In the v15.2 release of our ASP.NET Reporting controls, we have implemented a couple of really exciting must-have features!
Sub-reports
One of the things we’ve built is support for sub-reports. This allows you to embed (several) existing pre-made reports into a new report.
We have created a new control for this functionality which is the XRSubreport. You can drag it onto the design-surface in the Report Designer, double click it and start creating the new sub-report just the same way as designing the parent report.
When working with sub-reports, you will see a number of tabs below the report designer which allow you to switch between the various reports.
Once you’re finished creating a new sub-report, you will need to save the sub-report as separate definition on the web-server. For this we have added a Save (As) dialog:
Alternatively, you can also specify the Report Source URL in the object inspector of XRSubreport control if you want to use an existing report.
For the sub-reports features to work, we needed to change a couple of things in the reports storage mechanism. This requires you (the developer) to implement a report storage class so the reporting engine and designer are able to locate available sub-reports on the server for processing. This class is also used for saving new or modified report definitions on the server.
This reports storage class was already available on the WinForms counterpart where it is an optional feature. With the v15.2 release of the ASP.NET reporting suite, it has become something mandatory to implement. We will obviously provide you with a number of examples so you can use this new feature without problems!
Report Explorer
To improve the design experience as well as the productivity when designing reports, we have included a new feature; The Report Explorer.
The Report Explorer allows you to quickly navigate through different parts of your report, such as bands, styles and formatting rules. When selecting one of the nodes in the explorer, you will be able to delete it or modify it’s properties by clicking the appropriate button in the explorer.
The Report Explorer also gives you a quick and convenient way on creating new styles and formatting rules by selecting the styles node and next click the ‘+’ button.
By dragging a style of formatting rule from the explorer onto a control, this style or rule will be applied.
RichText support
We have redone the XRRichText control to fully support embedding RichText content (or database fields containing this) in your reports. It allows you to put either static, data-bound or content loaded from a file into your reports.
The XRRichText control also provides WYSIWYG rendering of RTF, HTML or plain text content in the Report Designer.
Register for v15.2 webinar
To see all the new features coming out for the v15.2 release, sign up for the "v15.2: What's New for ASP.NET Developers":
Let me know what you think of this upcoming reporting sweetness!