ActiveReports allows you to create Master Detail reports with data from an XML database.

This walkthrough illustrates how to create a Master Detail report using XML data and grouping.

This walkthrough is split up into the following activities:

• Adding an ActiveReport to a Visual Studio project
• Connecting the report to a XML data source
• Adding controls to the report to contain data
• Viewing the report 

To complete the walkthrough, you must have access to the XML Customer database (Customer.xml).

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

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 rptMD.
4. Click Open.

Connecting the report to a XML 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 the Data Source drop-down arrow and select XML.
3. Click on the ellipsis beside File URL to browse for the access path to Customer.xml. Click Open once you have selected the appropriate access path.
4. In the Recordset Pattern field, type "//ITEM".
5. 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 two GroupHeader/Footer sections to your report.
2. Make the following changes to the group header below the page header:
   • Change the name to ghCustomer
   • Change the DataField property to ../../@id
3. Make the following changes to the group header above the Detail section:
   • Change the name to ghOrders
   • Change the DataField property to ../Number
4. Add the following controls to ghCustomer:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Location
   Label	(Empty string)	lblID	ID	0, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblEmailAddress	E-mail Address	2, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblName	Name	4, 0
   TextBox	../../@id	txtID	ID	0, 0.25
   TextBox	../../@email	txtEmail	E-mail	2, 0.25
   TextBox	../../@NAME	txtName	Name	4, 0.25

5. Add the following controls to ghOrders:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Location
   TextBox	../NUMBER	txtNumber	Number	1, 0
   TextBox	../DATE	txtDate	Date	4.510, 0

6. Add the following controls to the Detail section:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Misc Details	Location
   Label	(Empty string)	lblISBN	ISBN	(Empty string)	0, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblBookTitle	Book Title	(Empty string)	1.437, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblPrice	Price	(Empty string)	5.458, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblAuthor	Author	(Empty string)	3.187, 0
   Label	(Empty string)	lblPublisher	Publisher	(Empty string)	4.312, 0
   TextBox	@isbn	txtISBN	ISBN	(Empty string)	0.0625, 0.312
   TextBox	TITLE	txtTitle	Title	(Empty string)	1.437, 0.312
   TextBox	AUTHOR	txtAuthor	Author	(Empty string)	3.187, 0.312
   TextBox	PUBLISHER	txtPublisher	Publisher	(Empty string)	4.312, 0.312
   TextBox	PRICE	txtPrice	Price	OutputFormat = Currency	5.437, 0.312

7. Add the following controls to GroupFooter2:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Misc Details	Location
   Label	(Empty string)	lblSubtotal	Subtotal	(Empty string)	3, 0
   TextBox	PRICE	txtSubtotal	Subtotal	OutputFormat = Currency SummaryType = SubTotal SummaryGroup = ghOrders	4, 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 | OutputFormat Strings

 

 

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