Because ActiveReports for .NET 3.0 writes its report layout files in C# or Visual Basic for .NET and the nomenclature of the ActiveReports, ActiveReports.Viewer, and ActiveReports.Design DLLs have changed to ActiveReports3, ActiveReports.Viewer3, and ActiveReports.Design3 respectively, reports that were built with ActiveReports for .NET 1.0 and ActiveReports for .NET 2.0 need to be converted to run in the new environment. ActiveReports for .NET 3.0 includes a converter that makes this an easy process.
To convert an ActiveReports for .NET 1.0 or 2.0 project into an ActiveReports for .NET 3.0 project
Note: Always back up your projects before beginning the conversion process.
- Open an existing ActiveReports for .NET 1.0 or 2.0 project in Visual Studio®. The report appears in the Solution Explorer as an RPX file. If you open the file in the IDE, you will see the XML that makes up the report's layout, but will not be able to view the designer or run the project.
- Click on Tools > Convert ActiveReports to open the ActiveReports for .NET Report Converter. The converter displays a list of all RPX files in the root directory of your project. Please note that the converter only looks for RPX files located in the root directory of the project.
- To convert the files click OK. The reports now appear in the Solution Explorer as C# or Visual Basic for .NET files and all references to earlier versions of ActiveReports for .NET DLLs have been updated.
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The naming convention for controls has changed from previous editions of ActiveReports for .NET. Previously controls could be similarly named by using a different case, as in "Test" and "test," but ActiveReports for .NET 3.0 requires control names be unique. Thus when loading an RPX that has two controls with the same names but different cases, the report will not load and an error will be raised. In order to avoid this, give each control a unique name and be sure to update the names in the code-behind. |