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Parameters And HTTP Handlers
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User Guide > Samples and Walkthroughs > Walkthroughs > Professional Edition Walkthroughs > Parameters And HTTP Handlers

Glossary Item Box

ActiveReports provides HTTPHandler components that, upon configuration, allow ASP.NET to automatically process reports that have been placed into an ASP.NET web site folder. ActiveReports HTTPHandler components enable reports to be easily deployed in both HTML and PDF.

This walkthrough illustrates how to create a simple Web application and set the HTTPHandler to output report information in HTML format.

This walkthrough is split up into the following activities:

To complete the walkthrough, you must have access to the Northwind database.
A copy is located at C:\Program Files\Data Dynamics\ActiveReports for .NET 3.0\Data\NWIND.MDB.

You must also have access to Internet Information Services either from your computer or from the server.

When you have completed this walkthrough, you will have a report that looks similar to the following.

Adding an ActiveReport to an ASP.NET Web application

To add an ActiveReport to your project using Visual Studio 2003

  1. Create a new ASP.NET Web application. 
  2. From the Project menu, select Add New Item. 
  3. Select ActiveReports 3.0 File and rename the file rptCustomers.
  4. Click Open.

To add an ActiveReport to your project using Visual Studio 2005

  1. Create a new ASP.NET Web site. 
  2. From the Website menu, select Add New Item.
  3. Select ActiveReports 3.0 File and rename the file rptCustomers.
  4. Click Add.
  5. Click Yes when a message box asks whether you would like to place the class in the 'App_Code' folder.

Connecting the report to a data source

To connect the report to a data source and add a parameter to the report's Parameters collection:

  1. Click on the gray report DataSource icon in the Detail section to open the report DataSource dialog. 
  2. Click on Build.
  3. Select Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider and click Next.
  4. Click the ellipsis button to browse for the access path to the NorthWind database. Click Open once you have selected the appropriate access path.
  5. Click OK to continue.
  6. In the Query field, type "Select * from Customers WHERE Country = '<%Country%>' ".
  7. Click OK to return to the report design surface.
  8. Click in the gray area below the report to select it.
  9. Change the value of the ShowParameterUI property to False to turn off the parameter dialog.

Adding controls to the report to contain data

To add controls to the report

  1. Add a GroupHeader/Footer section to rptCustomers by right-clicking the design surface of the report and choosing Insert > GroupHeader/Footer.
  2. Make the following changes to the group header:
    • Change the name to ghCountry
    • Change the DataField property to Country
    • Change the GroupKeepTogether property to All
    • Change the KeepTogether property to True
  3. In the Report Explorer, expand the Fields node, then the Bound node. Drag the Country field onto the GroupHeader section, and set its font size to 14.

  4. Drag the following fields from the Bound node in the Report Explorer onto the detail section and set the following properties for each textbox as indicated.
    Field Text Location
    CompanyName Customer Name 0, 0
    ContactName Contact Name 3, 0
    Phone Phone 5, 0

Saving the report layout to rpx format

To save the report layout to rpx format

  1. From the Report menu, select Save Layout.
  2. Navigate to the project's main folder, name the file rptCustomers and press Save.

Adding code to the Web.config file to enable the HTTPHandler

To add code to the Web.config file

  1. In the Solution Explorer, double-click the Web.config file.
  2. In the XML view, add the following code below the Globalization section at the end. 
        <httpHandlers>
    	<!--
    	********** ActiveReports HttpHandler Configuration **********
    	-->
    	<add verb="*" path="*.rpx" type="DataDynamics.ActiveReports.Web.Handlers.RpxHandler, ActiveReports.Web,
    	Version=5.0.1.131, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc4967777c49a3ff" />
    	<add verb="*" path="*.ActiveReport" type="DataDynamics.ActiveReports.Web.Handlers.CompiledReportHandler,
    	ActiveReports.Web, Version=5.0.1.131, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc4967777c49a3ff" />
    	<add verb="*" path="*.ArCacheItem" type="DataDynamics.ActiveReports.Web.Handlers.WebCacheAccessHandler,
    	ActiveReports.Web, Version=5.0.1.131, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc4967777c49a3ff" />
    </httpHandlers>
The version number and PublicKeyToken will need to be updated to reflect the information for the current version of ActiveReports installed on your computer.

Adding a link to the Web Form

To add a link to the Web Form

  1. In the HTML view of the Web Form, add the following HTML code. 
    <a href="rptCustomers.rpx?Country=USA">Customer Phone List for USA</a>
  2. Press F5 to run the program.
  3. Click the link on the web form to show the report in its default HTML format.

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