ActiveReports 11
Basic XML-Based Reports (RPX)
ActiveReports 11 > ActiveReports User Guide > Samples and Walkthroughs > Walkthroughs > Section Report Walkthroughs > Data > Basic XML-Based Reports (RPX)
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ActiveReports allows you to create reports with embedded script and save them to the XML-based RPX file format. By embedding script in reports saved as RPX files, you can later load, run, and display reports directly in the viewer control without rebuilding the application. This walkthrough illustrates how to create a simple report, using the XML-based report template.

This walkthrough is split into the following activities:

Note: This walkthrough uses the Northwind database. By default, in ActiveReports, the NWind.mdb file is located in the [User Documents folder]\GrapeCity Samples\ActiveReports 11\Data folder.

When you have finished this walkthrough, you get a report that looks similar to the following at design time and at run time.

Design-Time Layout

Run-Time Layout

To add an ActiveReport to the Visual Studio project

  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 11 Section Report (xml-based) and in the Name field, rename the file as rptScript.
  4. Click the Add button to open a new section report in the designer.
  5. In the Solution Explorer click the rptScript.rpx item and in the properties window set the Build Action property to Embedded Resource.

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

To create a layout for the report

  1. In the Visual Studio toolbox, expand the ActiveReports 11 Section Report node and drag three TextBox controls onto the detail section and set the properties of each textbox as indicated:

    TextBox1

    Property Name Property Value
    DataField ProductName
    Text Product Name
    Location 0, 0in
    Size 2.3, 0.2in

    TextBox2

    Property Name Property Value
    DataField QuantityPerUnit
    Text Quantity
    Location 2.4, 0in
    Size 2.4, 0.2in

    TextBox3

    Property Name Property Value
    DataField UnitsInStock
    Text Stock
    Location 4, 0in
    Size 1, 0.2in
  2. Click just below the fields to select the Detail section, and in the Properties Window, set the CanShrink property to True to eliminate white space in the rendered report.

To add scripting to the report to supply data for the controls

  1. Click the Script tab located at the bottom of the report designer to access the script editor.
  2. Add the scripting code.

    The following example shows what the scripting code looks like.

    Warning: Do not access the Fields collection outside the DataInitialize and FetchData events. Accessing the Fields collection outside of these events is not supported, and has unpredictable results.

    To write the script in Visual Basic.NET

    Visual Basic.NET script. Paste in the script editor window.
    Copy Code 
    Private Shared m_cnn As System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection

Public Sub ActiveReport_ReportStart()
  'Set up a data connection for the report
  Dim connString As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\Users\[User Folder]\Documents\GrapeCity Samples\ActiveReports 11\Data\NWIND.mdb"
  Dim sqlString As String = "SELECT * FROM products"
     
  m_cnn = new System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(connString)
  Dim m_Cmd As System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand = new System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand(sqlString, m_cnn)
   
  If m_cnn.State = System.Data.ConnectionState.Closed Then
     m_cnn.Open
  End If
  rpt.DataSource = m_Cmd.ExecuteReader
End Sub

Public Sub ActiveReport_ReportEnd()
  'Close the data reader and connection
  m_cnn.Close
End Sub

    To write the script in C#

    C# script. Paste in the script editor window.
    Copy Code 
    private static System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection m_cnn;

public void ActiveReport_ReportStart()
{
    //Set up a data connection for the report
    string m_cnnString = @"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\Users\[User Folder]\Documents\GrapeCity Samples\ActiveReports 11\Data\NWIND.mdb";
    string sqlString = "SELECT * FROM products";
    m_cnn = new System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(m_cnnString);
    System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand m_Cmd = new System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand(sqlString, m_cnn);
 
    if(m_cnn.State == System.Data.ConnectionState.Closed)
    {
        m_cnn.Open();
    }
    rpt.DataSource = m_Cmd.ExecuteReader();
}

public void ActiveReport_ReportEnd()
{
    //Close the data reader and connection
    m_cnn.Close();
}

To add scripting to alternate colors in the detail section

  1. Click the Script tab located at the bottom edge of the report designer to access the scripting editor.
  2. Add the scripting code to set alternate colors in the rows of the detail section.

    The following example shows what the scripting code looks like.

    To write the script in Visual Basic.NET

    Visual Basic.NET script. Paste in the script editor window.
    Copy Code 
    Dim b as boolean = true

Sub Detail_Format
 if b then
  Me.Detail.BackColor = Color.AliceBlue
  b= false
  else
  me.Detail.BackColor = Color.Cyan
  b = true
 End If
End Sub

    To write the script in C#

    C# script. Paste in the script editor window.
    Copy Code 
    bool color = true;
public void Detail_Format()
{
  if(color)
  {
      this.Detail.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.AliceBlue;
      color = false;
  }
  else
  {
      this.Detail.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Cyan;
      color = true;
  }
}

Loading the report to the Viewer

You can quickly view your report at design time by clicking the Preview tab at the bottom of the designer. You can also load the report to the Viewer control. 

See Also
Section Report Walkthroughs
Walkthroughs