ActiveReports Developer 7
ActiveReports Editions
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ActiveReports Developer 7 > ActiveReports Developer Guide > Welcome to ActiveReports Developer 7 > ActiveReports Editions

Glossary Item Box

ActiveReports Developer 7 is an enhancement of the popular ActiveReports engine and report viewers, plus the powerful Data Dynamics Reports designer. It includes the same power and flexibility of ActiveReports and the same integration with the Visual Studio, plus adds many features.

Available in two editions, Standard and Professional, ActiveReports Developer 7 delivers outstanding reporting capabilities. Drop down the sections below to see the features packed into each edition.

ShowStandard Edition Features

The Standard Edition provides a report designer that is fully integrated with the Visual Studio IDE, a report viewer for Windows Forms, and export filters for generating reports in various file formats. The report designer even includes a barcode control with all of the most popular barcode styles, and its own chart control.

Designer

  • Full integration with the .NET environment
  • Familiar user interfaces
  • Choice of section or page report types
    • C# and VB.NET support with code-based section reports
    • Script support with XML-based section reports
    • Expression support with page reports
  • The ability to compile reports into the application for speed and security or to keep them separate for ease of updating
  • Designer hosting of .NET and user controls

Report Controls

Section Reports Page Reports
  • ReportInfo
  • Label
  • Line
  • PageBreak
  • OleObject
  • Subreport
  • Shape
  • Picture
  • RichTextBox with HTML tag support
  • ChartControl with separate data source
  • Textbox
  • Barcode with standard styles plus RSS and UPC styles
  • Checkbox
  • CrossSectionBox extends from a header section to the related footer section
  • CrossSectionLine extends from a header section to the related footer section
  • Table data region
  • Matrix data region
  • Chart data region
  • List data region
  • BandedList data region
  • Calendar data region
  • Sparkline data region
  • FormattedText with mail merge capabilities and XHTML + CSS support
  • Bullet Graph
  • BarCode
  • TextBox
  • Line
  • Container
  • Shape
  • Image
  • Subreport
  • Overflow Placeholder

Expressions (page reports only)

  • Aggregates
  • Data visualization
    • Data bar
    • Icon set
    • Range bar
    • Color scale

Interactive Features

  • Document map (table of contents)
  • Bookmark links, hyperlinks, and drill through links
  • Parameters
  • Drill-down (page reports only)
  • Copy, pan, and zoom
  • Jump to previous, next, first, or last group or search result

Reporting Engine

  • Managed code
  • Binding to ADO.NET, XML, iList, and custom data sources
  • Master reports, themes, and styles
  • All of the features of previous versions of ActiveReports and Data Dynamics Reports

Windows Forms Report Viewer

  • Managed C# code
  • Very small deployment assembly, suitable for use on the Internet
  • Table of contents and bookmarks
  • Thumbnail view
  • HyperLinking
  • Annotations (section reports only)
  • Configurable scroll bar jump buttons (like those found in Microsoft® Word®)
  • Parameters
  • Bookmark links, hyperlinks and drillthrough links
  • Interactive sorting (page reports only)

Export Filters

ActiveReports includes export filters to generate output into many popular formats.

Export formats Section report Page report
Html: Export reports to HTML, DHTML, or MHT formats, all of which open in a Web browser.
Pdf: Export reports to PDF, a portable document format that opens in the Adobe Reader. The PDF export includes the PDF/A support.
Rtf: Export reports to RTF, RichText format that opens in Microsoft Word, and is native to WordPad.
Doc: Export reports to Word, a format that opens in Microsoft Word.
Text: Export reports to TXT, plain text, a format that opens in Notepad or any text editor. Export reports to CSV, comma separated values, a format that you can open in Microsoft Excel.
Image: Export reports to BMP, EMF, GIF, JPEG, or PNG image format.
Tiff: Export reports to TIFF image format for optical archiving and faxing.
Excel: Export reports to formats that open in Microsoft Excel, XLS or XLSX (Excel 2007).
Xml: Export reports to XML, a format that opens in a Web browser or delivers data to other applications.

Import Filters

  • Access® Reports
  • Crystal Reports
  • ActiveReports (older code-based reports only; XML-based reports open without importing)

Stand-Alone Applications

  • A Report Designer application and a Report Viewer application are also included for your convenience. They can be opened from the Start menu, and neither requires Visual Studio.
  • The Report Designer application contains all the functionality of the integrated Report Designer.
  • The Report Viewer application contains all the functionality of the ReportPreview control.

WPF Viewer

  • Managed C# code
  • Table of contents and bookmarks
  • Thumbnail view
  • Parameters
  • Annotations
  • Configurable scroll bar jump buttons (like those found in Microsoft® Word®)
  • Bookmark links, hyperlinks and drillthrough links
  • Interactive sorting

ShowProfessional Edition Features

The Professional Edition includes all of the features of the Standard Edition and supports the following additional features:

End-User Report Designer

The control is a run-time designer that may be distributed royalty-free. It allows the ActiveReports designer to be hosted in an application and provides end-user report editing capabilities. The control's methods and properties provide easy access for saving and loading report layouts, monitoring and controlling the design environment, and customizing the look and feel to the needs of end users.

ASP.NET Integration

  • The Web server control provides convenience for running and exporting reports in ASP.NET.
  • HTTP Handler extensions allow report files (RPX or RDLX) or compiled assemblies containing reports to be dropped on the server and hyperlinked.

Silverlight Viewer Control

  • The Silverlight viewer control allows you to provide in- or out-of-browser report viewing in your Silverlight applications.
  • Like our other viewers, the Silverlight viewer control offers customization and localization.

WebViewer Control

  • The WebViewer control allows quick viewing of ActiveReports on the web as well as printing capability with the AcrobatReader ViewerType enumeration.
  • Flash ViewerType enumeration supports multiple browsers and offers customization and localization options.

HTTP Handlers

  • The RPX and RDLX HTTPHandler allows the developer to hyperlink ActiveReports on a web page to return HTML format or PDF format reports for viewing and/or printing.
  • The Compiled Report HTTPHandler allows the developer to hyperlink ActiveReports compiled in an assembly on a web page to return HTML format or PDF format reports for viewing and/or printing.

PdfSignature and TimeStamp Features

  • The PdfSignature class allows you to provide PDF document digital signatures and certification.
  • The PdfStamp class allows you to draw the digital signatures and certification onto the documents.
  • The TimeStamp class allows you to add a TSA (Time Stamping Authority) stamp to your digital signatures.

Font Linking

  • Font linking helps you resolve the situation when fonts on a deployment machine do not have the glyphs that were used in a development environment.
  • By linking fonts, you can resolve the problem with a different PDF output on deployment and development machines that may occur due to the missing glyphs.

Font Fallback

  • If missing glyphs are not found in linked fonts, the PDF export filter looks for the glyphs in fonts declared in the FontFallback property.
  • A default font is used if you do not declare one, or you can declare an empty string for this property to leave out missing glyphs from the exported file.

Bold Font Emulation (PDF Export Filter)

Some fonts (for example, Franklin Gothic Medium, Microsoft Sans Serif, most East Asian fonts, etc.) may lose bold style for the PDF output. The Professional Edition provides bold style emulation in the PDF export filter to eliminate this limitation.

ShowComparison Between Editions

Professional Edition features are disabled or marked with an evaluation banner if you have purchased a Standard Edition license.

Features Standard Professional
Visual Studio Controls
Web Forms WebViewer: Use this control to display your reports on the Web. Includes viewer types HTML, PDF, and Flash.
Silverlight Viewer: Use this control to display your reports in Silverlight 4 or higher, and for out-of-browser viewing.
HTTP Handlers: PDF and HTML (compiled report, RPX file)
Windows Forms Viewer: Use this control to offer your users report zoom and preview, multiple tabs for hyperlinks, split-page and multi-page views, a Table of Contents pane, a Thumbnails pane, text searches, and annotations.
Designer: Use this control to create a royalty-free, custom designer that your end users can use to create and modify their own reports.
ReportExplorer: Use this control along with the Designer control to provide functionality to your users.
ToolBox: Use this control along with the Designer control to provide report controls for your users.
WPF Viewer Viewer: Use this control to display your section and page reports. The Viewer offers the Thumbnails pane, the Parameters pane, the Document map pane, the Search results pane, and the Annotations toolbar.
Web and Windows Forms HtmlExport: Export reports to HTML, DHTML, or MHT formats that open in a Web browser.
PdfExport: Export reports to PDF, a portable document format that opens in the Adobe Reader.
RtfExport: Export reports to RTF, RichText format that opens in Microsoft Word, and is native to WordPad.
WordExport: Export reports to Word HTML, a format that opens in Microsoft Word.
TextExport: Export reports to TXT, plain text, a format that opens in Notepad or any text editor.
This export filter can also export reports to CSV, comma separated values, a format that you can open in Microsoft Excel.
ImageExport: Export reports to BMP, EMF, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, or PNG image format.
Note that you can only export section reports to the TIFF image type. All other image types are for page reports.
XlsExport: Export reports to formats that open in Microsoft Excel, XLS or XLSX (Excel 2007).
XmlExport: Export reports to XML, a format that opens in a Web browser or delivers data to other applications.
PDF Export Advanced Features Digital signatures
Time stamp
EUDC
Select from Japanese embedded fonts or unembedded fonts *1
Bold
Italic
Multi Language ✓ *2
PDF/A Support
Integrated Report Designer
Design Format Section reports support banded layouts.
Page reports support fixed page layouts (FPL) and continuous page layouts (CPL).
Script and Code In section reports, you can add C# or VB code to events behind your code-based reports, or add script to events in the script editor in XML-based reports.
In page reports, you can use regular expressions in any property, plus you can add VB.NET methods to the code tab, and call them in your expressions.
Report File Formats You can save and load page reports in RDLX (extended RDL) format.
You can save and load section reports in RPX (report XML) format, and you can compile section reports in CS or VB code formats.
Report Controls The BarCode control supports all of the following styles:
ANSI 3 of 9 ANSI Extended 3 of 9 Code 2 of 5 Interleaved 2 of 5
Code 25 Matrix Code 39 Extended Code 39 Code 128 A
Code 128 B Code 128 C Code 128 Auto Code 93
Extended Code 93 MSI PostNet Codabar
EAN-8 EAN-13 UPC-A UPC-E0
UPC-E1 RoMail RM4SCC UCC/EAN-128 QRCode
Code 49 Japanese Postal Pdf417 EAN-128 FNC1
RSS-14 RSS-14 Truncated RSS-14 Stacked
RSS-14 Stacked Omnidirectional RSS Expanded RSS Expanded Stacked
The Chart control supports all of the following styles:

  • Common Charts: Area, Bar2D, Bezier, Doughnut/Pie, Line, Scatter, StackedArea, StackedBar, StackedArea100Pct, and StackedBar100Pct
  • 3D Charts: Area3D, Bar3D, ClusteredBar, Line3D, Doughnut3D/Pie, StackedBar3D, and StackedBar3D100Pct
  • XY Charts: Bubble, BubbleXY, LineXY, and PlotXY
  • Financial Charts: Candle, HiLo, and HiLoOpenClose
Other report controls include:
Label TextBox CheckBox Picture
Line Shape RichText PageBreak
SubReport ReportInfo CrossSectionLine CrossSectionBox
Styles and Report Settings You can control page settings, printer settings, global settings such as grid display, grid size, and whether to show a verification dialog when deleting controls. You can specify row count or column count in grids, ruler units, and how many pages to display in previews.
External Style Sheets You can reuse report designer styles by saving and loading style information in external files.
Others The designer also offers snaplines, report preview, designer zoom, various formatting settings, control and text alignment settings, Z order settings, unbound fields, and parameters support.
Input and Output
Data Supported data includes: ADO.NET data provider, ADO.NET data class (DataSet, DataTable, DataReader, DataView), Oracle data, XML data, and unbound data
Printing You can control the page size, orientation, and margins, as well as specifying bound (double page spread), collating, duplex printing, and paper feed trays.

*1: Japanese fonts can only be output as embedded fonts. *2: Cannot handle output of multiple language fonts in a single control. Please refer to Multi-Language PDF for details.

See Also

Getting Started
Getting Started

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