This walkthrough explains the steps involved in connecting a page report to an XML data source and creating a dataset. It also demonstrates the use of the List control.

The walkthrough is split up into the following activities:

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

Note:

This walkthrough uses the Factbook sample database. By default, in ActiveReports, the Factbook.rdsx file is located at [User Documents folder]\GrapeCity Samples\ActiveReports 9\Data\Factbook.rdsx.
Although this walkthrough uses Page reports, but this can be implemented using RDL reports also.

When you complete this walkthrough you get a layout that looks similar to the following at design time and at runtime.

Design Time Layout

Runtime Layout

To add an ActiveReport to the Visual Studio project

To connect the report to a data source

To add a dataset

In the Report Explorer, right-click the data source node and select the Add Data Set option or select Data Set from the Add button.
In the DataSet Dialog that appears, select the General page and enter the name of the dataset as ExchangeRates.
On the Query page, enter the following XML path into the Query text box to access data for every country except "World":
//country [@name != 'World']

On the Fields page, enter the values in the table below to create fields for your report. Values for XML data fields must be valid XPath expressions.

Field Name	Type	Value
Name	Database Field	@name
Currency	Database Field	./ExchangeRates/Currency
2004	Database Field	./ExchangeRates/VsUSD2004
2003	Database Field	./ExchangeRates/VsUSD2003
2002	Database Field	./ExchangeRates/VsUSD2002
2001	Database Field	./ExchangeRates/VsUSD2001
2000	Database Field	./ExchangeRates/VsUSD2000

Click OK to close the dialog. Your data set and queried fields appear as nodes in the Report Explorer.

To add controls to the report

From the toolbox, drag a List data region onto the design surface of the report and go to the Properties window to set the DataSetName property to ExchangeRates.
From the Report Explorer, drag the Name field onto the list, center it at the top and go to the Properties window to set the FontSize property to 14pt.

From the Report Explorer, drag the following fields onto the list with properties set as described in the table below.

Field Name	Property Name
Currency	Location: 1.125in, 0.5in Size: 2.25in, 0.25in
2004	Location: 4.5in, 0.875in Size: 1in, 0.25in
2003	Location: 4.5in, 1.25in Size: 1in, 0.25in
2002	Location: 4.5in, 1.625in Size: 1in, 0.25in
2001	Location: 4.5in, 2in Size: 1in, 0.25in
2000	Location: 4.5in, 2.375in Size: 1in, 0.25in

Note: You will notice that the expressions created for these fields are different than usual. Because Visual Basic syntax does not allow an identifier that begins with a number, any numeric field names must be treated as strings in expressions.

From the toolbox, drag a TextBox onto the list and go to the Properties window to set the properties as described in the table below to combine static text with a field value.

Property Name	Property Value
Location	0.145in, 0.875in
Size	3in, 0.25in
Value	="Value of " & Fields!Currency.Value & " versus US$ for year:"

From the toolbox, drag TextBox controls onto the list and go to the Properties window to set the properties as described in the table below to create static labels.

TextBox1

Property Name	Property Value
Location	0.125in, 0.5in
Size	0.75in, 0.25in
FontWeight	Bold
Value	Currency:

TextBox2

Property Name	Property Value
Location	3.375in, 0.875in
Size	1in, 0.25in
TextAlign	Right
Value	2004:

TextBox3

Property Name	Property Value
Location	3.375in, 1.25in
Size	1in, 0.25in
TextAlign	Right
Value	2003:

TextBox4

Property Name	Property Value
Location	3.375in, 1.625in
Size	1in, 0.25in
TextAlign	Right
Value	2002:

TextBox5

Property Name	Property Value
Location	3.375in, 2in
Size	1in, 0.25in
TextAlign	Right
Value	2001:

TextBox6

Property Name	Property Value
Location	3.375in, 2.375in
Size	1in, 0.25in
TextAlign	Right
Value	2000:

To view the report