| VSView Reporting Edition Reference > VSReport Control > VSReport Methods > Load Method |
Loads a report from an XML report definition file.
[form!]VSReport.Load FileName As String, ReportName As String
Report definition files are XML files created by applications such as the Report Designer. You can write applications to create report definition files as well; the format is quite simple.
The parameters for the Load method are described below:
FileName As String
This parameter contains the full name of the XML report definition file.
ReportName As String
This parameter specifies the report you want to retrieve. You can get a list of reports available in the file using the GetReportInfo method. The ReportName parameter is case-insensitive, so you can use "yearly sales" to retrieve a report called "Yearly Sales".
For example, the following code populates a ComboBox control with all the reports in a file:
' get a tab-separated list of the reports
' in the report definition file
s = App.Path & DataFileName
sList = vsr.GetReportInfo(s, vsrRIList)
vList = Split(sList, vbTab)
' populate list box
cmbReport.Clear
For i = 0 To UBound(vList)
cmbReport.AddItem vList(i)
Next
The following code loads and renders a report when the user picks it from the list:
Private Sub cmbReport_Click()
' make sure control is ready
If vsr.IsBusy Then Beep: Exit Sub
' load report from XML file
s = App.Path & DataFileName
vsr.Load s, cmbReport.Text
' render report
vsr.Render vp
End Sub
You can also load reports at design time, using the "Load Report" property page. If you load a report this way, it is saved as part of the control data, and becomes part of your application. In this case, you don't need to distribute any report definition files. If you want to make several reports available to your users, and don't want to distribute a report definition file, use multiple controls on the form, and load a different report into each one at design time.
The control does not have any methods for saving report definition files. However, because the control uses XML as its native format, you can easily write code to generate your own report definition files. This is what the Reports Designer application does.