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 the report 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 (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

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

Connecting the Master report to a data source

To connect the Master 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 orders".
7. 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

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 [order details] inner join products on [order details].productid = products.productID where [order details].orderID = <%OrderID%>".
7. Click OK to return to the report design surface.

Adding controls to the report to contain data

To add controls to the report

1. Add the following controls to the Detail section of rptMaster:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Misc Details	Location
   Label	(Empty string)	lblOrderDate	Order Date	(Empty string)	0.0625, 0.0625
   Label	(Empty string)	lblShipName	Ship Name	(Empty string)	1.125, 0.0625
   Label	(Empty string)	lblShipDate	Shipped Date	(Empty string)	2.187, 0.0625
   Label	(Empty string)	lblShipAddress	Ship Address	(Empty string)	3.25, 0.0625
   Label	(Empty string)	lblShipCountry	Ship Country	(Empty string)	4.437, 0.0625
   Label	(Empty string)	lblFreight	Freight	(Empty string)	5.687, 0.0625
   Textbox	OrderDate	txtOrderDate	Order Date	(Empty string)	0.0625, 0.3125
   Textbox	ShipName	txtShipName	Ship Name	(Empty string)	1.125, 0.3125
   Textbox	ShippedDate	txtShippedDate	Shipped Date	(Empty string)	2.1875, 0.3125
   Textbox	ShipAddress	txtShipAddress	Ship Address	(Empty string)	3.25, 0.3125
   Textbox	ShipCountry	txtShipCountry	Ship Country	(Empty string)	4.4375, 0.3125
   Textbox	Freight	txtFreight	Freight	OutputFormat = Currency	5.687, 0.3125
   Subreport	(Empty string)	ctlSubreport	(Empty string)	(Empty string)	0, 0.5625
   Label	(Empty string)	lblWhiteLine	(Empty string)	Background Color = White	0, 1.75

2. Add the following controls to the Detail section of rptDetail:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Misc Details	Location
   Textbox	OrderID	txtOrderID	Order ID	(Empty string)	0.0625, 0.25
   Textbox	ProductName	txtProductName	Product Name	(Empty string)	2.3125, 0.25
   Textbox	products.ProductID	txtProductID	Product ID	(Empty string)	1.1875, 0.25
   Textbox	Quantity	txtQuantity	Quantity	(Empty string)	3.4375, 0.25
   Textbox	Discount	txtDiscount	Discount	OutputFormat = Currency	4.5625, 0.25
   Label	(Empty string)	lblOrderID	Order ID	(Empty string)	0.0625, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblProductID	Product ID	(Empty string)	1.1875, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblProductName	Product Name	(Empty string)	2.3125, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblQuantity	Quantity	(Empty string)	3.4275, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblDiscount	Discount	(Empty string)	4.5625, 0

Adding code to retrieve subreport data during run time

To write the code in Visual Basic

• Right-click in any section of the design window of rptMaster, and click on View Code to display the code view for the report. At the top left of the code view for rptMaster, 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 rptMaster's Detail_Format event. Add code to the handler to:

• Retrieve subreport data at run time

To write the code in C#

• Click in the Detail section of rptMaster to select the section. Click on the events icon in the Properties window to display available events for the section. Double-click Format. This creates 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

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

 

 

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