DevExpress Reporting - 2021 Roadmap

Based on survey results and Support Center feedback, we have finalized our 2021 Roadmap. We want to thank you for your continued support and for your insightful comments. Please take a moment to review our planned enhancements and let us know what you think.

Oh – and please make sure to bookmark this page so you can return to it later. This is going to be a living document – one which we will update over time (based on progress). Last updated on November 2nd, 2021.

If you have any issues with the roadmap, questions and/or suggestions related to implementation, or you feel that we’ve missed an important opportunity - feel free to email us at reportingteam@devexpress.com. We will be happy to follow up.

Visual Studio Report Designer for .NET 5 Apps

WinForms WPF ASP.NET Core Blazor Server
CTP available in v21.1RTM with .NET 6 Support released in v21.2

The number one priority for us is to offer you the best possible user experience when using the DevExpress Visual Studio Report Designer for apps targeting .NET 5. Our goal is to deliver feature parity between our current .NET Framework Report Designer and our .NET 5 designer.

Of course, we also want to give you a straightforward way to migrate your reports to .NET 5.

Export To PDF - Tagged PDF

WinForms WPF ASP.NET MVC Core Blazor Server
Released in v21.1

You’ll be able to produce tagged PDF documents so that impaired users can better perceive information within PDF reader applications. Our updated PDF export engine will allow you to export documents that conform to the following:

• PDF/UA standard
• PDF/A-1a, PDF/A-2a, PDF/A-3a standards (Level A conformance)

Runtime Report Generation - New Fluent API

WinForms WPF ASP.NET MVC Core Blazor Server
Postponed

We will engineer a Fluent API for those who prefer to create reports at runtime. Our goal is to significantly reduce the amount of code required to create tabular reports with multiple bands.

XtraReport myTablereport = ReportLayoutFluentBuilder
    .Report()
    .WithReportUnit(reportUnit: ReportUnit.HundredthsOfAnInch)
    .PageHeader(builder => {
        builder
        .Table()
        .AddRow("Company", "City", "State", "Orders", "Average Sale Amount")
        .Build();
    })
    .Detail(builder => {
        builder
        .Table()
        .AddRow(new[] { "[Name]", "[City]", "[State]", "[CustomersOrders_1][].Count()", "[CustomersOrders_1][].Avg([TotalAmount])" }, asExpression: true)
        .Build();
    })
    .Build();
}

Report Designer Enhancements

Report Design Analyzer

Visual Studio Report Designer WinForms WPF ASP.NET MVC Core Blazor Server
Released in v21.1 for DesktopReleased in v21.2 for Web

The DevExpress Report Designer will scan your report for changes on-the-fly and help you avoid design-related mistakes that may affect the document appearance and generated export files. We will rename the Script Errors panel to Report Design Analyzer. You will still be able to view script errors within this panel, but we will extend it with the following new capabilities:

• The panel will point you to report layout issues and list actions you can take to avoid potential errors.
• The panel will display runtime-related errors that can occur during the document creation process

The Report Design Analyzer panel will also be available within the Web Report Designer.

UX Enhancements

Visual Studio Report Designer WinForms WPF
Released in v21.2

We will extend our Visual Studio Report Designer/Desktop End-User Report Designer and improve the report design process. Enhancements will include:

• New Smart Tag icons for both report control and the report itself.

• The Expression Editor will allow you to set up expression bindings for various report control properties directly within its dialog window.

• The Properties Panel UI will reflect a property’s data-bound state. An update will give users the ability to distinguish if a property supports data binding or if it is already bound to a data column.

• We’ll ship an updated toolbox with a new look & feel. We’ll also logically distribute report controls into sections.

• Scripts Auto-Complete functionality will be reworked and will function in a more “intelligent” manner.

Localization - Translation Strings CSV Import/Export

Visual Studio Report Designer WinForms WPF
Released in v21.2

You’ll be able to export report localization strings to a CSV file and use it to translate report elements with the help of third-party services. You will also be able to import translations within a CSV file back to a report.

Parameters Panel Customization API

WinForms WPF
Released in v21.2

We will engineer an API that allows you to generate your own parameters panel layout based on report parameters. This new API will address the following usage scenarios:

• Customizing parameter editors
• Changing parameter editors location and size
• Changing parameter description labels location and size
• Parameter editors grouping
• Conditional visibility of parameter editors

PDF Content - Embed PDFs into Report Pages

WinForms WPF ASP.NET MVC Core Blazor Server
Released in v21.2

The XRPdfContent report control will ship with a new operating mode. The control will offer the ability to scale down a single-page PDF and embed it into a report band as a picture.

Web Report Designer - Support for Multi-Tenant and/or Multi-User Scenarios

ASP.NET MVC Core Blazor Server
Released in v21.1

We will review both the architecture and implementation of our web reporting components and enhance the integration experience for multi-tenant applications.

Web Report Designer - Cross-Tab

ASP.NET MVC Core Blazor Server
Released in v21.2

We will leverage the user experience of our Cross-Tab report control and incorporate it within the Web Report Designer. The Web Report Designer Report Wizard will also feature a new Cross-Tab Report option.

New Blazor Document Viewer

Blazor Server
Released in v21.1Completed in v21.2

We will implement a completely new Document Viewer component for Blazor Server apps. We will leverage components from our Blazor product line to deliver the following capabilities:

• Bootstrap themes support
• Public C# API
• A wide range of popular customization features:
  • Toolbar customization
  • Export Options panel customization
  • Parameter editors customization
  • Localization

Data Source Enhancements

Excel Data Source - Binding by a Sheet Index

WinForms WPF ASP.NET MVC Core Blazor Server
Released in v21.1

You will be able to bind reports directly to Excel files with multiple sheets via our new ExcelWorksheetSettings.WorksheetIndex property:

ExcelDataSource excelDataSource = new ExcelDataSource(){ 
    FileName = path; 
};

// Select a required worksheet.
ExcelWorksheetSettings excelWorksheetSettings = new ExcelWorksheetSettings() { 
    WorksheetIndex = 1
};

// Specify import settings.
ExcelSourceOptions excelSourceOptions = new ExcelSourceOptions() {
    ImportSettings = excelWorksheetSettings,
    SkipHiddenRows = true,
    SkipHiddenColumns = true,
    UseFirstRowAsHeader = true
};

excelDataSource.SourceOptions = excelSourceOptions;

// Fill the data source
excelDataSource.Fill();

New MongoDB Data Source

Visual Studio Report Designer WinForms WPF
Released in v21.1

You will be able to bind reports to a MongoDB database. The new data source will allow you to select the desired database name, document collection name, and define the appropriate server-side filtering clause.

FederationDataSource - Fluent API for Transformation-Based Queries

WinForms WPF ASP.NET MVC Core Blazor Server
Released in v21.1

The Federation Data Source allows you to flatten (or expand/denormalize) your data source structure via a Transformation option: you can transform inner elements of your data source (such as arrays and lists) into a row set. We will engineer Fluent API for the runtime creation of Transformation-based federated queries.

Your Feedback Matters

As always, please let us know your thoughts in the fields below. We will be more than happy to follow-up should you wish to discuss your needs further.

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