Code On Time: Tutorials

Saturday, December 15, 2012Print Subscribe

An alternative method for creating the denormalized data set is to create a database view.

Start SQL Server Management Studio. Connect to the database server. Right-click on Databases / Northwind node, and press New Query.

Paste in the following script:

CREATE VIEW [dbo].[OrderFormReport]
AS
SELECT dbo.[Order Details].UnitPrice, dbo.[Order Details].Quantity, 
        dbo.[Order Details].Discount, dbo.Orders.OrderDate, dbo.Orders.RequiredDate, 
        dbo.Orders.ShippedDate, dbo.Orders.Freight, dbo.Orders.ShipName, 
        dbo.Orders.ShipAddress, dbo.Orders.ShipCity, dbo.Orders.ShipRegion, 
        dbo.Orders.ShipPostalCode, dbo.Orders.ShipCountry, 
        dbo.Employees.LastName AS EmployeeLastName, 
        dbo.Employees.FirstName AS EmployeeFirstName, 
        dbo.Shippers.CompanyName AS ShipperCompanyName, 
        dbo.Customers.CompanyName AS CustomerCompanyName
FROM   dbo.[Order Details] INNER JOIN
        dbo.Orders ON dbo.[Order Details].OrderID = dbo.Orders.OrderID INNER JOIN
        dbo.Employees ON dbo.Orders.EmployeeID = dbo.Employees.EmployeeID INNER JOIN
        dbo.Customers ON dbo.Orders.CustomerID = dbo.Customers.CustomerID INNER JOIN
        dbo.Shippers ON dbo.Orders.ShipVia = dbo.Shippers.ShipperID

GO

Execute the script to create the database view.

Switch back to the web application generator. Refresh the project, and include the new view in the configuration.

Click Design and explore the new data controller.

Labels: Application Builder, Tutorials, Web Application Generator

Saturday, December 15, 2012Print Subscribe

Order Form Sample–Part 30

The automatically configured OrderDetails data controller has the following field set.

The report requires an extended field set in OrderDetails controller. The Denormalization Field Map will prompt the web application generator to create additional fields in data controllers.

Start Code On Time generator and click on the project name. Select Settings on the Project Action screen. Proceed to Business Logic Layer.

Activate Denormalization Map options and enter the following:

dbo.Order Details => dbo.Orders
OrderDate
RequiredDate
ShippedDate
ShipVia
Freight
ShipName
ShipAddress
ShipCity
ShipRegion
ShipPostalCode
ShipCountry

dbo.Orders => dbo.Employees
FirstName

Press the Finish button and refresh the OrderDetails controller.

Click Design, and explore the fields of OrderDetails controller. The controller “borrows” additional fields from Employees and Orders controllers.

Labels: Application Builder, Tutorials, Web Application Generator

Tuesday, December 11, 2012Print Subscribe

“Report” Action

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.

Parameter	Description
_controller	Specifies the data controller to create a report from.
_view	Specifies the view to create a report from.
_sortExpession	Specifies an expression that will be used to sort data. Example: OrderDate desc
_count	Specifies a limit on the number of records in the report.
_template	Specifies the name of a custom RDLC template file to use.
[Report Controller Field Filter]	Multiple field filters can be specified in one of the following formats: 1) ReportControllerFieldName=ClientControllerFieldName 2) ReportControllerFieldName="Static Value" 3) ReportControllerFieldName=@Arguments_SelectedValues If the “_controller” parameter is not specified, then the ReportControllerFieldName refers to the data controller presented to the user on the client. If the parameter is configured, then the filter references the specified data controller. The ClientControllerFieldName is replaced with an actual value of the specified field in a data row selected on the client at runtime. The static value must be enclosed in “single” or “double”quotes. The @Arguments_SelectedValues parameter will pass a list of all selected primary keys. Examples: OrderCustomerID=CustomerID CustomerID='ANTON' CategoryID="7"

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:

Property	Value
Command Name	Report
Header Text	Print Report of Order Details
Data	_controller=OrderDetails _view=grid1 OrderID=OrderID
When Key Selected	Yes

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:

Property	New Value
Selection Mode	Multiple

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:

Property	New Value
Data	_controller=OrderDetails _view=grid1 OrderID=@Arguments_SelectedValues

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.

Labels: Application Builder, Reports, Tutorials, Web Application Generator