Tag Archives: report

Scheduling for WPF, V 3.4 and Reporting for WPF, V1.4

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We are pleased to announce new versions for two of MindFusion’s WPF components – Reporting and Scheduling. Below we list the new features and improvements in each of the controls.

WebForms Scheduler by MindFusionNew in Scheduling for WPF, V3.4

Interactive Recurrence Rescheduling
Recurrences can be rescheduled interactively by holding down the RescheduleRecurrenceKey while dragging a recurrent item. The control tries to preserve the current pattern of the recurrence when possible. Otherwise, you can modify the recurrence to accommodate to the new start and end times of the modified item. Interactive rescheduling is not registered in the undo history.

New Theme
A new built-in theme is available in the Scheduler control – the Light theme. It is available through the ThemeType enumeration.

Scheduler for WPF: The Light Theme

Scheduler for WPF: The Light Theme

New API Members
Several new properties and events have been added to the control:

You can download the trial version of the control directly from this link:

Scheduling for WPF, V3.4 Trial Version Download

The component is also available on Nuget. To install the component, run the following command in the Package Manager Console:

PM> Install-Package MindFusion.Scheduling.Wpf

WPF Reporting ToolNew in Reporting for WPF, V1.4

Report Parameters
Parameters can now be added to a report through the new Parameters collection of the Report class. The parameters provide name, description and value and can be of any type, including expression. For more information about parameters, check the Report Parameters topic.

Barcodes
MindFusion WPF Reporter can now display UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-8, EAN-13, and QR barcodes. The barcodes are represented by the new Barcode report item.

WPF Reporter: Barcode Report Items

WPF Reporter: Barcode Report Items

Improved charts
Several new properties have been added to the LineChart class to imporive the customization for the plot, grid, legend and axes. The axes settings can be specified through the new XAxisSettings and YAxisSettings properties. The AxesChart class exposes four new properties, which can be used to specify the intervals displayed by the chart axes. The new properties are XMinValue, XMaxValue, YMinValue, and YMaxValue.

Miscellaneous

  • Report items can be searched by name through the new FindItem method.
  • Fixed an issue with horizontal data ranges.
  • Items in data range headers and footers can now bind to the data source of the data range.
  • New sample illustrating the Barcode report items.

You can download the trial version of the control directly from this link:

Reportingfor WPF, V1.4 Trial Version Download

The component is also available on Nuget. To install the component, run the following command in the Package Manager Console:

PM> Install-Package MindFusion.Reporting.Wpf

Technical support: You can write at the Scheduling for WPF discussion board and Reporting for WPF discussion board. Additionally, you can write us at support@mindfusion.eu. Anyway we’ll be glad to answer your questions, comments and recommendations and assist you on how to use the MindFusion WPF controls.

About Scheduling for WPF: The perfect programming tool to enhance your WPF application with a compelling set of ready-to-use calendar features. Choose among six types of schedule views all optimized for high performance and easy customization. Treat your users to the convenience of creating appointments with reminders and recurrence options on the fly with the built-in forms. Change every single calendar element to achieve the perfect look without compromise – apply styling, customize the fonts and colors or simply set one of the elegant predefined themes. Persisting the calendar into a variety of formats is easily done with the integrated exporters and importers. The control is also packed with a rich event set that gives you full control over the user’s actions. More about Scheduler for WPF here.

About Reporting for WPF: A programming tool that provides developers with everything they’ll need to create high-impact data driven reports using WPF. The control supports comprehensive list of report elements, which can be nested, combined and customized to create reports optimized for the needs of your current WPF application. A full-featured chart component is integrated into the report tool and you can extend every single report with a compelling chart of your choice. The report can be saved into a variety of formats and rendered on the screen with the built-in elegant viewer for optimal performance. Further details about MindFusion WPF Reporter here.

Nested DataRanges in MindFusion Report Application

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In this tutorial we are going to build a report with nested data ranges. In our case, we are going to retrieve all categories from the sample Norhtwind database. For each category we will get all products in it, which is the nested data range.

I. Preparing the Project

We create a new WinForms project and add a new DataSet from the Nortwind database. We choose all fields from the Categories and Products tables. Then we add a new item from the menu “Project -> Add -> New Item -> MindFusion Report” from the dialog that appears.

Adding the MindFusion Report item.

Adding the MindFusion Report item.

Drag and drop the nwindDataSet, CategoriesTableAdapter and ProductsTableAdapter on the report form. Finally, in the code behind fill the two adapters:

 productsTableAdapter1.Fill(nwindDataSet1.Products);
 categoriesTableAdapter1.Fill(nwindDataSet1.Categories);

II. The Categories DataRange

We create the first data range by right clicking on the newly created report. There we see “Create Data Range from Data Source”. We choose the categories table and two fields – CategoryName and Picture. When the data range is generated we resize the picture to make it bigger.

Create DataRange context menu.

Create DataRange context menu.

III. Running the Report

We would use MindFusion ReportViewer to preview what we’ve done so far. We drag it from the Toolbox and place it on the form, which shows when the application runs. We compile the project and see that the Report1 class that we’ve created appears in the Toolbox, under the Data tab. This means we can create instances of our report just by drag and drop. We drag the Report1 icon and drop it on Form1. We have a report11 instance, which we assign to the Report property of the ReportView in the property grid.

Dragging the Report1 item.

Dragging the Report1 item.

Finally, we run the report:

report11.Run();

IV. The Nested DataRange

It’s time to create the second DataRange. We right-click the Report1 form and choose again “Create DataRange from Data Source.” This time we choose the Products table and we choose ProductName, UnitsInStock and UnitPrice fields. This time we check the “Generate Header” checkbox at the bottom. The second DataRange is ready. Nesting it is very easy. We resize the first DataRange to make it wider and just drag and drop the second DataRange in it. What is important is to set the MasterDetailRelation property. It must be the name of the relation between the two tables that provide data for the two DataRange-s. We can see it by clicking on the nwindDataSet -> “Edit DataSet with Designer. There we click on the relation between or two tables and see it is called “CategoriesProducts”. We place this name as a value to the MasterDetailRelation property.

Master detail relationship between the Products and Categories table.

Master detail relationship between the Products and Categories table.

V. Run the report

We run the report and see that everything is in place: the categories are listed with their picture, each category lists all its products.

VI. Style Adjustments

Finally let’s add some appearance optimizations that will make the report look better and thus be easier to read. First, we make the background of the Category label darker.

Then we make the product lines with alternating colors. This is done in the property grid for the dataRange2 object -> AlternatingBackground property.

We add a light gray border to the first data range with the Border property editor and we add a bottom margin of 30 mm. Here is the final look of the report:

Nested DataRange-s: the final report.

Nested DataRange-s: the final report.

You can download the sample from this link:

Download Nested DataRanges MindFusion Reporting Sample

More about MindFusion Reporting for WinForms component can be found here.

Creating a proprietary invoice editor

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In this post we will show how to create an invoice editing application (using MindFusion.Reporting) for the end users of an organization. The source code of the sample is available for download from here:

https://mindfusion.eu/_samples/ReportingInvoiceEditor.zip

Introduction
We start off by creating a new Windows Forms Application in Visual Studio 2010 or later. Change the target framework of the application to “.NET Framework 4” (or later). The ReportEditor component that will be used as an in-place invoice editor requires at least .NET 4.

Add the ReportEditor component to the main form, set its Dock to Fill.

The invoice template
The invoice template displayed by the application is stored in an XML file. The original template is created beforehand and is located in Invoice.xml. All modifications to the template done by the end users will be stored back to the XML file upon exiting the application. Add the following line to the main form’s constructor to load the invoice template when the main form is constructed:

reportEditor1.OpenReport(@"Invoice.xml");

Adding the data source
From the “Data -> Add New Data Source…” menu in Visual Studio create a new data source from the nwind.mdb database. Select the Orders table and the Invoices query in the Data Source Configuration Wizard. In the XML Schema (nwindDataSet.xsd) ensure that there is a relation between the Orders and Invoices table adapters. The relation should link the OrderID fields of the two tables and should be named “Orders_Invoices”. Build the application so that Visual Studio creates the classes for the data set and the selected table adapters. Go back to the main form designer and add nwindDataSet, InvoicesTableAdapter, and OrdersTableAdapter components to the form. In the constructor of the form, add the following lines in order to fill the data set with the data from the source database:

invoicesTableAdapter1.Fill(nwindDataSet1.Invoices);
ordersTableAdapter1.Fill(nwindDataSet1.Orders);

In addition, we need to register the two tables as data sources in the report editor. This is essential because these data sources are used by the invoice report. It is also important that the data sources are registered before the report is initially loaded through the OpenReport method.

reportEditor1.AddDataSource(nwindDataSet1.Orders, "Orders");
reportEditor1.AddDataSource(nwindDataSet1.Invoices, "Invoices");

Saving the template
Override the OnClosing event of the form and add the following line to ensure that all changes to the invoice template are written back to the XML file:

reportEditor1.SaveReport(@"Invoice.xml");

Adding the menu
Create a menu strip for the application with the following structure:

  • File
    • Print
    • Print Preview
    • Exit
  • Edit
    • Undo
    • Redo

Add the following event handlers for the menu items:

private void printToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
	var printer = new ReportPrinter();
	printer.Report = reportEditor1.Report;
	printer.Report.Run();
	printer.Print();
}

private void printPreviewToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
	var printer = new ReportPrinter();
	printer.Report = reportEditor1.Report;
	printer.Report.Run();

	var preview = new PrintPreviewForm();
	preview.Document = printer;
	preview.ShowDialog();
}

private void exitToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
	Close();
}

private void undoToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
	reportEditor1.Undo();
}

private void redoToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
	reportEditor1.Redo();
}

The image below illustrates the running application:

reporting-invoiceeditor

The MindFusion.Reporting component can be downloaded from here:

https://www.mindfusion.eu/ReportingTrial.zip

Enjoy!

MindFusion.WinForms Pack, 2013.R2

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MindFusion has released a new version of its pack for WinForms. Here is an overview of the new features:

chartMindFusion.Charting

Pie chart interactions

You can now resize every 2D or 3D pie chart by dragging the border between each two adjacent pieces with the mouse. The HitTestAngleOffset property lets you specify the deviation, in degrees, at which a click around the pieces border would still be considered a click on the border.

Mouse dragging in a pie chart.

Mouse dragging in a pie chart.

Support for undefined data values

You can add null (undefined) data values to all charts. The HandleEmptyValue property and the HandleEmptyValue enumeration specify the various ways null values can be handled.

ToolTips

You can now show tooltips for all chart types. In Area charts, tooltips can be displayed for every section between each two adjacent points.

Themes

Chart themes are now represented as XML files and we provide you with an initial set of 8. You can use the SaveTheme and LoadTheme methods to save/load a theme. There is also a theme editor control that lets you create, save and preview themes fast and easy.

Major/minor axis ticks

You can divide all chart axes more precisely using the new MajorTickLength and MinorTickLength properties. When their value is greater than zero, ticks are drawn not only at the axis intervals but also among them. You can customize the number of minor ticks with the MinorTicksPerInterval property.

Miscellaneous

  • Hit testing has been imrpoved in 3D cylinders and area charts
  • custom number formatting has been added to all numeric labels
  • several API changes were introduced

diagram16x16MindFusion.Diagramming

Support for Mono

You can use MindFusion.Diagramming component under the Mono runtime for OSX or Linux. A single version of the mindfusion.* assemblies can be referenced by both Mono and Microsoft .NET applications. The control detects what runtime has loaded it, and provides alternative implementations for features that are currently missing from Mono.

Custom measure units

The type of the MeasureUnit property has been changed from GraphicsUnit enum to MeasureUnit class. This class lets you define custom units by specifying their dots-per inch resolution, a string name, and number of standard divisions for display in the Ruler control. There are two new predefined units available out of the box: Centimeter and WpfPoint.

Shape control points

You can parameterize Shape formulas by associating control points with Shape objects. Each control point is passed to the shape script as a named variable. You can also specify the default, min and max coordinates for each parameter via the ShapeControlPoint constructor, and whether to treat its values as percents or fixed offset.

ContainerNode improvements

  • Child nodes are now drawn by their containers; when containers overlap, the children of a lower container cannot appear in front of the upper container anymore;
  • The ClipChildren property specifies whether to clip child items to container’s boundaries;
  • The ZIndex property no longer changes automatically when dropping nodes into a container;
Container nodes in Diagramming for WinForms

Container nodes in Diagramming for WinForms

Import OpenOffice Draw files

The DrawImporter class can import .odg files, created by the OpenOffice Draw vector graphics editor. In order to use it, you must add a reference to the MindFusion.Diagramming.Import.Draw.dll assembly. Various overloads of the Import method can be used to import the OpenOffice drawing into a DiagramDocument whose pages correspond to the Draw pages, or into a single Diagram whose content is merged from all imported pages.

PdfExporter improvements

  • Improved handling of clip regions in custom drawing code;
  • PdfExporter now honors the target Rectangle property of linear gradients;
  • PDF shadings now include all colors from a ColorBlend;

New events

  • The SetSelfLoopShape event is raised when a link becomes a self-loop, giving you a chance to set a custom shape for the link;
  • QueryAlignTarget event is raised to determine if a node should be used as alignment guide target when AutoAlignNodes is enabled;

Report-16x16 MindFusion.Reporting

Several bug fixes and improvements.

Calendar-16x16 MindFusion.Scheduling

Several new members have been added:

  • Calendar.FilterItem event
  • Calendar.SetViewport method
  • ResourceViewSettings.EnableCollisions property

You can read more details about the new features of each component at the forum. Use the link below to download the trial version of the control:

Download MindFusion.WinForms Pack 2013.R2

If you run into problems with any of the components, please let us know. We shall be glad to assist you. MindFusion is proud with its excellent technical support – the majority of the questions are answered within hours of receiving them.

About MindFusion.WinForms Pack: A set of five WinForms programming components that provide your application with a rich choice of diagramming, charting, scheduling, mapping, reporting and gauge features. The tools are very easy to implement and use. They boast intuitive API and various step-by-step tutorials to get you started. Both online and offline documentation is available. A sample browser presents you with all the samples for each control to let you easily navigate to what you need. You can check some of the features of each component right now if you look at the online demos:

Visit the features – page of the components for more information about their capabilities:

You can check the prices and licensing scheme here. All components are royalty-free.

Custom items in Silverlight reports

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In this post we will examine how to use custom items in MindFusion reports in Silverlight. The report in question will display the revenue of several companies, sorted in descending order. The custom items will visualize the relative revenue value of each company as a graphics similar to a chart.

To start off, we will define our business objects – a CompanyInfo class with two properties – Name and Revenue, of type string and double respectively.

public class CompanyInfo
{
  public string Name { get; set; }
  public double Revenue { get; set; }
}

Then we will declare sample data – an array of several companies, sorted by revenue:

var companyInfo = new CompanyInfo[]
{
  new CompanyInfo { Name = "My company", Revenue = 12500 },
  new CompanyInfo { Name = "Blue skies enterprise", Revenue = 33200 },
  new CompanyInfo { Name = "Futures & Co.", Revenue = 5800 },
  new CompanyInfo { Name = "Gazettes", Revenue = 21000 },
  new CompanyInfo { Name = "Tiger Bros LLC.", Revenue = 60000 },
}.OrderByDescending(info => info.Revenue);

The actual report is placed inside Resource Dictionary (named MyReport.xaml). The report contains a title and a single data range with three columns – for company name, revenue graphics and revenue value respectively. The actual report is omitted for brevity, but the code of the custom item representing the revenue graphics is shown below:

<report:CustomReportItem Location="50%,0" Size="40%,6" Value="[100*Revenue/Max(&quot;Revenue&quot;)]">
  <report:CustomReportItem.Template>
    <DataTemplate>
      <Grid>
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
          <ColumnDefinition Width="{Binding Converter={StaticResource gridLengthConverter}}" />
          <ColumnDefinition Width="{Binding Converter={StaticResource gridLengthConverter}, ConverterParameter='-'}" />
        <ColumnDefinition />
        <Border BorderBrush="#C0C0F0" BorderThickness="1" Background="#C8C8F4" Margin="3" />
      </Grid>
    </DataTemplate>
  </report:CustomReportItem.Template>
</report:CustomReportItem>

The value of the custom item is calculated as the percentage of the company revenue relative to the maximum revenue amongst all companies. The content of the custom item represents a grid with two columns. The first column contains the border that is used as the representation of the revenue graphics. The width of the columns is calculated according to the item value by using a custom value converter – GridLengthConverter. The GridLengthConverter basically converts the value to a GridLength object with GridUnitType set to Star.

The report is loaded from the resource dictionary using the helper Report.FromDictionary method, then setup with the data and run:

var report = Report.FromDictionary(new Uri("ReportingLiteCustomItems;component/MyReport.xaml", UriKind.Relative), "myReport");
report.DataContext = companyInfo;
report.QueryDetails += (s, e) => e.Details = companyInfo;
report.Run()

Note, that the sample handles the QueryDetails event. This is done in order to supply data to the Max aggregate function used inside the CustomReportItem.Value expression.

Finally, the report is selected inside a ReportViewer on the main form:

viewer.Document = report;

The following image shows the running sample:

The source code is available for download from here:

Download the Complete Source Code for the Sample

You can get the trial version of MindFusion.Reporting for Silverlight from this link:

Download MindFusion.Reporting for Silverlight Trial Version