ActiveReports 11
ActiveReports 2 COM versus ActiveReports for .NET
ActiveReports 11 > ActiveReports User Guide > Upgrading Reports > ActiveReports 2 COM versus ActiveReports for .NET

This section explains about the difference between ActiveReports 2 COM (ActiveX version) and ActiveReports 11.

Comparison between Section Report Controls

The following table compares the controls available in Section Report in ActiveX product and .NET product.

ActiveX product .NET product
Field TextBox
Label Label
CheckBox CheckBox
Image Picture
Line Line
OleObject OleObject
PageBreak PageBreak
RichEdit RichTextBox
Shape Shape
SubReport SubReport
ActiveX control (includes Barcode) ×(※1)
Frame ×(※2)
ADO Data Control OLEDataSource(※3)
XML Data Control XMLDataSource(※4)
RDO Data Control ×
DAO Data Control ×
Chart(※5)
CrossSectionBox(※6)
CrossSectionLine(※7)
ReportInfo(※8)

※1 It will only get migrated as basic class ARControl.

※2 Control placed inside the Frame will be migrated.

※3 Only Source (SQL) and ConnectionString properties set at design time are migrated.

※4 Only FileURL/RecordSetPattern property set at design time are migrated.

※5 Control that renders 2D/3D graph.

※6 Control that renders a rectangle across multiple sections.

※7 Control that renders a straight line across multiple sections.

※8 A control that renders the execution date and time of report, page number, and total number of pages in a specified format.

Important properties that have been changed in .NET product

Property Name

Control names in Section Report (.NET products) ActiveX product .NET product Remarks
GroupHeader GrpKeepTogether GroupKeepTogether The type itself is different
Repeat RepeatStyle The type itself is different
CheckBox
TextBox
Label
WordWrap WrapMode The type itself is different
TextBox DataValue Value
SummaryDistinctField DistinctField
CheckBox Alignment CheckAlignment The type itself is different
Value Checked
Picture Picture Image The type itself is different
Shape Shape Style
SubReport Object Report

Important properties added in .NET product

Control names in Section Report (.NET product) Property Name Description
GroupHeader ColumnGroupKeepTogether Make groups as one block on the same column
Detail RepeatToFill Adds an empty line
CheckBox
TextBox
Label
Padding Sets the blank space inside a control
TextBox
Label
CharacterSpacing Sets the character pitch(interval) in points units
LineSpacing Sets the line spacing in point units
TextJustify Sets equal allocation
VerticalText Optimize character shape for vertical writing
ShrinkToFit Shrink the character according to the Control size
Picture Description Sets the visual explanation of Picture's appearance (valid when exporting Html)
Line AnchorBottom Draw the end of the ruled line till the adjacent section
Shape RoundingRadius Sets the roundness of round cornered rectangle in percentage unit
SubReport CloseBorder When a sub-report spans multiple pages, it sets whether to close it with a ruled line or not

The above table lists only those properties that are frequently used, although, in addition to the above properties, there are some newly added properties and changed properties in the .NET product.

Also, the properties and methods of OleObject control and RichTextBox (RichEdit) control have been significantly changed. If you are using these controls, refer to "Class Library Reference" and adjust the settings as necessary.

Difference in Export Function

Export function of .NET product is developed to export the reports of .NET product. 
Compared with the ActiveX products, various enhancements have been made in the Export function of .NET products along with the changes in properties and events. 

For more information, please refer to the content below.

PDF Export

Subject ActiveX product .NET product
PDF Version 1.1~1.3 1.1~1.7
PDF image quality setting of internal image JPGQuality property in settings (1~100) ImageQuality (three levels - Lowest, Medium, and Highest) and ImageResolution (75~2400 dpi) property in settings
Non embedding of Japanese font × (always embedded) ○ (※1, always embedded in Standard Edition)
Bold characters of Japanese font × (output with normal thickness) ○ (※1)
Foreign letters × (no output) ○ (※1)
Electronic Signature
Time Stamp
× ○: Signature property (※1)
GIF and transparent elements of meta images

 

× (present in non-transparent state)
Output of bookmark ○: OutputTOCAsBookmarks property ○: ExportBookmarks property
Document property × ○: Options property (※2)
Document display state △: ShowBookmarksInAcrobat (only display bookmarks are configurable) ○: PdfDocumentOptions.DisplayMode property (※3)
Display window setting × ○: PdfDocumentOptions property (※4)
UI setting × ○: PdfDocumentOptions property (※5)
Print only × ○: PdfDocumentOptions.OnlyForPrint property
Gets the state of progress ○: OnProgress event ×

※1 Can be set only for Professional Edition.

※2 Five items - Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, and Application can be set.

※3 Four types - None, Outlines, Thumbs, and FullScreen can be set.

※4 CenterWindow, FitWindow, and DisplayTitle can be set.

※5 Display permission of Menu bar (HideMenubar), Toolbar (HideToolbar),  and UI Window (HideWindowUI) can be set.

Excel Export

Excel export (XlsExport class)

Subject ActiveX product .NET product
Save File File version Excel 95/97 Excel 95/97/2007 (OpenXML)
Layout Space between cell and borders to prevent overlapping of cells ○:BorderSpace Property ×
Column appearance in the output ○:DoubleBoundaries Property ×
Generate page break automatically ○:GenPageBreaks property △: (always output the page break)
Display space between the report elements and the report margin ○:ShowMarginSpace property ×
Print scale ○:SizeToFit property ×
Remove vertical space ○:TrimEmptySpace property ○:RemoveVerticalSpace property
Version ○:Version property ○:FileFormat property
Display grid line × (display fixing) ○:DisplayGridLines property
Merge cells × ○:UseCellMerging property
Color palette × (always keep palette in workbook) ○:UseDefaultPalette property
Printing Paper size × (dependent on excel default settings) ○:PageSettings.PaperSize property
Page orientation × (dependent on excel default settings) ○:PageSettings.Orientation property
Security Read password × ○:Security.Password property
Write password × ○:Security.WritePassword property
Save as read only × ○:Security.ReadOnlyRecommended property
Username responsible to password protect an Excel sheet × ○:Security.ProtectedBy property
State of progress ○:OnProgress event ×

Excel export (SpreadBuilder API)

Subject ActiveX product .NET product
Implementation method control in SpreadBuilder object control in Workbook object
Save File File version Excel 95/97 Excel 95/97/2007(OpenXML)
prior error check ○:GetSaveCaps method ×(processing due to Exception)
Layout Cell merge/unmerge × ○: Merge/UnMerge method
Display grid line × (always display) ○: DisplayGridLines property
Line striking through a text × ○: FontStrikeOut property
Format setting by range specification × ○: Use DDCells class
Color palette × (always keep palette in workbook) ○: UseDefaultPalette property
Printing Page setup Setting available in DDSheet object Use settings in PageSetup class 
Black and white print × ○: BlackAndWhite property
Print without graphics × ○: Draft property
Scale print to fit page ○:SizeToFit property ○: FitToPage property
Vertical scale page count × (set to one page) ○: FitToPagesTall property
Horizontal scale page count × (set to one page) ○: FitToPagesWide property
Scale factor × (set to 100%) ○: Zoom property
Paper size × (depends on excel default settings) ○: PaperSize property
First page number × (automatic) ○: FirstPageNumber property
Header height × ○: HeaderMargin property
Footer height × ○: FooterMargin property
Page orientation

× (set from 'left to right' )

○: Order property
Print setting of cell notes × (set to 'none') △: PrintNotes property
※only 'screen display image' can be set
Security Read password × ○: Password property
Write password × ○: WritePassword property
Save as read only × ○: ReadOnlyRecommended property
Username responsible to password protect an Excel sheet × ○: ProtectedBy property
Workbook protection password × ○: ProtectWorkbookPassword property

TIFF export

Subject ActiveX product .NET product
Compression scheme Decided by the method to use Setting available in CompressionScheme property
Compression format none × ○:”None”
Lzw × ○:”Lzw”
Rle (PackBits) ○:Export/ExportTIFF method ○:”Rle” (however, default is black and white)
CCITT Group3 ○:FaxExportCITT3 method ○:”Ccitt3”
CCITT Group4 ○:FaxExport method ○:”Ccitt4”
Dithering ○:only FaxExport or FaxExportCITT3 methods can be used (※1) ○:Dither property (※2)
Resolution ○:only ExportTIFF method can be used ○:DpiX, DpiY property
State of progress ○:OnProgress event ×

※1 The white threshold can be set within the range of 0~765.

※2 Valid only for “Rle”, ”Ccitt3”, ”Ccitt4”. Also, this property is of Boolean type.

HTML export

Subject ActiveX product .NET product
File output Image save location ○:AuxOutputPath property × (always same path as HTML in output)
Whether to embed CSS style inside the html file ○:CreateCSSFile property

× StyleStream property

Output file name FileNamePrefix property setting Specified by argument of Export method
File output location HTMLOutputPath property setting Specified by argument of Export method
JPEG compression ratio ○: JPEGQuality property ×
Output in MHT format ○: MHTOutput property ×
Output setting for multiple pages MultiPageOutput property setting MultiPage property setting
Output of bookmarks ○: TableOfContents property (※1) ○: BookmarkStyle property (※2)
Layout Insert code just before HEAD tag ○: HeadExtraInnerText property ×
HTML version setting ○: HTMLVersion property ○: OutputType property
Remove vertical space × ○: RemoveVerticalSpace property
Add HTML just before page output ○: ExportPageStart event ×
Add HTML just after page output ○: ExportPageEnd event ×
State of progress ○: OnProgress event ×

※1 Either of these properties can be set - None, <DL>tag format, DHTML format, or XML format.

※2 Either of these properties can be set - None, HTML.

Text export

Subject ActiveX product .NET product
Encoding △: Unicode property (※1) ○: Encoding property
Obtaining state of progress ○: OnProgress event ×

※1 Unicode format and ASCII format configurable only from either of them.

RTF export

Subject ActiveX product .NET product
Obtaining state of progress ○: OnProgress event ×

Difference in Barcode Control

The barcodes and their properties available in .NET product are different from that available in ActiveX product. While in ActiveX product, the barcode is rendered as an ActiveX control, in the .NET product, the Barcode is available as a control. For full list of barcodes available in ActiveReports, see Barcode topic.

Barcode formats

ActiveX product .NET product Remarks
CODE39 Code39, Ansi39 ※1
CODE39(Full ASCII) Code39x, Ansi39x
CODE49 Code49
CODE93 Code_93 Only Uppercase of letters,%, $, *, ., +, -, Space, number can be set.
Code93x whole letter of ASCII letter set can be set
CODE128 Code_128auto ※2
Code_128_A CODE-A fixed format
Code_128_B CODE-B fixed format
Code_128_C CODE-C fixed format
JAN8 EAN_8
JAN13 EAN_13
EAN128 UCCEAN128 ※2, 3, 4
EAN128FNC1 ※2, 3, 4
ITF Code25intlv ※5, 6
POSTNET5, 9, 11 PostNet without depending on data number of digits, symbol can be generated
UPC/A UPC_A
UPC/E UPC_E0, UPC_E1 ※7
UPC/E Addon2, Addon5 UPC_E0, UPC_E1
NW-7(CODABAR) Codabar
Customer Barcode JapanesePostal
Code_2_of_5 Code 2 of 5 format
Matrix_2_of_5 Matrix 2 of 5 format
MSI MSI code format
RM4SCC Royal Mail RM4SCC format
GS1 Databar ※8
IntelligentMail Intelligent Mail Barcode format
DataMatrix Data Matrix format

※1 Code39 (Code39x) and Ansi39 (Ansi39x) have the same bar code configuration specifications, but the default width ratio of narrow bar and wide bar is different. The former is 1: 2, whereas the latter is 1: 3.

※2 Start character setting of CODE128 is different for ActiveX product and .NET product.

※3 In CODE128 format, there is no function to arbitrarily switch code sets.

※4 In CODE128 (EAN128) format, there is no function to insert FNC2 to FNC4 in arbitrary place. Note that FNC1 insertion is only supported for EAN128FNC1.

※5 Check digit is not calculated automatically. For .NET products, you need to set a value with check digit added.

※6 Bearer bar is not supported.

※7 UPC_E0 is compressed zero type of UPC symbol and can only set only numbers. UPC_E1 is generally used in retail shops price labels and it supports six numeric characters.

※8 The GS1 DataBar can be set to following seven formats.

Important ActiveX product properties that are not supported by .NET product

The properties that do not exist in .NET product but affect generated barcode are listed as follows:

Property name Description
BarRatio Set bar ratio. We can set relative width ratio of fine module to thick module in the range of 1:2 to 1:3 using NWRatio property.
LongModuleSize Set thick module width.
TargetDpiX Set the resolution of screen in the horizontal direction.
TargetDpiY Set the resolution of screen in the vertical direction.

About ActiveReport Object

The ActiveReport object (the base of ActiveX product report), included not just the engine and the report layout information, but also the viewer function. The .NET product provides SectionReport class (the base class of section report) and the viewer function, and the Viewer class is reconfigured.
Also, In ActiveX product the generated page information was stored in the Pages class but in .NET product it has been reconfigured to the Document class and PagesCollection class. Along with these configuration updates, some methods and events have also been modified. The following table lists the important changes:

Difference in property

ActiveX product .NET product Remarks
Class Property name
AllowSplitters Viewer AllowSplitter
documentName SectionDocument Name
PageBorder × × ※1
Pages SectionDocument Pages ※2
Printer SectionDocument Printer
RulerVisible × × Ruler does not exist.
ShowMessages × × ※3
ScriptDebuggerEnabled SectionReport EnableScriptDebugging
Status SectionReport State
TOC SectionDocument Bookmarks
TOCEnabled TOCPanel (Viewer.Sidebar) Enabled
TOCVisible TOCPanel (Viewer.Sidebar) Visible ※4
TOCWidth Sidebar(Viewer) Width
Toolbar Viewer Toolbar
ToolbarVisible ToolStrip (Viewer.Toolbar) Visible
Zoom Viewer Zoom

※1 Draw border in CrossSectionBox control and other controls.

※2 In ActiveX product, it is the collection of Canvas objects but in .NET product, it is the collection of Document.Page.

※3 If an exception is thrown due to an error in the .NET product, use Try and Catch Statement.

※4 Use the ToggleVisibility method of the Viewer.Sidebar object to display headings.

Difference in method

ActiveX product .NET product
Class Method name Remarks
Export (each export filter) Export
PageSetup × × ※1
PrintReport SectionDocument
PageDocument
Viewer
Print
Refresh × × ※2

※1 Implemented using PageSetupDialog Class.

※2 Reset the report document using Document property and LoadDocument method.

Difference in event

ActiveX product .NET product
Class Event name Remarks
Error × × ※1
FindProgress Viewer Find
HyperLink Viewer HyperLink
PromptDialogClosed SectionReport ParameterUIClosed
TOCClick Viewer TableOfContentsClick
TOCSelChange Viewer TableOfContentsSelectedIndexChanged
ToolbarClick × × ※2

※1 If an exception is thrown due to an error in the .NET product, use Try and Catch Statement.

※2 Implement using Viewer.Toolbar.ToolStrip class. For more information please see Customize the Viewer Control.