Reporting

The reporting functionality in the eXpressApp Framework is represented by the Reports Module. This module is based on our separate XtraReports product. XtraReports has been available separately for several years and it is a mature reporting system with lots of advanced features like an end-user designer (please note that this is currently a Windows Forms only feature), report creation wizards, built-in previews, data parametrisation and mail merging, to name just a few. For full feature descriptions, please see the main product page of XtraReports here.

When creating a new report at runtime, the Report Wizard is invoked. It leads you through a number of steps to choose different options required to provide data for the report. Choose the fields to display and customize their appearance.

After the Report Wizard has finished its work, you can customize the newly created report using the Report Designer.

A report can as easily be viewed in Windows Forms as it can in ASP.NET applications.

Take into account the following capabilities provided by the Reports Module:

• There are several approaches to filter a report data source. Use the one that is most appropriate for a particular task.
• You can bind reports to individual Views. The list of bound reports is shown for the current View. In this instance, you can easily find the required report for the View.
• In ASP.NET applications, a report can be previewed in the mht, pdf, xls and rtf formats.
• Reports can be exported to a number of formats.