ActiveReports allows you to bind reports to any type of data source, including arrays. You can create a report without setting its data source then load the data into the control at run time.

This walkthrough illustrates the fundamentals of using the DataInitialize and FetchData events to set up an unbound report.

This walkthrough is split into the following activities:

• Adding an ActiveReport to a Visual Studio project
• Adding code to connect the report to a data source
• Adding controls to contain the data
• Using the DataInitialize event to add fields to the report's fields collection
• Using the FetchData event to populate the report fields
• Using the ReportEnd event to close the data connection 
• Viewing the report 

To complete the walkthrough, you must have access to the Northwind database.
A copy is located at C:\Program Files\Data Dynamics\ActiveReports for .NET 3.0\Data\NWIND.MDB.

When you have completed this walkthrough, you will have a report that looks similar to the following.

Adding an ActiveReport to a Visual Studio project

To add an ActiveReport to your project

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

Adding code to connect the report to a data source

To write the code in Visual Basic or C#

• Double-click in the gray area below rptUnbound to create an event-handling method for rptUnbound's ReportStart event. Add code to the handler to:
  • Set the database path (place this code above the ReportStart event)
  • Set the data source connection string
  • Set the data source SQL query
  • Open the connection to create the DataReader

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

  Add using or Imports statements for System.Data and System.Data.OleDb.

  'Visual Basic
  Private Function getDatabasePath() As String
     Dim regKey As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey
     regKey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine
     regKey = regKey.CreateSubKey _
     ("SOFTWARE\\Data Dynamics\\ActiveReports for .NET 3.0\\SampleDB")
     getDatabasePath = CType(regKey.GetValue(""), String)
  End Function
  
  Private conn As OleDbConnection
  Private reader As OleDbDataReader
  Private cmd As OleDbCommand
  Private Sub rptUnbound_ReportStart(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
     Handles MyBase.ReportStart
     Dim dbPath As String = getDatabasePath()
     Dim connString As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source= " + dbPath + "\\NWIND.mdb"
     conn = New OleDbConnection(connString)
     cmd = New OleDbCommand("SELECT * FROM categories INNER JOIN products ON _
  	  categories.categoryid = products.categoryid ORDER BY products.categoryid, products.productid", conn)
     conn.Open()
     reader = cmd.ExecuteReader()
  End Sub
  
  //C#
  private string getDatabasePath()
  {
      Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey regKey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine;
      regKey = regKey.CreateSubKey("SOFTWARE\\Data Dynamics\\ActiveReports for .NET 3.0\\SampleDB");
      return ((string)(regKey.GetValue(""))); 
  }
  		
  private static OleDbConnection conn;
  private static OleDbDataReader reader;
  private void rptUnbound_ReportStart(object sender, System.EventArgs eArgs)
  {
      string dbPath = getDatabasePath();
      string connString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source= " + dbPath + "\\NWIND.mdb";
      conn = new OleDbConnection(connString);
      OleDbCommand cmd = new OleDbCommand("SELECT * FROM categories INNER JOIN products ON 
         	categories.categoryid = products.categoryid ORDER BY products.categoryid, products.productid", conn);	
      conn.Open();
      reader = cmd.ExecuteReader();
  }

Adding controls to the report to contain data

To add controls to the report

Add the following controls from the ActiveReports 3.0 toolbox to the Detail section of rptUnbound:

Control	DataField	Name	Text	Location
TextBox	ProductName	txtProductName	Product Name	0.0625, 0.375
TextBox	UnitsInStock	txtUnitsInStock	Units In Stock	4.75, 0.375
TextBox	Description	txtDescription	Description	1.8125, 0.6875
TextBox	CategoryName	txtCategoryName	Category Name	3.125, 0.375
Label	NA	lblCategoryDescription	Category Description	0.0625, 0.6875
Label	NA	lblUnitsInStock	Units In Stock	4.75, 0.0625
Label	NA	lblCategoryName	Category Name	3.125, 0.0625
Label	NA	lblProductName	Product Name	3.125, 0.375
Line	NA	line1	NA	X1 = 0 X2 = 6.5 Y1 = 1.0625 Y2 = 1.0625

Using the DataInitialize event to add fields

To write the code in Visual Basic

• Right-click in any section of the design window of rptUnbound, and click on View Code to display the code view for the report. At the top left of the code view for rptUnbound, click the drop-down arrow and select (rptUnbound Events). At the top right of the code window, click the drop-down arrow and select DataInitialize. This creates an event-handling method for rptUnbound's DataInitialize event. Add code to the handler to:
  • Add fields to the report's fields collection

To write the code in C#

• Click in the gray area below rptUnbound to select the report. Click on the events icon in the Properties window to display available events for the report. Double-click DataInitialize. This creates an event-handling method for rptUnbound's DataInitialize event. Add code to the handler to:
  • Add fields to the report's fields collection

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

  'Visual Basic
  Private Sub rptUnbound_DataInitialize(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As _
  	System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.DataInitialize
     Fields.Add("CategoryName")
     Fields.Add("ProductName")
     Fields.Add("UnitsInStock")
     Fields.Add("Description")
  End Sub

  //C#
  private void rptUnbound_DataInitialize(object sender, System.EventArgs eArgs)
  {
     Fields.Add("CategoryName");
     Fields.Add("ProductName");
     Fields.Add("UnitsInStock");	
     Fields.Add("Description");
  }

Using the FetchData event to populate the report fields

To write the code in Visual Basic

• Right-click in any section of the design window of rptUnbound, and click on View Code to display the code view for the report. At the top left of the code view for rptUnbound, click the drop-down arrow and select (rptUnbound Events). At the top right of the code window, click the drop-down arrow and select FetchData. This creates an event-handling method for rptUnbound's FetchData event. Add code to the handler to:
  • Retrieve information to populate the report fields

To write the code in C#

• Click in the gray area below rptUnbound to select the report. Click on the events icon in the Properties window to display available events for the report. Double-click FetchData. This creates an event-handling method for rptUnbound's FetchData event. Add code to the handler to:
  • Retrieve information to populate the report fields

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

  'Visual Basic
   Private Sub rptUnbound_FetchData(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal eArgs As DataDynamics._
    	ActiveReports.ActiveReport.FetchEventArgs) Handles MyBase.FetchData
      Try
        reader.Read()
        Me.Fields("CategoryName").Value = dr("CategoryName")
        Me.Fields("ProductName").Value = dr("ProductName")
        Me.Fields("UnitsInStock").Value = dr("UnitsInStock")
        Me.Fields("Description").Value = dr("Description")
        eArgs.EOF = False
        Catch ex As Exception
        eArgs.EOF = True
        End Try
      End Sub

  //C#
  private void rptUnbound_FetchData(object sender, DataDynamics.ActiveReports.ActiveReport3.
  	FetchEventArgs eArgs)
  {
        try
  	{
  	  reader.Read();
  	  Fields["CategoryName"].Value = dr["CategoryName"].ToString();
  	  Fields["ProductName"].Value = dr["ProductName"].ToString();
  	  Fields["UnitsInStock"].Value = dr["UnitsInStock"].ToString();
  	  Fields["Description"].Value = dr["Description"].ToString();
  	  eArgs.EOF = false;
           }
  	catch
  	{
  	  eArgs.EOF = true;
  	}
  }

Using the ReportEnd event to close the data connection

To write the code in Visual Basic

• Right-click in any section of the design window of rptUnbound, and click on View Code to display the code view for the report. At the top left of the code view for rptUnbound, click the drop-down arrow and select (rptUnbound Events). At the top right of the code window, click the drop-down arrow and select ReportEnd. This creates an event-handling method for rptUnbound's ReportEnd event. Add code to the handler to:
  • Close the data connection 

To write the code in C#

• Click in the gray area below rptUnbound to select the report. Click on the events icon in the Properties window to display available events for the report. Double-click ReportEnd. This creates an event-handling method for rptUnbound's ReportEnd event. Add code to the handler to:
  • Close the data connection

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

    'Visual Basic
    Private Sub rptUnbound_ReportEnd(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
         Handles MyBase.ReportEnd
         reader.Close()
         conn.Close()
     End Sub
    
    //C#
    private void rptUnbound_ReportEnd(object sender, System.EventArgs eArgs)
    {
        reader.Close();
        conn.Close();
    }

Viewing the report

To view the report

1. Add the ActiveReports viewer control to a Windows Form.
2. Add the code needed to set the viewer document equal to the report document. See Using the ActiveReports Windows Form Viewer for help.

See Also

 

 

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