Reports

Users can produce an order report by selecting an option from the Report menu on the action bar. The Print icon in the top left corner will activate the first option in the Report menu.

However, the default report only displays a top-down list of fields and values of the selected order. Order details are not present.

Let’s implement an action on the order form that will produce a report using a custom report template. This template will render the data in the same layout as the order form, and include all relevant order details.

Such a report requires a denormalized data set joining rows from Orders, Order Details, Employees, and Shippers tables.

A denormalized data set can be created using one of the following methods:

1. Using the Denormalization Field Map to extend the field set available in OrderDetails controller.
2. Creating a data controller based on a database view that joins all required tables.

The data controller needs to be extended with a view that includes all data fields required for the report. A custom report template must be enabled for the view. The generated template can be customized directly in Visual Studio.

Finally, an action is needed to activate the report. Action parameters will map the current OrderID as a filter for the report data controller.

Application framework uses Microsoft Report Viewer to create data reports in Tiff, Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel formats.

Action “Report” is a shortcut for “ReportAsPdf” action.

When no parameters are specified in the Command Argument or Data property of “Report” action, a PDF report will be generated from the current view.

The application framework applies a standard XSLT report template to the data controller XML file to create a report definition in RDLC format.  Then it uses the report definition to produce an output with a help of Report Viewer. The report is rendered on the web server using Local Processing mode of Report Viewer. The report document is streamed out to the client web browser.

Parameters can be used to specify the controller, view, template, and various other factors that the application framework will take into account when creating a report. The parameters must be configured in the Data property of action.  The table below shows the available parameters.

Note that when the Data property is used, user-specified filters will be overridden. Instead, use the Command Argument property. Specify the custom report template, controller, and view.

Example: Employees_grid1.rdlc,Employees,grid1

Passing a Field Value

Let’s create a Report action in the Orders controller to print a subset of order details. The action will be configured to use OrderDetails data controller with rows filters by an OrderID selected on the client at the time the action is triggered.

Start the Project Designer. In the Project Explorer, switch to the Controllers tab and right-click on Orders / Actions / ag4 (ActionBar) – Edit/Delete node. Press New Action.

Assign the following properties:

The highlighted value of OrderID parameter references the OrderID data field of Orders controller. The parameter itself is referencing the field in OrderDetails data controller.

Press OK to save the action. On the toolbar, press Browse.

Navigate to the Orders page, and select an order. On the action bar, press Print Report of Order Details.

Open the PDF document that was downloaded to your hard drive. The report will contain order details filtered by the selected order.

Passing Multiple Field Values

If the data view allows multiple selection, every selected record should be passed to the report filter. The report action above will only pass the first one. Let’s customize the action in order to pass all selected primary keys.

In the Project Explorer, switch to the Pages tab. Double-click on Customers / Orders / container1 / view1 (Orders, grid1) node.

Enable multi-selection for the view:

Save the view. Switch to the Controllers tab, and double-click on Orders / Actions / ag4 (ActionBar) – Edit/Delete / a100 – Report | Print Report of Order Details node.

Make the following highlighted changes:

Save the action. On the toolbar, press Browse. Navigate to the Orders page, and check boxes next to several orders. On the toolbar, press Print Report of Order Details.

Open the file. Notice that order details from all selected orders are printed in the report.