Besides previewing your report at design time, you can also view the reports you design in the Viewer. This viewer contains a toolbar and a sidebar with Thumbnails, Search results, Document map and Parameters panes.

Show Viewer Toolbar

The following table lists the actions you can perform through the Viewer toolbar.

Toolbar Element

Name

Description

First page

Takes you to the first page of the report. This button is enabled when a page other than the first page is open.

Last page

Takes you to the last page of the report. This button is disabled on reaching the last page of the report.

Takes you to the page prior to the current page. This button is enabled when a page other than the first page is open.

Takes you to the page following the current page. This button is disabled on reaching the last page of the report.

Current page

Opens a specific page in the report. To view a specific page, type the page number and press the Enter key.

Backward

Takes you to the last viewed page. This button is enabled when you move to any page from the initial report page. Clicking this button for the first time also enables the Forward button.

Forward

Takes you to last viewed page before you clicked the Backward button. This button is enabled once you click the Backward button.

Back to parent report

Returns you to the parent report in a drillthrough report.

Default

Allows you to specify a default mouse pointer mode.

Pan mode

A hand serves as the pointer that you can use to navigate the report.

Selection mode

Allows you to select contents on the report. Click the Copy icon (see image and description below) to copy the selected content to the clipboard.

Snapshot mode

Allows you to select content on the report that you can paste as an image into any application that accepts pasted images.

Toggle sidebar

Displays the sidebar that includes the Thumbnails, Parameters, Document map and Search results panes.

Displays the Print dialog where you can specify the printing options.

Galley mode

Provides a viewer mode which removes automatic page breaks from a Continuous Page Layout (CPL) and displays data in a single page. This mode maintains page breaks you create in the report and removes only automatic page breaks.

Copy

Copies text that you select in the Selection mode to the clipboard.

Note: In case the GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Export.Xml.v7.dll and GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Export.Word.v7.dll are not available in GAC, you might need to add references to these assembly files to enable the viewer's Copy button.

Find

Displays the Find dialog to find any text in the report.

Zoom out

Decreases the magnification of your report.

Current zoom

Displays the current zoom percentage which can also be edited.

Zoom in

Increases the magnification of your report.

Fit width

Fits the width of the page according to viewer dimensions.

Fit page

Fits the whole page within the current viewer dimensions.

Single page view

Shows one page at a time in the viewer.

Continuous view

Shows all preview pages one below the other.

Multipage view

Offers you an option to select how many pages to preview in the viewer at one time.

Refresh

Refreshes the report.

Caution: Refresh button gets disabled when you load a section report in the Viewer control through any of the following:

Cancel

Cancels the report rendering.

Show Viewer Sidebar

The Viewer sidebar appears on the left of the Viewer control when you click the Toggle sidebar button in the toolbar. By default, this sidebar shows the Thumbnails and Search Results panes. The additional Document map and Parameters also appear in this sidebar. You can toggle between any of the viewer panes by clicking the buttons for each pane at the bottom of the sidebar.

Show Thumbnails pane

The Thumbnails pane appears by default in the sidebar when you click the Toggle sidebar button in the toolbar.

This pane comprises of a thumbnail view of all the pages in a report. Click any thumbnail to navigate directly to the selected report page. You can also modify the size of the thumbnail when you click (+) or (-) button to zoom in and zoom out.

Click to Enlarge

Show Search results pane

The Search pane is the other default pane besides Thumbnails that appears in the sidebar when you click the Toggle sidebar button. This pane lets you enter a word or phrase from which to search within the report.

Click to Enlarge

To search in a report:

Enter the word or phrase in the search field.
Under Use these additional criteria, you may optionally choose to search for the whole word or match the case of the search string while searching in the report.
Click the Search button to see the results appear in the Find results list.
Click an item in the list to jump to that item in the report and highlight it.

To start a new search or clear the current search results, click the Clear button under the Find results list.

Show Document map pane

The Documents map pane is enabled for reports where the Label property or the Document map label is set. This pane displays each value for the text box, group, or sub report that you label, and you can click them to navigate to the corresponding area of the report in the Viewer.

Click to Enlarge

If a report does not have the Label property or Document map label set, the Documents map pane does not appear in the sidebar.

Show Parameters pane

The Viewer allows you to view reports with parameters. In the toolbar, click the Toggle sidebar button to open the Viewer sidebar and if your report contains parameters, the Parameters pane shows up automatically.

Click to Enlarge

In the Parameters pane, you are prompted to enter a value by which to filter the data to display.
Enter a value or set of values and click View report, to filter the report data and display the report.

If a report does not have parameters, the Parameters pane does not appear in the sidebar.

Display report output in the Viewer

The following code examples demonstrate how you can display the report output in the Viewer.

In a Visual Studio Windows Forms application, from the Visual Studio toolbox, drag the Viewer control onto your Windows Form.
Set the viewer's Dock property to Fill to show the complete Viewer control on the Form.
Double-click the title bar of the Form to create an event-handling method for the Form_Load event.

In the Form_Load event, add code like the following to run the report and display it in the viewer. Each of these code snippets presumes a report in the project of the type indicated with the default name. (If you have renamed your report, you need to rename it in the code as well)

Show To write the code in Visual Basic.NET

The following example demonstrates how you display a page report in the Viewer control.

Visual Basic. NET code. Paste INSIDE the Form_Load event.	Copy Code
Dim file_name As String = "..\..\PageReport1.rdlx" Dim pageReport As New GrapeCity.ActiveReports.PageReport(New System.IO.FileInfo(file_name)) Dim pageDocument As New GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Document.PageDocument(pageReport) Viewer1.LoadDocument(pageDocument)

Visual Basic. NET code. Paste INSIDE the Form_Load event.

Copy Code

Dim file_name As String = "..\..\PageReport1.rdlx"
Dim pageReport As New GrapeCity.ActiveReports.PageReport(New System.IO.FileInfo(file_name))
Dim pageDocument As New GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Document.PageDocument(pageReport)
Viewer1.LoadDocument(pageDocument)

The following example demonstrates how you can display a section report (code-based) in the Viewer control.

Visual Basic. NET code. Paste INSIDE the Form_Load event.	Copy Code
Dim sectionReport As New SectionReport1() Viewer1.LoadDocument(sectionReport)

The following example demonstrates how you can display a section report (xml-based) in the Viewer control.

Visual Basic. NET code. Paste INSIDE the Form_Load event.	Copy Code
Dim sectionReport As New GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReport() Dim xtr As New System.Xml.XmlTextReader("..\..\SectionReport1.rpx") sectionReport.LoadLayout(xtr) xtr.Close() Viewer1.LoadDocument(sectionReport)

Visual Basic. NET code. Paste INSIDE the Form_Load event.

Copy Code

Dim sectionReport As New GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReport()
Dim xtr As New System.Xml.XmlTextReader("..\..\SectionReport1.rpx")
sectionReport.LoadLayout(xtr)
xtr.Close()
Viewer1.LoadDocument(sectionReport)

Show To write the code in C#

The following example demonstrates how you display a page report in the Viewer control.

C# code. Paste INSIDE the Form_Load event.	Copy Code
string file_name = @"..\..\PageReport1.rdlx"; GrapeCity.ActiveReports.PageReport pageReport = new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.PageReport(new System.IO.FileInfo(file_name)); GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Document.PageDocument pageDocument = new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Document.PageDocument(pageReport); viewer1.LoadDocument(pageDocument);

C# code. Paste INSIDE the Form_Load event.

Copy Code

string file_name = @"..\..\PageReport1.rdlx";
GrapeCity.ActiveReports.PageReport pageReport = new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.PageReport(new System.IO.FileInfo(file_name));
GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Document.PageDocument pageDocument = new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Document.PageDocument(pageReport);
viewer1.LoadDocument(pageDocument);

The following example demonstrates how you can display a section report (code-based) in the Viewer control.

C# code. Paste INSIDE the Form_Load event.	Copy Code
SectionReport1 sectionReport = new SectionReport1(); viewer1.LoadDocument(sectionReport);

The following example demonstrates how you can display a section report (xml-based) in the Viewer control.

C# code. Paste INSIDE the Form_Load event	Copy Code
GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReport sectionReport = new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReport(); System.Xml.XmlTextReader xtr = new System.Xml.XmlTextReader(@"..\..\SectionReport1.rpx"); sectionReport.LoadLayout(xtr); xtr.Close(); viewer1.LoadDocument(sectionReport);

C# code. Paste INSIDE the Form_Load event

Copy Code

GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReport sectionReport = new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReport();
System.Xml.XmlTextReader xtr = new System.Xml.XmlTextReader(@"..\..\SectionReport1.rpx");
sectionReport.LoadLayout(xtr);
xtr.Close();
viewer1.LoadDocument(sectionReport);

Additional Features

Following is an introduction to the additional capabilities of the Viewer to guide you on using it effectively:

Show Split windows

Run your viewer project.
Click above the vertical scrollbar to grab the splitter control and drag downward.
With the viewer split into two sections, you can easily compare report pages.

Show Advanced Printing

Viewer provides advanced printing options that allow you to control the report page layout and watermark settings through the Page Setup dialog. In this dialog, you can also preview the report as it would appear with each print setting. See Use Advanced Printing Options for further details.

Show Exporting

Use the Export Filters to export a page or a section report to different formats directly from the Viewer. After you load the document in the Viewer, you can use a sample code like the following which shows one overload of the Export method with a PDF export filter. This code creates an outputPDF.pdf file in the bin\debug folder of your project.

Show To write the code in Visual Basic.NET

Visual Basic. NET code. Paste INSIDE an event like Button_Click event.	Copy Code
Dim PDFEx As New GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Export.Pdf.Section.PdfExport Viewer1.Export(PDFEx, New FileInfo(Application.StartupPath + "\outputPDF.pdf"))

Show To write the code in C#

C# code. Paste INSIDE an event like Button_Click event.	Copy Code
GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Export.Pdf.Section.PdfExport PDFEx = new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Export.Pdf.Section.PdfExport(); viewer1.Export(PDFEx, new System.IO.FileInfo (Application.StartupPath + "\\outputPDF.pdf" ));

C# code. Paste INSIDE an event like Button_Click event.

Copy Code

GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Export.Pdf.Section.PdfExport PDFEx = new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Export.Pdf.Section.PdfExport();
viewer1.Export(PDFEx, new System.IO.FileInfo (Application.StartupPath + "\\outputPDF.pdf" ));

Note: Make sure that you add a reference to the required export assembly in your project before setting the export filter in code. See Export Filters further details.

Show Annotations Toolbar

You can use annotations when working with a report in the Viewer and add notes, special instructions or images directly to the reports.

Annotations are added via the Viewer's toolbar, which is hidden by default. You can make the Annotations toolbar available by setting the AnnotationToolbarVisible property to true in the viewer's properties grid.

Annotation Name	Description
AnnotationText	A rectangular box in which you can enter text.
AnnotationCircle	A circle without text. You can change the shape to an oval.
AnnotationRectangle	A rectangular box without text.
AnnotationArrow	A 2D arrow in which you can enter text. You can change the arrow direction.
AnnotationBalloon	A balloon caption in which you can enter text. You can point the balloon's tail in any direction.
AnnotationLine	A line with text above or below it. You can add arrow caps to one or both ends and select different dash styles.
AnnotationImage	A rectangle with a background image and text. You can select an image and its position, and place text on the image.

Show Keyboard Shortcuts

The following shortcuts are available on the Viewer:

Keyboard Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + F	Shows the find dialog.
Ctrl + P	Shows the print dialog.
Esc	Closes the find or print dialogs.
Page Down	Moves to the next page.
Page Up	Moves to the previous page.
Ctrl + T	Shows or hides the table of contents.
Ctrl + Home	Moves to the first page.
Ctrl + End	Moves to the last page.
Ctrl + Right	Navigates forward.
Ctrl + Left	Navigates backward.
Ctrl + -	Zooms out.
Ctrl + +	Zooms in.
Left, Right, Up, Down	Moves the visible area of the page in the corresponding direction.
Ctrl + 0 (zero)	Sets the zoom level to 100%.
Ctrl + rotate mouse wheel	Changes the zoom level up or down.
Ctrl + M	Turns on the continuous view.
Ctrl + S	Turns off the continuous view.
Ctrl + I	Shows multiple pages.
Ctrl + G	Focuses on PageNumber area and selects content.
F5	Refreshes the report.
Home	Moves to the start of the current page.
End	Moves to the end of the current page.

Show Viewer's Thumbnails pane shortcut keys

You can use the following shortcut keys while using the thumbnails pane in the Viewer.

Keyboard Shortcut	Action
Up Arrow	Goes to the previous page.
Down Arrow	Goes to the next page.
Right Arrow	Goes to right page. If no thumbnail exist on the right, it goes to the next page.
Left Arrow	Goes to left page. If no thumbnail exist on the left, it goes to the previous page.
Page Down	Scroll to the next thumbnail's view port. It also keep the current selected page unchanged.
Page Up	Scroll to the previous thumbnail's view port. It also keep the current selected page unchanged.
Home	Goes to the first page.
End	Goes to last page.

ActiveReports Developer 7
Using the Viewer
See Also Support Forum

Display report output in the Viewer

Additional Features

See Also