ActiveReports - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

ActiveReports is a .NET

.NET Framework

The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...

reporting tool used by developers of WinForms and ASP.NET

ASP.NET

ASP.NET is a Web application framework developed and marketed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic Web sites, Web applications and Web services. It was first released in January 2002 with version 1.0 of the .NET Framework, and is the successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages ...

applications. It was originally developed by Data Dynamics

Data Dynamics

Data Dynamics, Ltd. a software development company that creates software components for application developers using Microsoft Visual Studio and the .NET platform. The company's primary product focus is on data analysis and information reporting...

, which was then acquired by GrapeCity

GrapeCity

GrapeCity, inc. is a privately held, multinational software corporation based in Sendai, Japan, that develops its own software products and provides outsourced product development services, consulting services, software solutions, and Customer relationship management solutions and services...

. ActiveReports is a set of components and tools that facilitates the production of reports to display data in documents and web-based formats. It is written in managed C# and allows Visual Studio programmers to leverage their knowledge of C# or Visual Basic.NET when programming with ActiveReports.

Among the components included with ActiveReports are exports to file formats such as PDF, Excel

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...

, RTF

Rich Text Format

The Rich Text Format is a proprietary document file format with published specification developed by Microsoft Corporation since 1987 for Microsoft products and for cross-platform document interchange....

, and TIFF. The main component is a Visual Studio report designer with banded sections and an API that developers use to create customized reports from a variety of data sources. ActiveReports also includes a Windows Viewer control with a customizable toolbar that supports split and multi-page views, has a Table of Contents pane with a new Thumbnail view tab, and can perform text searches of reports.

The Professional Edition of ActiveReports adds to the Standard Edition tools an End-User Report Designer control that developers use to host the report designer in their own Microsoft Windows applications to let end users create and modify reports. It also includes a server-side Web viewer with Flash, PDF, and HTML viewer types; ASP.NET HTTP Handlers that export reports to HTML or PDF format without custom code; and PDF security features like time stamping and digital signatures.

The ActiveReports Professional Edition is included in the ActiveReports Reporting and BI Suite that also contains two additional products - Data Dynamics Reports and ActiveAnalysis.

ActiveReports and Data Dynamics Reports XML-based report files can be imported into ActiveReports Server to make use of its centralized storage, rendering and distribution features. ActiveReports Server is a Web-based reporting tool that allows business users to perform ad hoc self-service report designing and viewing over the Web while using their Web browser. It also includes a Web-based administration portal and a software development kit (SDK).

Features New to Version 6

Latest Service Releases

Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is an application framework for writing and running rich Internet applications, with features and purposes similar to those of Adobe Flash. The run-time environment for Silverlight is available as a plug-in for web browsers running under Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X...

Report Viewer
Windows Azure reporting in partial trust and full trust modes
ASP.NET
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is a Web application framework developed and marketed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic Web sites, Web applications and Web services. It was first released in January 2002 with version 1.0 of the .NET Framework, and is the successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages ...

medium trust support
Support for Visual Studio 2010
Support for .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...

4.0 Client profile
Utility to convert from Crystal Reports (2005 and 2008) to ActiveReports

Standard Edition

Cross-section box and line controls that span report sections
Quality and performance improvements
New Reduced Space Symbology (RSS) barcode styles
External style sheets
Designer snap lines
Granular control over text boxes and labels
64 bit support

Professional Edition

Includes all Standard Edition new features
Secure PDF generation with digital signatures and timestamps
Redistributable help for the End User Report Designer
Adobe Flash report viewer (But don't work with flash player 10.1)
Toolstrip controls in End User Report Designer

Features New to Version 3

ActiveReports Designer

Design-time preview tab
Component tray for design-time work with .NET data providers
Report Explorer support for parameters and calculated fields
Design-time support for custom parameters
Design-time unbound fields

Windows Forms Viewer

Users can add annotations
Linked reports open in tabbed pages
Web links open within the viewer

Reporting Engine

Chart control supports seven new chart types
- Funnel
- Pyramid
- Gantt
- Kagi
- Point and figure
- Renko
- Three line break
ReportInfo control for page N of M or report run dates

Standard Edition

Report Designer

Integration with the Visual Studio environment (version 6 supports Visual Studio 2005 and 2008)
Familiar user interface
- banded sections
- properties accessible in the Visual Studio Properties grid
C# and Visual Basic .NET code behind reports
3rd party control and user control support
Fully exposed object model
Dynamic report building or modification with report events
Chart and barcode controls
Report creation API with complete run-time access to report objects and members

Data Access

Supports OleDB, SQL Server, and XML Datasources
Binds to ADO.NET DataReaders, DataTables, DataViews, and DataSets
Binds to any RowCollection, and any class that implements the IList interface
DataSource property can be modified at run time to create ad hoc (dynamic) reports
Flexible unbound data

Report Viewer

Created with managed C# code
Supports small deployment assembly, suitable for use on the Internet
Provides tabs for contents, bookmarks and thumbnail views
Allows hyperlinking
Provides export filters for RTF, PDF, EXCEL, HTML, TIFF, and text
Customizable toolbar

Other

Report Wizard
Microsoft Access Report Import Wizard
Provides HTML, PDF, Excel, RTF, TIFF, and Text exports

Deployment

Reports compile into applications for speed and security
Reports can be kept separate from the application in report XML format (RPX) for ease of updating
Reporting engine is a single, managed, strongnamed assembly
Assemblies can be distributed using XCopy or the global assembly cache (GAC)
Per-developer licensing
Royalty-free distribution

Professional Edition

Includes all of the Standard Edition features, and adds the following:.

End-User Report Designer

Allows developers to host the designer in Windows Forms applications
Provides end-user report editing capabilities
Provides easy access for saving and loading report layouts
Allows developers to monitor and control the end user's design environment
Allows developers to customize the designer to the needs of end users

ASP.NET

WebViewer control with Flash, HTML and PDF viewer types can be used on ASP.NET pages
Allows quick viewing of ActiveReports on the web
Provides printing capability with the Flash viewer and Acrobat Reader
Provides an RPX HTTP Handler so that reports on the web server are available via hyperlink and are run and displayed in HTML or PDF
Provides a Compiled Report HTTP Handler so that reports compiled in an assembly on the server are available via hyperlink

Supported Document Formats

Adobe Portable Document Format (*.pdf);
HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....

Web Page (*.html);
MHTML
MHTML
MHTML, short for MIME HTML, is a web page archive format used to combine resources that are typically represented by external links together with HTML code into a single file. The content of an MHTML file is encoded as if it were an HTML e-mail message, using the MIME type multipart/related...

Single-File Web Page (*.mht);
Rich Text Format
Rich Text Format
The Rich Text Format is a proprietary document file format with published specification developed by Microsoft Corporation since 1987 for Microsoft products and for cross-platform document interchange....

(*.rtf);
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...

Workbook (*.xls);
Plain Text
Plain text
In computing, plain text is the contents of an ordinary sequential file readable as textual material without much processing, usually opposed to formatted text....

(*.txt);
Comma-Separated Values
Comma-separated values
A comma-separated values file stores tabular data in plain-text form. As a result, such a file is easily human-readable ....

(*.csv);
Image formats: (*.bmp, *.jpeg
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....

, *.gif
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....

, *.tiff
Tagged Image File Format
TIFF is a file format for storing images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and both amateur and professional photographers in general. As of 2009, it is under the control of Adobe Systems...

, *.png, *.emf).

Included Report Items

SubReport
Chart
Label
Line
Picture Box
Check Box
Page Break
Report Information
Rich Text Box
Shape
Bar Code
OLE Object
3rd party controls (charts, grids, calendars, etc.)

Awards and recognitions

March, 26th 2010 - Ranked #7 in the ComponentSource Bestselling Product Awards for 2009-2010

May 7, 2009 - Finalist in the 2009 asp.netPRO Readers' Choice Awards

March 13, 2009 - Ranked #4 and #5 in the 2008 ComponentSource Bestselling Publishers List

March 13, 2009 - Ranked #2 in the 2008 ComponentSource Bestselling Products List

February 9, 2009 - ActiveReports Customers Give .NET Reporting and BI Tools High Ratings
May 15, 2006 - SD Times 100

SD Times

Software Development Times, better known as SD Times, is a magazine published by BZ Media, in both a print version and an on-line electronic edition. It has been published since 2000. Since 2003, it has published an annual award list, the "SD Times 100", which honors the top 100 leaders and...

Winner in the Components category

June 2, 2008 - SD Times 100 Finalist in the Components category

May 15, 2007 - SD Times 100 Finalist in the Components category

February 9, 2007 - 2006 ComponentSource Bestselling Publisher

February 9, 2007 - 2006 ComponentSource Bestselling Product

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.