We have made a number of changes and added new features since the last version of ActiveReports. Following are some of the major highlights of this release.
Now ActiveReports installer offers option to specify the installation path and choose to integrate ActiveReports in specific VisualStudio IDE versions.
Now ActiveReports supports some more industry-standard barcodes such as Code_11, SSCC-18, Telepen, and Maxicode, to quote a few.
Now in Page and RDL reports, you can use nested data regions that are bound to different datasets. To display data, you can either use a filter for a nested data region or a parameter that is set in the new DataSetParameters property. This new property is available for all supported data regions.
Now you can shrink the text in TextBox and Label controls to fit within the width of the control by using MinCondenseRate property. All characters and character spaces are shrunk with the same ratio specified in the property. The condensed characters feature is supported in PDF, HTML, and MHT export formats, and in WinForms, WPF, Web, and HTML5 Viewers.
You can now export your reports to the CSV and JSON file formats. While CSV export is available in WinForms, WPF, and HTML5 viewers, the JSON export is available in WinForms and WPF viewers. You can also customize the export settings for both CSV and JSON through code.
A new property for Tablix data region RepeatToFill manages empty space on a page in a tablix. If set to True, this property allows the tablix to add the same number of formatted empty rows when there is not enough data to fill the report's page.
Now Subreports are supported in Page reports just like in Section and RDL reports. With this feature, you can also add multiple datasets in a report, with each subreport having its own dataset. You can use RDL report as target subreport of Page report.
We have enhanced the ActiveReports Import tool by adding a new RPX import feature, allowing you to convert your section reports to RDL reports. At conversion, the entire section report is imported to an RDL report as a BandedList control.
The Text export filter now allows adding a text qualifier in the new QuotationSymbol property. The default value of the QuotationSymbol property is the double quotation.
With the new CloseBorder property available for CrossSectionBox control, you can now choose to close the border of the control if your report spans across multiple pages.
The new 'Double' line style property allows setting double lines with a specified gap in-between the lines. This line style is available for the Line control in both Page and Section reports, and Shape, Picture, and Cross Section controls in Section report.
Now you can display simple data directly on the Map with a new function =MapPoint(<Latitude>, <Longitude>). This function is available for a map Point Layer only.
You can now use the background image styles - Gradient and Hatch (or Pattern) that are now available in Shape and Container controls. In Page/RDL reports, the background styles can be set using Data Visualizers available in the BackgroundImage property. For section reports, these styles can be set directly from the BackgroundStyle property.