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Saturday, August 16, 2014PrintSubscribe
Producing Reports in Binary Format

Application end users download the data reports by selecting menu options in the user interface.

Standard reporting options in an app with Touch UI produced with Code On Time application generator.

The report is produced in the requested format on the server and streamed back to the client browser. The report data is automatically filtered and sorted exactly as displayed to the end user.

A report produced in Microsoft Word format by an app with Touch UI created with Code On Time application generator.

Application developers may need to produce a report on the server with arbitrary filters and sort expression in response to the user actions. The report data file may be stored in the database, archived in the file system, or sent as an email attachment. Application framework offers a simple method that allows to do just that.

Consider the following sample business rule.

C#:

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using MyCompany.Data;
using MyCompany.Handlers;
using System.IO;
using MyCompany.Web;

namespace MyCompany.Rules
{
    public partial class CustomersBusinessRules : MyCompany.Data.BusinessRules
    {

        /// <summary>
        /// This method will execute in any view for an action
        /// with a command name that matches "Custom" and argument that matches "ProduceReport".
        /// </summary>
        [Rule("r100")]
        public void r100Implementation(string customerID, string companyName, string contactName,
            string contactTitle, string address, string city, string region, string postalCode,
            string country, string phone, string fax)
        {
            // This is the placeholder for method implementation.
            ReportArgs args = new ReportArgs();
            // controller
            args.Controller = "Orders";
            // sort expression
            args.SortExpression = "OrderDate desc";
            // data filter
            args.Filter = new FieldFilter[] {
                new FieldFilter  {
                    FieldName = "CustomerID",
                    Operation = RowFilterOperation.Equal,
                    Value = customerID
                }
            };
            // filter details
            args.FilterDetails = "This report has been produced on the server for customer " + companyName;
            // produce report in binary format
            byte[] reportData = Report.Execute(args);
            // save report to the local file system
            File.WriteAllBytes(Path.Combine(
                Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments), "Test.pdf"),
                reportData);
            // report the MIME type and file extension that go with the binary data
            Result.ShowAlert("MIME: {0}, Extension: {1}", args.MimeType, args.FileNameExtension);
        }
    }
}

Visual Basic:

Imports MyCompany.Data
Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Linq
Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
Imports System.Web
Imports System.Web.Security
Imports MyCompany.Handlers
Imports System.IO
Imports MyCompany.Web

Namespace MyCompany.Rules

    Partial Public Class CustomersBusinessRules
        Inherits MyCompany.Data.BusinessRules

        ''' <summary>
        ''' This method will execute in any view for an action
        ''' with a command name that matches "Custom" and argument that matches "ProduceReport".
        ''' </summary>
        <Rule("r100")> _
        Public Sub r100Implementation(ByVal customerID As String, ByVal companyName As String,
                                      ByVal contactName As String, ByVal contactTitle As String,
                                      ByVal address As String, ByVal city As String,
                                      ByVal region As String, ByVal postalCode As String,
                                      ByVal country As String, ByVal phone As String, ByVal fax As String)
            'This is the placeholder for method implementation.
            Dim args As ReportArgs = New ReportArgs()
            ' controller
            args.Controller = "Orders"
            ' sort expression
            args.SortExpression = "OrderDate desc"
            ' data filter
            args.Filter = New FieldFilter() {
                New FieldFilter With {
                    .FieldName = "CustomerID",
                    .Operation = RowFilterOperation.Equals,
                    .Value = customerID
                    }
                }
            ' filter details
            args.FilterDetails = "This report has been produced on the server for customer " + companyName
            ' produce report in binary format
            Dim reportData As Byte() = Report.Execute(args)
            ' save report to the local file system
            File.WriteAllBytes(Path.Combine(
                Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments), "Test.pdf"),
                reportData)
            ' report the MIME type and file extension that go with the binary data
            Result.ShowAlert("MIME: {0}, Extension: {1}", args.MimeType, args.FileNameExtension)
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

The code is executed in response to a custom action Produce Report selected in the context menu of application.

Custom action used to invoke a 'Code' business rule in an app with Touch UI creatd with Code On Time application builder.

Static method Report.Execute performs a server-side execution of the standard report action. The custom implementation of the “Code” business rule displays details about the produced binary data array.

Information about MIME type and file extension reporting by a business rule after producing a report in PDF format in an app with Touch UI.

This sample saves the report data to My Documents folder of the server computer. Here is the actual report.

This report has been generated by a custom action with the help of Report.Execute method invoked by custom business rule in an app with Touch UI produced with Code On Time.

Instance of a class ReportArgs exposes several properties that control the report rendering on the server.

Property Description
Controller Specifies the name of the data controller.
View Specifies the ID of the data controller view that will be used to produce data.
SortExpression Defines a sort expression that determines the order of data rows passed to the reporting engine for processing.
Filter Defines an array of filters applied to the report data passed to the reporting engine for processing.
FilterDetails Specifies the optional message displayed below the report header in standard reports.
Format Specifies the format of the output. The default format is Pdf. Other options are Word, Excel, and Image.
Template Name Specifies the name of the custom report template. If left blank, then a standard template is automatically created by application framework.
MimeType Indicates the MIME type of the report data produced by Microsoft Report Viewer. Use this property when sending report as an email attachment.
FileNameExtension Indicates the file name extension that matches the data produced by Microsoft Report Viewer. Use this property to provide a correct extension for the file name.
Saturday, August 9, 2014PrintSubscribe
Passing Business Rule Properties to Stored Procedures

Code On Time generator allows creating data controllers from the result set of a stored procedure. Some stored procedures use parameters in order to perform operations on the data. In the Northwind sample database, the [Employee Sales By Country] stored procedure shows total sales amounts grouped by employee, and then by country. It accepts two parameters, @Starting_Date and @Ending_Date to determine the filter.

Let’s create a controller from this stored procedure and pass parameters to the script via properties in the BusinessRules class of the app.

This picture shows the results of the stored procedure with @Beginning_Date and @Ending_Date parameters returned by a business rule property.

Employee Sales by Country stored procedure results filtered by a business rule property.

The CREATE script for the stored procedure can be seen below.

CREATE procedure [dbo].[Employee Sales by Country] 
@Beginning_Date DateTime, @Ending_Date DateTime AS
SELECT    Employees.Country, 
        Employees.LastName, 
        Employees.FirstName, 
        Orders.ShippedDate, 
        Orders.OrderID, 
        "Order Subtotals".Subtotal AS SaleAmount
FROM Employees INNER JOIN 
    (Orders INNER JOIN "Order Subtotals" ON Orders.OrderID = "Order Subtotals".OrderID) 
    ON Employees.EmployeeID = Orders.EmployeeID
WHERE Orders.ShippedDate Between @Beginning_Date And @Ending_Date

Creating the Controller

Start the Project Designer. In the Project Explorer, switch to the Controllers tab. Click on the New Controller icon on the toolbar.

Creating a new controller.

Enter a name for the controller.

Property Value
Name EmployeeSalesByCountry

Press OK to save. Right-click the new controller and press “Generate From SQL…”.

Generating the controller from an SQL script.

In the SQL script textbox, paste in the following script. The debug section is removed from the business rule when the application framework executes the script at runtime and declares the business rule properties as SQL parameters.

-- debug
DECLARE @BusinessRules_BeginningDate datetime,
        @BusinessRules_EndingDate datetime
-- end debug

EXEC [dbo].[Employee Sales by Country]
    @BusinessRules_BeginningDate,
    @BusinessRules_EndingDate

Press OK to generate the controller.

Adding Controller To Page

Next, let’s add the controller to a page. Right-click on the controller and press Copy.

Copying the EmployeeSalesByCountry controller.

Switch to the Pages tab in the Project Explorer. On the toolbar, press the New Page icon.

Creating a new page in the project.

Give a name to the page and press OK to save.

Property Value
Name Employee Sales By Country

Drop the new page to the right side of Home page node to place it second in the site menu.

Dropping a page to the right side of Home page node.     Employee Sales By Country page placed after the Home page node in the site menu.

Right-click on the page and press Paste to instantiate the controller as a data view on the page.

Pasting on the Employee Sales By Country page.     The EmployeeSalesByCountry controller has been added to the page as a data view.

Adding Business Rule Property

Let’s create two properties in the BusinessRules class. These properties will return a DateTime value that will be picked up and used by the query to filter the results. If the user is in role “Administrators”, it will display all records between 1970 and 2000. Otherwise, no records will be displayed.

On the Project Designer toolbar, press Browse to first generate the web app. Then, press Develop to open the solution in Visual Studio.

In the Solution Explorer on the right side, right-click on App_Code folder and press Add | Class.

Adding a new class to the project.

Assign a name of “EmployeeSalesByCountryProperties” and press OK to create the file. Replace the contents of the file with the following:

C#:

using System;

namespace MyCompany.Data
{
    public partial class BusinessRules
    {
        public static DateTime BeginningDate
        {
            get
            {
                if (Controller.UserIsInRole("Administrators"))
                    return new DateTime(1970, 1, 1);
                else 
                    return DateTime.Now;
            }
        }

        public static DateTime EndingDate
        {
            get
            {
                if (Controller.UserIsInRole("Administrators"))
                    return new DateTime(2000, 1, 1);
                else
                    return DateTime.Now;
            }
        }
    }
}

Visual Basic:

Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic

Namespace MyCompany.Data
    Partial Public Class BusinessRules

        Public ReadOnly Property BeginningDate As DateTime
            Get
                If Controller.UserIsInRole("Administrators") Then
                    Return New DateTime(1970, 1, 1)
                Else
                    Return DateTime.Now
                End If
            End Get
        End Property

        Public ReadOnly Property EndingDate As DateTime
            Get
                If Controller.UserIsInRole("Administrators") Then
                    Return New DateTime(2000, 1, 1)
                Else
                    Return DateTime.Now
                End If
            End Get
        End Property

    End Class
End Namespace

Make sure to save the file.

Viewing the Results

Press Ctrl+F5 to start the app without debugging. Log in as an administrator and navigate to the Employee Sales By Country page. Notice that all 809 records are displayed.

All employee sales are displayed.

Log out, and log in again as a user. Notice that no records are displayed.

No employee sales are displayed.

Friday, August 8, 2014PrintSubscribe
Passing Session Parameters to Stored Procedures

Code On Time generator allows creating data controllers from the result set of a stored procedure. Some stored procedures use parameters in order to perform operations on the data. In the Northwind sample database, the CustOrderHist stored procedure accepts a CustomerID as a parameter and displays a list of products and totals ordered for that customer.

Let’s create a controller from this stored procedure and pass a session variable as the parameter.

This picture shows the results of the stored procedure with a CustomerID passed as a session variable..

image

The CREATE script for the stored procedure can be seen below.

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[CustOrderHist] @CustomerID nchar(5)
AS
SELECT ProductName, Total=SUM(Quantity)
FROM Products P, [Order Details] OD, Orders O, Customers C
WHERE C.CustomerID = @CustomerID
AND C.CustomerID = O.CustomerID AND O.OrderID = OD.OrderID AND OD.ProductID = P.ProductID
GROUP BY ProductName

Creating the Controller

Start the Project Designer. In the Project Explorer, switch to the Controllers tab. Click on the New Controller icon on the toolbar.

Creating a new controller in the project.

Enter a name for the controller.

Property Value
Name CustOrderHist

Press OK to save. Right-click the new controller and press “Generate From SQL…”.

Generating the new controller from SQL.

In the SQL script textbox, paste in the following script. The debug section is removed from the business rule when the application framework executes the script at runtime and declares the session parameters.

-- debug
DECLARE @Session_CustomerID char(5)
-- end debug

DECLARE @CustomerID char(5)

if (@Session_CustomerID is not null)
    set @CustomerID = @Session_CustomerID

EXEC [dbo].[CustOrderHist] @CustomerID

Press OK to generate the controller.

Adding Controller To Page

Next, let’s add the controller to a page. Right-click on the controller and press Copy.

Copying the CustOrdersOrders controller.

Switch to the Pages tab in the Project Explorer. On the toolbar, press the New Page icon.

Adding a new page to the project.

Give a name to the page and press OK to save.

Property Value
Name Customer Order History

Right-click on the page and press Paste to instantiate the controller as a data view on the page.

Pasting onto the Customer Orders page.

Let’s hide the page from the menu by right-clicking on Customer Orders page and pressing Exclude From Menu.

Excluding the Customer Orders page from the menu.

Creating Action to Assign Session Variable

Users will access Customer Order History by a custom action on the Customers page. This action will set the session variable and redirect to the correct page.

In the Project Explorer, switch to the Controllers tab. Right-click on Customers / Actions / ag4 (ActionBar) – Edit/Delete node, and press New Action.

Creating a new action in Customers controller.

Assign the following values:

Property Value
Command Name SQL
Header Text Show Orders
Data
set @Session_CustomerID = @CustomerID
set @Result_ShowAlert = 'You will be redirected to orders ' +
                        'made by customer "' + @CompanyName + '".'
set @Result_NavigateUrl = 'CustomerOrderHistory.aspx'
When Key Selected Yes

Press OK to save the new action.

Viewing the Results

On the toolbar, press Browse. Navigate to the Customers page, and select a record. Open the context menu by clicking on the top right button, and select “Show Orders” action.

Activating the "Show Orders" action on the Customers page.

A dialog will appear informing the user that they will be redirected.

Alert shown to the user that they will be redirected.

The Customer Order History page will load, and display the relevant order information about the customer using the session variable as a parameter.

image