ActiveReports supports exporting with tables in the RichText control. RichText controls can be loaded with an RTF file that contains tables, or even an HTML file, and the resulting report can be exported to any of a number of formats.

This walkthrough illustrates how to create and export a report which contains the RichText control.

This walkthrough is split up into the following activities:

Adding an ActiveReport to the Visual Studio project
Adding the appropriate export filters to your project
Adding controls to the report to contain data
Loading an RTF file into a RichText control
Creating an HTML file to be loaded into a RichText control
Loading the HTML file into a RichText control
Viewing the report
Using the export methods to export data to all available file formats

To complete the walkthrough, you will need an RTF file which contains a table.

Adding an ActiveReport to the Visual Studio project

To add an ActiveReport to your project

Open a new project in Visual Studio.
From the Project menu, select Add New Item.
Select ActiveReports 3.0 File and rename the file rptRich.
Click Open.

Adding the export filters to your project

To add the export filters to your project

Click on the following export controls one at a time in the appropriate toolbox to select them.
- HtmlExport
- PdfExport
- RtfExport
- TextExport
- TiffExport
- XlsExport
Drag each control onto the Windows Form.
The controls will appear in the component tray below the Windows Form.

Adding controls to the report to contain data

To add controls to the report

Add the following controls to the Detail section:

Control Name Size Location

RichTextBox RichTextBoxRTF 3, 1.5 0, 0

RichTextBox RichTextBoxHTML 3, 1.5 3.25, 0

Control	Name	Size	Location
RichTextBox	RichTextBoxRTF	3, 1.5	0, 0
RichTextBox	RichTextBoxHTML	3, 1.5	3.25, 0

Creating an RTF file to be loaded into a RichText control

To write a quick RTF file

Open Wordpad, and paste the following text into it.

Customer List by Country

Argentina
- Rancho grande
- Océano Atlántico Ltda.
- Cactus Comidas para llevar
Austria
- Piccolo und mehr
- Ernst Handel
Belgium
- Suprêmes délices
- Maison Dewey
Brazil
- Familia Arquibaldo
- Wellington Improtadora
- Que Delícia
- Tradição Hipermercados
- Ricardo Adocicados
- Hanari Carnes
- Queen Cozinha
- Comércio Mineiro
- Gourmet Lanchonetes
Month Sales

October $4,872

November $8,517

December $9,623
Save the file as "sample.rtf" in the bin directory (VB) or the debug directory in the bin (C#) of your project.

Month	Sales
October	$4,872
November	$8,517
December	$9,623

Loading an RTF file into a RichText control

To load an RTF file into the RichText control

To write the code in Visual Basic or C#

Double-click in the detail section of of rptRich. This creates an event-handling method for rptRich's Detail_Format event. Add code to the handler to:

Load an RTF file into the RichText control

The following example shows what the code for the method looks like.

'Visual Basic
Private Sub Detail1_Format(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles _
   Detail1.Format
   Dim streamRTF As New System.IO.FileStream(System.Windows.Forms.Application.StartupPath _
     + "\sample.rtf", System.IO.FileMode.Open)
   Me.RichTextBoxRTF.Load(streamRTF, RichTextType.Rtf)
End Sub

//C#
private void detail_Format(object sender, System.EventArgs eArgs)
{
   System.IO.FileStream streamRTF = new System.IO.FileStream(System.Windows.Forms.Application
       .StartupPath + "\\sample.rtf", System.IO.FileMode.Open);
   this.RichTextBoxRTF.Load(streamRTF, RichTextType.Rtf);
}

Creating an HTML file to be loaded into a RichText control

To write a quick HTML file

Open Notepad and paste the following code into it.

<html>
<body>
<center><h1>Customer List by Country</h1></center>
<h2>Argentina</h2>
<ul>
<li>Rancho grande
<li>Océano Atlántico Ltda.
<li>Cactus Comidas para llevar
</ul>
<h2>Austria</h2>
<ul>
<li>Piccolo und mehr
<li>Ernst Handel
</ul>
<h2>Belgium</h2>
<ul>
<li>Suprêmes délices
<li>Maison Dewey
</ul>
<h2>Brazil</h2>
<ul>
<li>Familia Arquibaldo
<li>Wellington Improtadora
<li>Que Delícia
<li>Tradição Hipermercados
<li>Ricardo Adocicados
<li>Hanari Carnes
<li>Queen Cozinha
<li>Comércio Mineiro
<li>Gourmet Lanchonetes
</ul>
<table>
<tr><th>Month</th><th>Sales</th></tr>
<tr><td>October</td><td>$4,872</td></tr>
<tr><td>November</td><td>$8,517</td></tr>
<tr><td>December</td><td>$9,623</td></tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Save the file as "sample.html" in the bin directory (VB) or the debug directory in the bin (C#) of your project.

Loading the HTML file into a RichText control

To write the code in Visual Basic or C#

Right-click in any section of the design window of rptRich, and click on View Code to display the code view for the report. In the event-handling method for rptRich's Detail_Format event created previously, add code to the handler to:

Load the HTML file into the RichText control

The following example shows what the code for the method looks like.

'Visual Basic
Private Sub Detail1_Format(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles _
   Detail1.Format
   Dim streamRTF As New System.IO.FileStream(System.Windows.Forms.Application.StartupPath _
     + "\sample.rtf", System.IO.FileMode.Open)
   Me.RichTextBoxRTF.Load(streamRTF, RichTextType.Rtf)

   Dim streamHTML As New System.IO.FileStream(System.Windows.Forms.Application.StartupPath +  _
     "\sample.HTML", System.IO.FileMode.Open)
   Me.RichTextBoxHTML.Load(streamHTML, RichTextType.Html)
End Sub

//C#
private void detail_Format(object sender, System.EventArgs eArgs)
{
   System.IO.FileStream streamRTF = new System.IO.FileStream(System.Windows.Forms
      .Application.StartupPath + "\\sample.rtf", System.IO.FileMode.Open);   
   this.RichTextBoxRTF.Load(streamRTF, RichTextType.Rtf);
   
   System.IO.FileStream streamHTML = new System.IO.FileStream(System.Windows.Forms
      .Application.StartupPath + "\\sample.html", System.IO.FileMode.Open);
   this.RextTextBoxHTML.Load(streamHTML, RichTextType.Html);
}

Viewing the report

To view the report

Add the ActiveReports viewer control to the Windows Form..
Set the viewer control's Dock property to Fill.
Add the code needed to set the viewer document equal to the report document.

To write the code for the viewer in Visual Basic or C#

Double-click the center of the viewer control. This creates an event-handling method for the Viewer Load event. Add code to the handler to:

Format the viewer to show the report when it is run

The following example shows what the code for the method looks like.

'Visual Basic
Private Sub Viewer1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles _
   Viewer1.Load
   Dim rpt As New rptRich()
   Viewer1.Document = rpt.Document
   rpt.Run()
End Sub

//C#
private void viewer1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
   rptRich rpt = new rptRich();
   this.viewer1.Document = rpt.Document;
   rpt.Run();
}

Using the export methods to export data to all available file formats

To write the code in Visual Basic or C#

In the event-handling method for the Viewer1_Load event created previously, add code to the handler to:

Export the report to all available file formats

The following example shows what the code for the method looks like.

'Visual Basic
Private Sub Viewer1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
   Handles arv.Load
   Dim rpt As New rptRich
   rpt.Run()
   Viewer1.Document = rpt.Document

   Me.HtmlExport1.Export(rpt.Document, Application.StartupPath + "\\HTMLExpt.html")
   Me.PdfExport1.Export(rpt.Document, Application.StartupPath + "\\PDFExpt.pdf")
   Me.RtfExport1.Export(rpt.Document, Application.StartupPath + "\\RTFExpt.rtf")
   Me.TextExport1.Export(rpt.Document, Application.StartupPath + "\\TextExpt.txt")
   Me.TiffExport1.Export(rpt.Document, Application.StartupPath + "\\TIFFExpt.tiff")
   Me.XlsExport1.Export(rpt.Document, Application.StartupPath + "\\XLSExpt.xls")
End Sub

//C#
private void viewer1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
   rptRich rpt = new rptRich();
   rpt.Run();
   viewer1.Document = rpt.Document;

   this.htmlExport1.Export(rpt.Document, Application.StartupPath + 
   "\\HTMLExpt.html");
   this.pdfExport1.Export(rpt.Document, Application.StartupPath + "\\PDFExpt.pdf");
   this.rtfExport1.Export(rpt.Document, Application.StartupPath + "\\RTFExpt.rtf");
   this.textExport1.Export(rpt.Document, Application.StartupPath + "\\TextExpt.txt");
   this.tiffExport1.Export(rpt.Document, Application.StartupPath + "\\TIFFExpt.tiff");
   this.xlsExport1.Export(rpt.Document, Application.StartupPath + "\\XLSExpt.xls");
}

ActiveReports for .NET 3 Online Help	Request technical support
HTML, Tables and Exporting with RichText
See Also

Adding an ActiveReport to the Visual Studio project

Adding the export filters to your project

Adding controls to the report to contain data

Creating an RTF file to be loaded into a RichText control

Customer List by Country

Argentina

Austria

Belgium

Brazil

Loading an RTF file into a RichText control

Creating an HTML file to be loaded into a RichText control

Loading the HTML file into a RichText control

Viewing the report

Using the export methods to export data to all available file formats

See Also