Fast Report new plans

With the development of its latest tools and great strategy, Fast report has started making roots in Africa, as the first and favourite reporting tool.

FastReport .Net 1.5 released!

What's new?

Version 1.5
---------------
+ added import from RDL format (Report Definition Language)
+ added XPS export
+ added Word 2007 (docx) export
+ added DataBand.ResetPageNumber property
+ added properties PDFExport.JpegQuality and PDFExport.RichTextQuality (default value is 90 in both)
+ added Slovak localization
+ added support for custom functions in the matrix totals
+ added calculation of percents in the Matrix object
+ added TotalsFirst option for the matrix totals
+ added property HTMLExport.Layers and a checkbox in the dialog of the HTML export (enable layers in HTML file)
+ added Config.ReportSettings.ReportPrinted event
+ added DataLoaded event to all dialog controls that support data filtering
+ added inline printing from browser in WebReport
+ added property WebReport.PrintInPdf (enable for PDF printing or disable for browser printing)
+ added properties WebReport.PrintWindowWidth, WebReport.PrintWindowHeight
+ added properties WebReport.ShowWord2007Export, WebReport.DocxMatrixBased
* DbfExport properties FieldNamesFileName, LoadFieldNamesFromFile replaced with FieldNames property
* improved TextObject.Duplicates
- fixed text object's html tags + "underline" font style
- fixed "keep with data" + multicolumn databand
- fixed bug with paper size
- fixed bug when rendering several side-by-side Table objects
- fixed bug with report outline
- fixed bug in RTF export with similar pictures
- fixed bug with CheckedListBoxControl + cascaded filter
- fixed bug with subreport and multi-column band
- fixed bug with FirstTabOffset
- fixed bug with static query parameters and master-detail report
- fixed bug in the PowerPoint export
- fixed bug with Matrix and EvenStyle

FastCube 1.8 released

Fast Cube has been released and more added, check the following:

+ Added support of Embarcadero Rad Studio XE (Delphi XE/C++Builder XE)
+ Added property RunScriptInDesigner in TfrcCube.
+ Added search by first symbol (after pressing a key) in popup lists (list of fields and the lists of unique values)
+ Added TeeChart 2010 support
- Fixed error: AV when calculation measure is moved in field list
- Fixed range drawing when XP themes are enabled.
- Fixed error with UnicodeString measures
- Fixed error: AV after compiling project without using runtime packages in BCB 6
- Fixed error with ftMemo fields
- Fixed error of TfcGrid printing

How-to store FastReport.NET report templates in database

Some applications require the storing of report templates in a database. This simplifies template support - all reports are stored in one place, and allows to differentiate the access rights to different templates. I noted only one shortcoming of this technique - slight complication of the code in the client application.
For example, we need to create Access database (mdb) named "reports" and a table for storing our report templates. I named this table "reports_table". Three tables are enough in our data table:
№ Field name Type Description
1 Id counter Auto-increment, index
2 ReportName text Name of report
3 ReportFile BLOB Binary data with template

You can store templates in any other database similar to the one in our example.
To do this:
• open the designer;
• show custom form with a list of templates from our database instead of standard dialog when users open a file in the designer;
• load template in the designer after selecting it in the custom form;
• Save the template in a database where the user saves a file in the designer.
Despite the apparent complexity, the tasks above will be simple because FastReport.NET has special features.
Create a new project in Visual Studio first. Then you need to drag-n-drop "Report" object from toolbox to the empty form. Also drag the " EnvironmentSettings" object (properties of reporting engine).

You can setup many settings of the report and the designer in "environmentSettings1" object. You have to override the event handlers CustomOpenDialog, CustomOpenReport, CustomSaveDialog and CustomSaveReport.
Event handler CustomOpenDialog allows releasing any algorithm of the load report template in the designer - load template from the database field and load it in the designer or set e.Cancel = true; when loading fails.
The problem reduces to showing a dialogue with a list of files from which you want to select the report template from the database and load the template in the designer. Of course, if the user presses the Cancel button in this dialog, we set e.Cancel = true. The loading process is clear but saving code need some details.
The user can choose two ways to save a file - simply by clicking "Save", in this case report should be rewritten to the old place, or the second option - "Save as...”, the user is expected to select path of file. Storage location of report templates cannot be changed in our case. You need to save template in the old place (database field) in both ways - capture the CustomSaveDialog event by empty function and save template in database in the CustomSaveReport event.
Now you need to add a new data source to the project - reports.mdb.Drop the button on form for launching of the reports designer.

Write in the Click event handler:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
report1.Design();
}

Create an additional dialog form for template selection:

Assign the buttons OK and Cancel corresponding to DialogResult.
Do not forget to bind your data source to DataGrid - select the field name of the record and make the index field invisible.
You need to save the selected index when you click on the ‘OK’ button:
public int reportID;
...
private void OKBtn_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// save id of report for use in future
reportID = (int)dataGridView1.CurrentRow.Cells[0].Value;
}

We return to our first form. It is time to handle the events of opening and saving a report. We make loading the first thing to do:
// define variable for store of report ID
private int reportID;
// define array byte[] for store of template
private byte[] blob;

....
private void environmentSettings1_CustomOpenDialog(object sender,
FastReport.Design.OpenSaveDialogEventArgs e)
{
using (ReportListForm reportListForm = new ReportListForm())
{
// show dialog for report selection
if (reportListForm.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
// get report ID
reportID = reportListForm.reportID;
// load report in array from BLOB
blob =
(byte[])this.reports_tableTableAdapter.GetDataByID(reportID).Rows[0]["ReportFile"];
// read file name of report for designers title
e.FileName =
(string)this.reports_tableTableAdapter.GetDataByID(reportID).Rows[0]["ReportName"];
}
else
// cancel loading
e.Cancel = true;
}
}

Second handler CustomOpenReport for loading the template in designer should look like this:
private void environmentSettings1_CustomOpenReport(object sender,
FastReport.Design.OpenSaveReportEventArgs e)
{
using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream())
{
// skip all garbage created by MS Access in begin of blob field - we seek the tag of XML
int start = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < blob.Length - 1; i++)
{
if (blob[i] == (byte)'<' && blob[i + 1] == (byte)'?')
{
start = i;
break;
}
}
// copy of blob content in stream
stream.Write(blob, start, blob.Length - start);
stream.Position = 0;
// load template in designer
e.Report.Load(stream);
}
}

We used mdb-database to store report templates. MS Access write special header in begin of BLOB field. We need to skip this header and find begin of xml file (report templates stored in xml).
We turn to the organization and save the template using the designer. As written above, we need to override the event handler CustomSaveDialog by an empty function to prevent a user from unnecessary actions:
private void environmentSettings1_CustomSaveDialog(object sender,
FastReport.Design.OpenSaveDialogEventArgs e)
{
// empty
}

Event handler CustomSaveReport should look like this:
private void environmentSettings1_CustomSaveReport(object sender,
FastReport.Design.OpenSaveReportEventArgs e)
{
// create stream for store of template
using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream())
{
// save template in stream
e.Report.Save(stream);
// copy stream in array
byte[] blob = stream.ToArray();
// save array in BLOB
this.reports_tableTableAdapter.UpdateReport(blob, reportID);
}
}
The methods GetDataByID and UpdateReport are created in the dataset designer- you can see them in the example project.
Compile and run application, then press a button to open the designer:

Click menu item "Open":

Select any report template and press OK.

You can change the report and save the template after that- new template will be stored in database.
Full source code of this example is available in an attached zip archive (databases with reports are included).

Reporting in Delphi threads

Sometimes we need create many reports in multiple threads simultaneously. This may be the development of a web service, or output information from an existing multithreaded application in a certain needed document format (PDF as example).
I noted that FastReport VCL library is a better solution for document generation in multiple formats. This component library is easy to use and has a convenient report designer which allows you to easily connect to different data sources, among which may be internal application data - arrays, sets of parameters, etc.
Traditional use of FastReport does not give any difficulties, but now we have to use this report generator in a multithreaded application. The output file format will be PDF.
TfrxReport class has a description of several properties which need to be set immediately after the creation of the object.
You need to remember that the object must work in a thread without the creation of dialogs, progress bars and other visual information.
Here is an example of creating and setting an object of class TfrxReport before the execution of the report:
// create report
FReport := TfrxReport.Create(nil);
// disable all messages
FReport.EngineOptions.SilentMode := True;
// enable safe work in threads
FReport.EngineOptions.EnableThreadSafe := True;
// disable cache
FReport.EngineOptions.UseFileCache := false;
// disable progress bar
FReport.ShowProgress := False;

Some reports have integrated dialog forms, and showing them should be banned for obvious reasons. We need to override an event handler TfrxReport.Engine.OnRunDialog by the procedure ShowReportDialog for to any dialogs.
// handle all dialogs by ShowReportDialog
FReport.Engine.OnRunDialog := ShowReportDialog;

Our procedure will be executed instead of showing each report dialog. We can change the state of any control in a dialog, but we will leave this procedure empty.
procedure TTestThread.ShowReportDialog(Page: TfrxDialogPage);
begin
// empty
end;

Then we create an object of TfrxPDFExport and disable the showing of dialog window and progress bar.
PDF := TfrxPDFExport.Create(nil);
PDF.ShowDialog := False;
PDF.ShowProgress := False;

All operations on the creation and exporting of report objects can be done in the constructor of the thread. The destructor of the thread should look like:
destructor TTestThread.Destroy;
begin
// destroy all created objects
PDF.Free;
FReport.Free;
inherited;
end;

Necessary objects are created and configured. Now you can load the report template from a file and run a report in the implementation of the main thread procedure Execute. There, it will also be exported to the desired format.

// load report template
FReport.LoadFromFile(FFileName);
// set report variables
FReport.Variables['ThreadID'] := QuotedStr(FId);
// run report
if FReport.PrepareReport then
begin
// save result in PDF
PDF.FileName := FOutPath + '\report_'+ FId +
'_' + FormatDateTime('YYYYYMMDDHHMMSS', Now) + '.pdf';
FReport.Export(PDF);
end;

Try building reports without using RichText objects because by so doing you can get an unstable application.

Do not forget to include ActiveX controls in uses module, and add a call to CoInitialize (nil); in the procedure Execute before creating a report if the report is connected to ADO. Call to CoUninitialize at the end of the thread procedure.

// thread function
procedure TTestThread.Execute;
begin
// initialize COM library in current thread
CoInitialize(nil);
try
// load report template from the file
FReport.LoadFromFile(FFileName);
...
...
...
finally
// Uninitialize COM
CoUninitialize;
end;
end;
end;

You can see an attached example with the application which creates 10 reports in multiple threads and write many PDF files.

FastCube 1.7 released!

+ Added script event OnGetFieldConv in TfrcCube.
+ Added parameter ACalcRowHeight: boolean in TfcGrid.SelectCell
+ Added events TfcSlice.OnBeforeRemoveSliceFieldFromRegion and TfcSlice.OnBeforeAddedSliceFieldToRegion
+ Added option mdsoAllowFilterAllValues in TfcSlice.Options
+ Added property TfcChart.SkipNullPoints: boolean
+ Added option mdsoSaveFiltersEnabledValues for TfcSlice (to save enabled filters Values (instead of disabled values) in Schema)
+ New key combinations Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down in TfcGrid and TfcDetailGrid
+ Added event TfcGrid.OnUpdateSelection: TNotifyEvent
+ TfcGridStyle.UseParentFont is set to False when Style properties are changed.
* Values of numerical measure are copied to clipboard without format.
* Alignments are imported from TfcGrid if are used OnGetStyles in TfrcGrid
- Fixed styles copying. Caused wrong colors in xls and html exports.
- Fixed grid printing errors.
- Fixed errors in fields converter.
- Fixed error with PopUp list with Form.FormStyle=fsStayOnTop
- Fixed error of fcChart printing.
- Fixed error of saving Null value in schema with mdsoSaveFiltersByValue option
- Fixed error in Recompile Wizard: installation packages in Delphi 11.
- Fixed grid copy to clipboard operation for D9+
- Fixed memory corruption by the DrawText routine which caused random crashes
- Fixed error in the Recompile Wizard for C++Builder 6 with FastScript in the Standart edition
- Fixed few problems with FreePascal and Lazarus
- Fixed Sort by focused row/column.
- Fixed error: AV in TfcGridReport
- Fixed error: AV when schema contains a field which is absent in cube

About FastReport VCL 5

Recently, many ask me: "Will you develop FastReport.Net only?", "Why don’t we see new builds of FastReport VCL 4?"

I will will tell you a small secret. The team which developed FastReport VCL is now developing FastReport VCL 5!

And it will contain many new useful features for Delphi and C++Builder developers.

We plan to release FastReport VCL 5 this autumn. See a not full list of news in FastReport VCL 5:

Improved Engine:
- improved shift mechanism;
- duplicated combining;
- new aggregates;
- improved cross object;
- changes in xml format(write collections in XML);
- improved report inheritance;
- hierarchy;
- watermarks/ objects fill;
- improved linear barcodes;
- improved interactive reports: OnMouseEnter/OnMouseLeave events;
- detailed reports;
- multi-tab preview for detailed reports;

New Objects:
- new 2D barcodes: DataMatrix and PDF417;
- Table object;
- Cellular text;
- Zip Code;

New exports:
- BIFF XLS export;
- PPTX export;
- XLSX export;
- DOCX export;

And two screenshots (compare with FastReport.Net!)