ActiveReports allows you to apply a page template to an existing report by using the Overlay method.

This walkthrough illustrates how to overlay an ActiveReport with a "letterhead" page template.

This walkthrough is split up into the following activities:

• Adding two ActiveReports to a Visual Studio project
• Connecting the main report to a data source
• Adding controls to both reports
• Adding code to the Form_Load event to overlay the report pages with the "letterhead" template
• 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 rptReport.
4. Click Open.
5. Click on Project > Add New Item.
6. Select ActiveReports file and rename the file rptTemplate.
7. Click Open.

Connecting the report to a data source

To connect the report 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 customers order by country".
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 rptReport.
2. Make the following changes to the group header:
   • Change the name to ghCustomers
   • Change the DataField property to Country
3. Add the following controls to rptReport, naming them as indicated:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Section	Location
   Label	(Empty string)	lblCustomerID	Customer ID	GroupHeader	0, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblCompanyName	Company Name	GroupHeader	1.125, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblAddress	Address	GroupHeader	2.625, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblCity	City	GroupHeader	4.125, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblCountry	Country	GroupHeader	5.187, 0
   TextBox	CustomerID	txtCustomerID	Customer ID	Detail	0, 0
   TextBox	CompanyName	txtCompanyName	CompanyName	Detail	1.125, 0
   TextBox	Address	txtAddress	Address	Detail	2.625, 0
   TextBox	City	txtCity	City	Detail	4.125, 0
   TextBox	Country	txtCountry	Country	Detail	5.187, 0

4. Add the following controls to rptTemplate, naming them as indicated:

   Control	Name	Text/Caption	Section	Location
   TextBox	txtCompanyName	Company Name	PageHeader	0.0625, 0.0625
   Label	lblCompanyLogo	(Company Logo)	PageHeader	4, 0.0625
   Label	lblCompanyInfo	Company Address, Phone Number, Fax Number, URL	PageFooter	0.0625, 0.0625

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:

• Apply the "letterhead" template page to rptReport

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:

• Apply the "letterhead" template page to rptReport

The following example shows what the code for the Overlay 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 rptReport()
	rpt.Run()	Dim rpt2 As New rptTemplate()
	rpt2.Run()
	Viewer1.Document = rpt.Document
	For i = 0 To rpt.Document.Pages.Count - 1
		rpt.Document.Pages(i).Overlay(rpt2.Document.Pages(0))
	Next
End Sub

//C#
private void Form1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
	rptReport rpt = new rptReport();
	rpt.Run();
	rptTemplate rpt2 = new rptTemplate();
	rpt2.Run();
	viewer1.Document = rpt.Document;
	for(int i = 0; i < rpt.Document.Pages.Count; i++)
	{
		rpt.Document.Pages[i].Overlay(rpt2.Document.Pages[0]);
	}
}

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

 

 

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