ActiveReports allows you to use the hyperlink property to reference back to the bookmarks collection.

This walkthrough illustrates how to add to add hyperlinks to a report which reference items in the bookmarks collection and create a directory to match the items in the bookmarks collection.

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 the reports to display data
• Adding code to the main report's Detail_Format event
• Adding code to the main report's ReportEnd event
• Adding code to the second report's Detail_Format event
• Adding code to the second report's FetchData event
• 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 rptMain.
4. Click Open.
5. Click on Project > Add New Item.
6. Select ActiveReports file and rename the file rptBookmarks.
7. Click Open.

Connecting rptMain 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 suppliers order by CompanyName".
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 rptMain.
2. Make the following changes to the group header:
   • Change the name to ghSuppliers
   • Change the DataField property to CompanyName
   • Change the GroupKeepTogether property to All
   • Change the KeepTogether property to True
3. Add the following controls to rptMain's GroupHeader section:

   Control	Name	Text/Caption	Location
   Label	lblCompanyName	Company Name	0, 0
   Label	lblContactName	Contact Name	1.562, 0
   Label	lblPhone	Phone #	2.687, 0
   Label	lblFax	Fax #	3.812, 0
   Label	lblHomePage1	Home Page	4.875, 0

4. Add the following controls to rptMain's Detail section:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Location
   TextBox	CompanyName	txtCompanyName	Company Name	0, 0
   TextBox	ContactName	txtContactName	Contact Name	1.562, 0
   TextBox	Phone	txtPhone	Phone	2.687, 0
   TextBox	Fax	txtFax	Fax	3.812, 0
   TextBox	HomePage	txtHomePage	Home Page	4.854, 0

5. Add the following controls to rptMain's PageFooter section:

   Control	Name	Text/Caption	Misc Details	Location
   Label	lblEmail	Need Assistance? E-mail Support: Support@company.com	HyperLink = mailto:support@company.com	0, 0.125
   Label	lblHomePage	Visit our home page: www.datadynamics.com	HyperLink = www.datadynamics.com	0, 0.375

6. Add the following controls to rptBookmarks' PageHeader section:

   Control	Name	Text/Caption	Location
   Label	lblDirectory	Directory	0.5, 0
   Label	lblCompanyName	CompanyName	1.125, 0.437
   Label	lblPage	Page	3.312, 0.437
   Line	Line1	(Empty string)	X1 = 0 Y1 = 0.697 X2 = 6.5 Y2 = 0.697

7. Add the following controls to rptBookmarks' Detail section:

   Control	Name	Text/Caption	Location
   TextBox	txtEntry	Company Name	1.125, 0
   TextBox	txtPage	Page	3.312, 0

Adding the code to rptMain's Detail_Format event

To write the code in Visual Basic

• Right-click in any section of the design window of rptMain, and click on View Code to display the code view for the report. At the top left of the code view for rptMain, click the drop-down arrow and select Detail. At the top right of the code window, click the drop-down arrow and select Format. This creates an event-handling method for rptMain's Detail_Format event.

To write the code in C#

• Click on the Detail section of rptMain to select the section. Click on the events icon in the Properties window to display available events for the report. Double-click Format. This creates an event-handling method for rptMain's Detail_Format event.

  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
  	Me.Detail.AddBookmark(Me.txtCompanyName.Text)
  	Dim iStart As Integer
  	Dim sHTML As String
  	If txtHomePage.Text <> "" Then
  		iStart = InStr(1, txtHomePage.Text, "#", CompareMethod.Text)
  		sHTML = Right(txtHomePage.Text, (Len(txtHomePage.Text) - iStart))
  		sHTML = Replace(sHTML, "#", "", 1, -1, CompareMethod.Text)
  		txtHomePage.HyperLink = sHTML
  		txtHomePage.Text = Replace(txtHomePage.Text, "#", "", 1, -1, CompareMethod _
  			.Text)
  	End If
  End Sub

  //C#
  private void Detail_Format(object sender, System.EventArgs eArgs)
  {
  	this.Detail.AddBookmark(this.txtCompanyName.Text);
  	int iStart;
  	string sHTML;
  	if (txtHomePage.Text != "")
  	{
  		iStart = txtHomePage.Text.IndexOf("#",0);//[1, txtHomePage.Text, "#", 
  			CompareMethod.Text);
  		sHTML = txtHomePage.Text.Substring(iStart, txtHomePage.Text.Length - 
  			iStart);
  		sHTML = sHTML.Replace("#", "");
  		txtHomePage.HyperLink = sHTML;
  		txtHomePage.Text = txtHomePage.Text.Replace("#", "");
  	}
  }

Adding the code to rptMain's ReportEnd event

To write the code in Visual Basic

• Right-click in any section of the design surface of rptMain, and click on View Code to display the code view for the report. At the top left of the code view for rptMain, 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 ReportEnd. This creates an event-handling method for the rptMain's ReportEnd event.

To write the code in C#

• Click in the gray area below rptMain to select the report. Click on the events icon in the Properties window to display available events for the report. Double-click ReportEnd. This creates an event-handling method for rptMain's ReportEnd event.

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

  ' Visual Basic
  Private Sub rptMain_ReportEnd(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
  	Handles MyBase.ReportEnd
  	Dim rpt As New rptBookmarks()
  	rpt.pBM = Me.Document.Bookmarks
  	rpt.Run()
  	Me.Document.Pages.InsertRange(Me.Document.Pages.Count, rpt.Document.Pages)
  End Sub

  //C#
  private void rptMain_ReportEnd(object sender, System.EventArgs eArgs)
  {
  	rptBookmarks rpt = new rptBookmarks();
  	rpt.pBM = this.Document.Bookmarks;
  	rpt.Run();
  	this.Document.Pages.InsertRange(this.Document.Pages.Count, rpt.Document.Pages);
  }

Adding the code to rptBookmarks' Detail_Format event

To write the code in Visual Basic

• Right-click in any section of the design window of rptBookmarks, and click on View Code to display the code view for the report. At the top left of the code view for rptBookmarks, click the drop-down arrow and select Detail. At the top right of the code window, click the drop-down arrow and select Format. This creates an event-handling method for rptBookmarks' Detail_Format event.

To write the code in C#

• Click on the Detail section of rptBookmarks to select the section. Click on the events icon in the Properties window to display available events for the report. Double-click Format. This creates an event-handling method for rptBookmarks' Detail_Format event.

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

  ' Visual Basic
  Public pBM As New BookmarksCollection()
  Private Sub Detail_Format(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles _
  	Detail.Format
  	Dim iEntry As Integer
  	Me.txtEntry.HyperLink = "toc://" + pBM(iEntry - 1).Label
  	Me.txtEntry.Text = pBM(iEntry - 1).Label
  	Me.txtPage.Text = pBM(iEntry - 1).PageNumber
  End Sub

  //C#
  public BookmarksCollection pBM = new BookmarksCollection();
  private void Detail_Format(object sender, System.EventArgs eArgs)
  {
  	int iEntry;
  	this.txtEntry.HyperLink = "toc://" + pBM[iEntry - 1].Label;
  	this.txtEntry.Text = pBM[iEntry - 1].Label;
  	this.txtPage.Text = pBM[iEntry - 1].PageNumber.ToString();
  }

Adding code to rptBookmarks' FetchData event

To write the code in Visual Basic

• Right-click in any section of the design window of rptBookmarks, and click on View Code to display the code view for the report. At the top left of the code view for rptBookmarks, 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 FetchData. This creates an event-handling method for rptBookmarks' FetchData event.

To write the code in C#

• Click in the gray area below rptBookmarks to select the report. Click on the events icon in the Properties window to display available events for the report. Double-click FetchData. This creates an event-handling method for rptBookmarks' FetchData event.

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

  ' Visual Basic
  Private Sub rptBookmarks_FetchData(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal eArgs As DataDynamics _
  	.ActiveReports.ActiveReport.FetchEventArgs) Handles MyBase.FetchData
  	Dim iEntry As Integer
  	If iEntry > pBM.Count - 1 Then
  		eArgs.EOF = True
  	Else
  		eArgs.EOF = False
  		iEntry += 1
  	End If
  End Sub

  //C#
  int iEntry;
  private void rptBookmarks_FetchData(object sender, DataDynamics.ActiveReports
  	.ActiveReport.FetchEventArgs eArgs)
  {
  	int iEntry = 0;
  	if (iEntry > pBM.Count - 1)
  	{
  		eArgs.EOF = true;
  	}
  	else
  	{
  		eArgs.EOF = false;
  		iEntry += 1;
  	}
  }

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 | GroupKeepTogether enumeration

 

 

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