1. Create a new Visual Studio project.
2. From the Project menu, select Add New Item.
3. In the Add New Item dialog that appears, select ActiveReports 7 Section Report (code-based) and in the Name field, rename the file as rptLetter.
4. Click the Add button to open a new section report in the designer.

See Adding an ActiveReport to a Project for information on adding different report layouts.

1. On the detail section band, click the Data Source Icon.
   
2. In the Report Data Source dialog that appears, on the OLE DB tab, next to Connection String, click the Build button.
3. In the Data Link Properties window that appears, select Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider and click the Next button to move to the Connection tab.
4. Click the ellipsis (...) button to browse to your database, for example the NWind.mdb sample database. Click Open once you have selected the appropriate database path.
5. Click the Test Connection button to see if you have successfully connected to the database.
6. Click OK to close the Data Link Properties window and return to the Report Data Source dialog. Notice that the Connection String field gets filled automatically.
7. In the Query field on the OLE DB tab, enter the following SQL query.

   SQL Query	Copy Code
   SELECT Customers.CustomerID, Customers.CompanyName, Customers.ContactName, Customers.Address, Customers.City, Customers.Region, Customers.Country, Customers.PostalCode, Orders.OrderID, Orders.OrderDate, [Order Subtotals].Subtotal FROM Customers INNER JOIN ([Order Subtotals] INNER JOIN Orders ON [Order Subtotals].OrderID = Orders.OrderID) ON Customers.CustomerID = Orders.CustomerID

8. Click OK to save the data source and return to the report design surface.

1. On the design surface of the report, right-click and select Insert, then Group Header/Footer to add group header and footer sections.
2. On the design surface, select the grey area outside the report and in the Properties window, set the PrintWidth property to 6.5. 
3. Select the group header and in the Properties window, set the properties as follows.

   Property Name	Property Value
   DataField	CustomerID
   Height	2.5
   KeepTogether	True

4. On the design surface of the report, select the group footer section and in the Properties window, set the following properties. 

   Property Name	Property Value
   Height	1.1
   KeepTogether	True
   NewPage	After

5. On the design surface of the report, select the detail section and in the Properties window, set the CanShrink property to True.
6. On the design surface of the report, select the pageHeader section and in the Properties window, set the following properties.

   Property Name	Property Value
   Height	0.8
   BackColor	Coral

7. From the toolbox, drag the Label control to the pageHeader section and in the Properties window, set the properties as follows.

   Label

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	0, 0 in
   Size	6.5, 0.65 in
   Text	ComponentOne
   Font Size	36
   Font Bold	True

8. In the Report Explorer, expand the Fields node, then the Bound node. Drag the SubTotal field onto the groupHeader section and in the Properties window, set the following properties.

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	4, 0 in
   Size	1, 0.2 in
   Name	txtSubtotal1
   OutputFormat	Currency
   Visible	False
   SummaryType	SubTotal
   SummaryGroup	GroupHeader1

   Note: Even though txtSubtotal1 is hidden, setting its properties is important as it provides the value and the formatting that is displayed in the RichText control.

9. From the toolbox, drag the following controls to the groupHeader section and in the Properties window, set the properties as follows.

   RichTextBox

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	0, 0 in
   Size	6.5, 2.1 in
   AutoReplaceFields	True

   Label1

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	0.875, 2.25 in
   Size	1, 0.2 in
   Text	Order ID
   Font Bold	True

   Label2

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	1.875, 2.25 in
   Size	1, 0.2 in
   Text	Order Date
   Font Bold	True

   Label3

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	4.375, 2.25 in
   Size	1, 0.2 in
   Text	Amount
   Font Bold	True
   Alignment	Right

10. In the Report Explorer, expand the Fields node, then the Bound node. Drag the following fields onto the detail section and in the Properties window, set the properties of each textbox as follows.

    TextBox1 (OrderID)

    Property Name	Property Value
    Location	0.875, 0 in
    Size	1, 0.2 in

    TextBox2 (OrderDate)

    Property Name	Property Value
    Location	1.875, 0 in
    Size	1, 0.2 in
    OutputFormat	MM/dd/yy

    TextBox3 (Subtotal)

    Property Name	Property Value
    Location	4.375, 0 in
    Size	1, 0.2 in
    OutputFormat	Currency
    Alignment	Right

11. From the toolbox, drag the following controls to the groupFooter section and in the Properties window, set the properties as follows.

    Label1

    Property Name	Property Value
    Location	5.15, 0.15 in
    Size	1.35, 0.2 in
    Text	Best regards,
    Alignment	Right

    Label2

    Property Name	Property Value
    Location	5.15, 0.8 in
    Size	1.35, 0.2 in
    Text	Accounts Receivable

12. From the toolbox, drag a Label control to the pageFooter section and in the Properties window, set the properties as follows.

    Label

    Property Name	Property Value
    Location	0, 0 in
    Size	6.5, 0.2 in
    Text	GrapeCity, 401 Parkplace, Suite 411, Kirkland, WA 98033
    Alignment	Center

1. Double-click the RichTextBox control box and delete the default text.
2. Right-click the box and choose Insert Fields.
3. In the Insert Field dialog that appears, enter Date and click OK.
4. Place the cursor in front of the text [!Date] that appears in the RichText control, and add spaces until the text is at the right edge of the control (but not overlapping to the next line).
5. Place the cursor at the end of the text, and press the Enter key to move to the next line.
6. Insert each of the following fields using the Insert Field dialog (see design time image above for fields arrangement):
   • CompanyName
   • ContactName
   • Address
   • City
   • Region
   • Country
   • PostalCode
   • SubTotal 
7. Add the following text to the RichText control box after all of the fields.

   Paste into the RichText control	Copy Code
   Dear [!ContactName], Thank you for your business. Below is a list of your orders for the past year with a total of [!SubTotal]. Please take this opportunity to review each order and total for accuracy. Call us at 1-800-DNT-CALL with any questions or concerns.

8. Arrange the text and fields within the control as you would in any text editor.

To write the code in Visual Basic

1. At the top left of the code view for the report, click the drop-down arrow and select (rptLetter Events).
2. At the top right of the code window, click the drop-down arrow and select FetchData. This creates an event-handling method for the report's FetchData event.
3. Add code to the handler to add a comma and a space if there is a Region value for the customer's address.

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

Visual Basic.NET code. Paste JUST ABOVE the FetchData event.	Copy Code
Dim region As String

Visual Basic.NET code. Paste INSIDE the FetchData event.	Copy Code
'If there is no region for the customer, display nothing If Fields("Region").Value Is System.DBNull.Value Then region = "" Else 'If there is a region, add a comma and a space region = ", " + Fields("Region").Value End If

To write the code in C#

1. Back in design view, click in the gray area below the report to select it.
2. Click the events icon in the Properties window to display available events for the report.
3. Double-click FetchData. This creates an event-handling method for the report's FetchData event.
4. Add code to the handler to add a comma and a space if there is a Region value for the customer's address.

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

C# code. Paste JUST ABOVE the FetchData event.	Copy Code
string region;

C# code. Paste INSIDE the FetchData event.	Copy Code
if(Fields["Region"].Value is System.DBNull) region = ""; else region = ", " + Fields["Region"].Value.ToString();

1. Double-click in the group header section of the report to create an event-handling method for the group header's Format event.
2. Add code to the handler to:
   • Replace the Date field in the RichText control with the current system date
   • Replace the Region field with the conditional value created in the FetchData event

To write the code in Visual Basic.NET

Visual Basic.NET code. Paste INSIDE the Group Header Format event.	Copy Code
'Use the current date in the letter Me.RichTextBox1.ReplaceField("Date", System.DateTime.Today.Date.ToShortDateString()) 'Use the value returned by the FetchData event Me.RichTextBox1.ReplaceField("Region", region)

To write the code in C#

C# code. Paste INSIDE the Group Header Format event.	Copy Code
//Use the current date in the letter this.richTextBox1.ReplaceField("Date", System.DateTime.Today.Date.ToShortDateString()); //Use the value returned by the FetchData event this.richTextBox1.ReplaceField("Region", region);

To write the code in Visual Basic.NET

To write the code in C#

• Click the preview tab to view the report at design time.

OR

• Open the report in the Viewer. See Using the Viewer for further information.