empty string)	(Empty string)	3.937, 0.75
   TextBox	txtPages	(Empty string)	(Empty string)	3.937, 1
   TextBox	txtDate	(Empty string)	(Empty string)	3.937, 1.25
   TextBox	txtCC	(Empty string)	(Empty string)	3.937, 1.5
   CheckBox	chkUrgent	Urgent	(Empty string)	0.5, 2.0625
   CheckBox	chkForReview	For Review	(Empty string)	1.5, 2.0625
   CheckBox	chkPleaseComment	Please Comment	(Empty string)	2.75, 2.0625
   CheckBox	chkPleaseReply	Please Reply	(Empty string)	4.437, 2.0625
   Line	Line5	(Empty string)	(Empty string)	X1 = 0.0625 Y1 = 2.375 X2 = 6.437 Y2 = 2.375
   TextBox	txtComments	Comments:	(Empty string)	0.875, 2.437

Adding code to the Form_Load event

To write the code in Visual Basic

• Right-click at the top of Form1, and click on View Code to display the code view for the form. At the top left of the code view for Form1, click the drop-down arrow and select (Base Class Events). At the top right of the code window, click the drop-down arrow and select Load. This creates an event-handling method for the Form1_Load event. Add code to the handler to:
  • Insert rptCoverPage at the beginning of rptInsertPage

To write the code in C#

• Click at the top of Form1 to select the form. Click on the events icon in the Properties window to display available events for the form. Double-click Load. This creates an event-handling method for the Form1_Load event. Add code to the handler to:
  • Insert rptCoverPage at the beginning of rptInsertPage

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

  ' Visual Basic
  Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
  	Handles MyBase.Load
  	Dim rpt As New rptInsertPage()
  	Viewer1.Document = rpt.Document
  	rpt.Run()
  	Dim rpt2 As New rptCoverPage()
  	rpt2.Run()
  	rpt.Document.Pages.Insert(0, rpt2.Document.Pages(0))
  End Sub

  //C#
  private void Form1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
  {
  	rptInsertPage rpt = new rptInsertPage();
  	rptCoverPage rpt2 = new rptCoverPage();
  	viewer1.Document = rpt.Document;
  	rpt.Run();
  	rpt2.Run();
  	rpt.Document.Pages.Insert(0, rpt2.Document.Pages[0]);
  }

  The following example shows what the code for the InsertNew method looks like. This method allows you to insert a new page at the location you specify.

  ' Visual Basic
  Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
  	Handles MyBase.Load
  	Dim rpt As New rptInsertPage()
  	Viewer1.Document = rpt.Document
  	rpt.Run()	
  	rpt.Document.Pages.InsertNew(3)
  End Sub

  //C#
  private void Form1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
  {
  	rptInsertPage rpt = new rptInsertPage();
  	viewer1.Document = rpt.Document;
  	rpt.Run();
  	rpt.Document.Pages.InsertNew(3);
  }

Viewing the report

To view the report

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

Samples | Walkthroughs | OutputFormat Strings | GroupKeepTogether enumeration

 

 

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