Green bar printouts can be created by alternating the shading or background color of the report's Detail section in the Format event.

This walkthrough illustrates how to create a green bar report.

The walkthrough is split up into the following activities:

• Creating a new Visual Studio project
• Adding an ActiveReport to a Visual Studio project
• Connecting the report to a data source
• Adding controls to the report to contain data
• Adding code to the Detail_Format event to alternate colors
• Viewing the report 

To complete the walkthrough, you must have access to the NorthWind database (Nwind.mdb).

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

Creating a new Visual Studio project

To create a new Visual Studio project

1. Open Visual Studio.

2. Click on File > New > Project.

3. Select the project type and click on Windows Application.
4. Change the name of your project and click OK.

Adding an ActiveReport to a Visual Studio project

To add an ActiveReport to your project

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

Connecting the data source to a database

To connect the data source to a database

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".
7. Click OK to return to the report design surface.

Adding controls to contain data

To add controls to the report

1. Add the following controls to the Detail section:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Location
   TextBox	ProductID	txtProductID	Product ID	0, 0
   TextBox	ProductName	txtProductName	Product Name	0.9, 0
   TextBox	UnitsInStock	txtUnitsInStock	Units in Stock	3.5, 0
   TextBox	UnitsOnOrder	txtUnitsOnOrder	Units on Order	4.5, 0
   TextBox	ReorderLevel	txtReorderLevel	Reorder Level	5.6, 0

2. Add the following controls to the PageHeader section:

   Control	Name	Text/Caption	Formatting	Location
   Label	lblTitle	Reorder Sheet	Font 14pt; Bold; Center	0, 0
   Label	lblProductID	Product ID	Underline	0, 0.365
   Label	lblProductName	Product Name	Underline	0.9, 0.365
   Label	lblUnitsInStock	Units in Stock	Underline	3.5, 0.365
   Label	lblUnitsOnOrder	Units on Order	Underline	4.5, 0.365
   Label	lblReorderLevel	Reorder Level	Underline	5.6, 0.365

Adding code to the Detail_Format event to alternate colors

To add code to the the Detail_Format event

1. Double-click in the Detail section to go to the Detail_Format event
2. Add the following code to the event to alternate background colors.

   ' Visual Basic
   Dim I As Integer
   Private Sub Detail_Format(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles _
   	Detail.Format
   	If (I Mod 2) = 0 Then
   		Detail.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.DarkSeaGreen
   	Else
   		Detail.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent
   	End If	I = I + 1
   End Sub

   //C#
   bool m_color;
   private void Detail_Format(object sender, System.EventArgs eArgs)
   {
   	if(m_color)
   	{
   		m_color =false;
   		this.Detail.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.DarkSeaGreen;
   	}
   	else
   	{
   		this.Detail.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
   		m_color = true;
   	}
   }

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.

 

 

---

Copyright © 2004-2005 Data Dynamics, Ltd. All rights reserved.