Coming in version 2010 volume 2 we’ve made it easier to save and load reports to any data source in the end-user report designer. In the following diagram I have created a new Open Dialog which loads the report definition from a dataset saved to an xml file:
This kind of extension will allow you and your users to save reports to virtually any medium! A special class needs to be created that extends the CustomReportStorage class that has the following methods:
- bool CanSetData(string url) – Whether or not a particular url (or report) can be saved
- byte[] GetData(string url) – Get report data by url (or name)
- string GetNewUrl() – Load or open a report
- string[] GetStandardUrls(ITypeDescriptorContext context) – Whether or not we can specify a url (name) for sub reports
- bool GetStandardUrlsSupported(ITypeDescriptorContext context) – Available report url (name) for sub reports
- bool IsValidUrl(string url) – Whether or not a report url (name) is valid)
- void SetData(XtraReport report, string url) – Save a report by url (name)
- string SetNewData(XtraReport report, string defaultUrl) – Save a new report by url (name)
Here is the Save dialog box:
The form I created is simply our grid and the populated dataset!
I made a video walking through this example located here.
As always, if there are any comments and/or questions, feel free to get a hold of me!
Seth Juarez
Email: sethj@devexpress.com
Twitter: @SethJuarez