ActiveReports allows you to use scripting to permit reports saved to an XML file to contain code. By including scripting when the RPX files are saved into XML, the reports later can be loaded, run and displayed directly into the viewer control without the use of the designer.

This walkthrough illustrates how to include scripting in a report.

This walkthrough is split into the following activities:

• Adding an ActiveReport to a Visual Studio project
• Adding controls to contain the data
• Adding scripting to set the data connection, add fields to the report's fields collection, and populate the report fields
• Adding a script reference and 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 an ActiveReport to a Visual Studio project

To add an ActiveReport to your project

1. Open a new project in Visual Studio.
2. From the Project menu, select Add New Item...
3. Select ActiveReports File and name the file rptScript.
4. Click Open.

Adding controls to the report to contain data

To add controls to the report

1. Right-click anywhere on the report and select Insert > Group Header/Footer.
2. Make the following changes to the group header:
   • Change the name to ghCategories
   • Change the DataField property to CategoryID
   • Set the GroupKeepTogether property to All
   • Set the Height property to 0.75 in
   • Set the KeepTogether property to True
3. Make the following change to the group footer:
• Change the name to gfCategories
4. Make the following change to the Detail section:
• Change the Height property to 0.25 in
5. Add the following controls to the GroupHeader section:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Location
   TextBox	CategoryName	txtCategoryName	Category Name	0, 0
   TextBox	Description	txtDescription	Description	0, 0.25
   Label	(Empty string)	lblProductName	Product Name	0, 0.5
   Label	(Empty string)	lblUnitsInStock	Units in Stock	5, 0.5

6. Add the following controls to the Detail section:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Location
   TextBox	ProductName	txtProductName	Product Name	0, 0
   TextBox	UnitsInStock	txtUnitsInStock	Units in Stock	5, 0

7. Add the following controls to the GroupFooter section:

   Control	DataField	Name	Text/Caption	Misc. Details	Location
   Label	TotalLabel	lblTotalLabel	Total Label	Width = 2.75	2.25, 0
   TextBox	ProductName	txtTotalItems	Total Items	Summary Type = Subtotal SummaryFunc = Count SummaryRunning = Group SummaryGroup = ghCategories	5, 0

Adding scripting to add data to the controls

To add scripting to the report

1. Below the report designer, you will find two tabs. The one on the left is for the Script view, and the one on the right is for the Design view. Click the View Script tab.

   

2. Add the scripting code.

   The following example shows what the scripting code looks like.

   //C#
   private System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection conn;
   private System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataReader reader;
   private bool moreRows = true;
   
   private string GetDatabasePath()
   {
   	Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey key = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine;
   	key = key.OpenSubKey( "SOFTWARE\\Data Dynamics\\ActiveReports for .NET 2.0\\
   		SampleDB" );
   	
   	if( key == null )
   		return "";
   		
   	return (string) key.GetValue("");
   }
   
   public void ActiveReport_ReportStart()
   {
   	string dbPath = GetDatabasePath();
   	string connStr = @"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + dbPath 
   		+ "\\NWind.mdb";
   	string sql = "SELECT Categories.CategoryID, CategoryName, ProductName, 
   		UnitsInStock, Description FROM Categories INNER JOIN Products ON 
   		Categories.CategoryID = Products.CategoryID ORDER BY Products.CategoryID, 
   		Products.ProductID";
   	
   	conn = new System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection( connStr );
   	System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand cmd = new 
   		System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand( sql, conn );
   	
   	conn.Open();
   	reader = cmd.ExecuteReader();
   }
   
   public void ActiveReport_DataInitialize()
   {
   	rpt.Fields.Add( "CategoryID" );
   	rpt.Fields.Add( "CategoryName" );
   	rpt.Fields.Add( "ProductName" );
   	rpt.Fields.Add( "UnitsInStock" );
   	rpt.Fields.Add( "Description" );
   	rpt.Fields.Add( "TotalLabel" );
   	
   	moreRows = reader.Read();
   }
   
   public bool ActiveReport_FetchData(bool eof)
   {
   	if( moreRows )
   	{
   		rpt.Fields["CategoryID"].Value = reader["CategoryID"]
   			.ToString();
   		rpt.Fields["CategoryName"].Value = reader["CategoryName"].ToString();
   		rpt.Fields["ProductName"].Value = reader["ProductName"].ToString();
   		rpt.Fields["UnitsInStock"].Value = reader["UnitsInStock"].ToString();
   		rpt.Fields["Description"].Value = reader["Description"].ToString();
   		rpt.Fields["TotalLabel"].Value = "Total Number of " + 
   			reader["CategoryName"].ToString() + ":";
   	}
   	
   	moreRows = reader.Read();
   	
   	eof = !moreRows;
   	
   	return eof;
   }
   
   bool color = false;
   public void Detail_Format()
   {
   	if( color )
   		rpt.Sections["Detail"].BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.DarkSeaGreen;
   	else
   		rpt.Sections["Detail"].BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
   		
   	color = !color;
   }
   
   public void ActiveReport_ReportEnd()
   {
   	reader.Close();
   	conn.Close();
   }

Adding a script reference and viewing the report

To add a script reference and view the report

1. Add the ActiveReports viewer control to a Windows Form and set its Dock property to Fill.
2. Add the code needed to set the viewer document equal to the report document and to make System.Data.dll available to the script:

To write the code for the viewer in Visual Basic

• Right-click on 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 (Form1 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.

To write the code for the viewer in C#

• Click on the blue section at the top of Form1 to select the form. Click on the events icon in the Properties window to display available events for Form1. Double-click Load. This creates an event-handling method for the Form1_Load event. 

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

  ' Visual Basic
  Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles _
  	MyBase.Load
  	Dim rpt As New rptScript()
  	rpt.AddScriptReference( "System.Data.dll" )
  	rpt.Run()
  	Viewer1.Document = rpt.Document
  End Sub

  //C#
  private void Form1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
  {
  	rptMain rpt = new rptScript();
  	rpt.AddScriptReference( "System.Data.dll" );
  	rpt.Run();
  	this.viewer1.Document = rpt.Document;
  }

Samples | Walkthroughs | Scripting

 

 

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