ActiveReports 14 .NET Edition
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    Available in two editions, Standard and Professional, ActiveReports 14 delivers outstanding reporting capabilities. Drop down the sections below to see the features packed into each edition.

    Standard Edition Features

    The Standard Edition provides a report designer that is fully integrated with the Visual Studio IDE, a report viewer for Windows Forms, and export filters for generating reports in various file formats. The report designer even includes a barcode control with all of the most popular barcode styles, and its own chart control.

    Designer

    • Full integration with the .NET environment
    • Familiar user interfaces
    • Choice of section or page or RDL report types
      • C# and VB.NET support with code-based section reports
      • Script support with XML-based section reports
      • Expression support with page reports and RDL reports
    • The ability to compile reports into the application for speed and security or to keep them separate for ease of updating
    • Designer hosting of .NET and user controls

    Report Controls

    Section Reports Page Reports/RDL Reports
    • ReportInfo
    • Label
    • Line
    • PageBreak
    • OleObject
    • SubReport
    • Shape
    • Picture
    • RichTextBox with HTML tag support
    • Chart with separate data source
    • Textbox
    • Barcode with standard styles plus RSS and UPC styles
    • Checkbox
    • CrossSectionBox extends from a header section to the related footer section
    • CrossSectionLine extends from a header section to the related footer section
    • Table data region
    • Tablix data region
    • Map data region
    • Chart data region
    • List data region
    • BandedList data region
    • Sparkline data region
    • FormattedText with mail merge capabilities and XHTML + CSS support
    • Bullet Graph
    • BarCode
    • CheckBox
    • TextBox
    • TableOfContents
    • Line
    • Container
    • Shape
    • Image
    • Subreport
    • Overflow Placeholder

    Expressions (Page reports/RDL reports)

    • Aggregates
    • Data visualization
      • Data bar
      • Icon set
      • Range bar
      • Color scale
      • Gradient
      • Hatch

    Interactive Features

    • Document map (table of contents)
    • Bookmark links, hyperlinks, and drill through links
    • Parameters
    • Drill-down (page report/RDL reports)
    • Copy, pan, and zoom
    • Jump to previous, next, first, or last group or search result

    Reporting Engine

    • Managed code
    • Binding to ADO.NET, XML, iList, and custom data sources
    • Master reports, themes, and styles
    • All of the features of previous versions of ActiveReports and Data Dynamics Reports

    Windows Forms Report Viewer

    • Managed C# code
    • Very small deployment assembly, suitable for use on the Internet
    • Table of contents and bookmarks
    • Thumbnail view
    • HyperLinking
    • Annotations (section reports only)
    • Configurable scroll bar jump buttons (like those found in Microsoft® Word®)
    • Parameters
    • Bookmark links, hyperlinks and drillthrough links
    • Interactive sorting (page reports/RDL reports)
    • Touch mode               

    WPF Viewer

    • Managed C# code
    • Table of contents and bookmarks
    • Thumbnail view
    • Parameters
    • Annotations
    • Configurable scroll bar jump buttons (like those found in Microsoft® Word®)
    • Bookmark links, hyperlinks and drillthrough links
    • Interactive sorting

    Export Filters

    ActiveReports includes export filters to generate output into many popular formats.

    Export formats Section report Page/RDL report
    Html: Export reports to HTML, DHTML, or MHT formats, all of which open in a Web browser. ✓ ✓
    Pdf: Export reports to PDF, a portable document format that opens in the Adobe Reader. ✓ ✓
    Rtf: Export reports to RTF, RichText format that opens in Microsoft Word, and is native to WordPad. ✓ ✓
    Word: Export reports to DOC, a format that opens in Microsoft Word. ✘ ✓
    Text: Export reports to TXT, plain text, a format that opens in Notepad or any text editor. Export reports to CSV, comma separated values, a format that you can open in Microsoft Excel. ✓ ✓
    Image: Export reports to BMP, GIF, JPEG, or PNG image format. ✘ ✓
    Tiff: Export reports to TIFF image format for optical archiving and faxing. ✓ ✓
    Excel: Export reports to formats that open in Microsoft Excel, XLS or XLSX. ✓ ✓
    Xml: Export reports to XML, a format that opens in a Web browser or delivers data to other applications. ✘ ✓
    CSV: Export reports to a CSV file, a form of structured data in plain text. The text in a CSV file is saved as series of values separated by comma. ✘ ✓
    JSON: Export reports to a JSON file, a text-based data format in which the data is stored in the hierarchical form. ✘ ✓

    Import Filters

    • Access® Reports
    • Crystal Reports
    • Excel file
    • RPX file

    Stand-Alone Applications

    • The Report Designer application lets you create report layout, define data, and add interactive features report, and  lets you preview the reports and export or print them.  It can be opened from the shortcut provided in the Start menu.
    • The Report Viewer application contains all the functionality of the ReportPreview control. It can be opened from the shortcut provided in the Start menu.
    • The WPF Viewer application contains all the functionality of the WPF Viewer control.
    • The ActiveReports Import Wizard application allows importing Microsoft Access reports, Crystal Reports, Excel files, and RPX files.  It can be opened from the shortcut provided in the Start menu.

    Professional Edition Features

    The Professional Edition includes all of the features of the Standard Edition and supports the following additional features:

    End-User Report Designer

    The control is a run-time designer that may be distributed royalty-free. It allows the ActiveReports designer to be hosted in an application and provides end-user report editing capabilities. The control's methods and properties provide easy access for saving and loading report layouts, monitoring and controlling the design environment, and customizing the look and feel to the needs of end users.

    ASP.NET Integration

    • The Web server control provides convenience for running and exporting reports in ASP.NET.
    • HTTP Handler extensions allow report files (RPX or RDLX) or compiled assemblies containing reports to be dropped on the server and hyperlinked.

    WebViewer Control

    • The WebViewer control allows quick viewing of ActiveReports on the web as well as printing capability with the AcrobatReader ViewerType enumeration.

    HTTP Handlers

    • The RPX and RDLX HTTPHandler allows the developer to hyperlink ActiveReports on a web page to return HTML format or PDF format reports for viewing and/or printing.
    • The Compiled Report HTTPHandler allows the developer to hyperlink ActiveReports compiled in an assembly on a web page to return HTML format or PDF format reports for viewing and/or printing.

    Table of Contents Control

    • TableOfContents control is used to display the document map, an organized hierarchy of the report heading levels and labels along with their page numbers, in the body of a report.
    • TableOfContents control allows you to quickly understand and navigate the data inside a report in all viewers that are supported in ActiveReports

    Map Control

    • The Map data region shows your business data against a geographical background.
    • Create different types of map, depending on the type of information you want to communicate in your report.

    PdfSignature and TimeStamp Features

    • The PdfSignature class allows you to provide PDF document digital signatures and certification.
    • The PdfStamp class allows you to draw the digital signatures and certification onto the documents.
    • The TimeStamp class allows you to add a TSA (Time Stamping Authority) stamp to your digital signatures.

    Font Linking

    • Font linking helps you resolve the situation when fonts on a deployment machine do not have the glyphs that were used in a development environment.
    • By linking fonts, you can resolve the problem with a different PDF output on deployment and development machines that may occur due to the missing glyphs.

    Font Fallback

    • If missing glyphs are not found in linked fonts, the PDF export filter or the PDF rendering extension looks for the glyphs in fonts declared in the FontFallback property.
    • A default font is used if you do not declare one, or you can declare an empty string for this property to leave out missing glyphs from the exported file.

    PDF Export

    • PDF/A and PDF/UA support.
    • IVS character support.
    • Devanagari character support.

    Bold Font Emulation (PDF Export Filter)

    • Some fonts (for example, Franklin Gothic Medium, Microsoft Sans Serif, most East Asian fonts, etc.) may lose bold style for the PDF output. The Professional Edition provides bold style emulation in the PDF export filter to eliminate this limitation.

    Word Export

    • Export your reports in .docx format, a format that opens in Microsoft Word application.

    Web Designer

    • Create or modify reports by embedding Web Designer into your web applications.

    JSViewer

    • View reports in all modern browsers using JSViewer.

    InputField Control

    • The InputField report control provides support for editable fields in an exported PDF report where the InputField’s value can be modified.
    • Choose one of the two report contorl types – Text and Checkbox. Each selected type has its own set of properties.

    Comparison Between Editions

    Professional Edition features are disabled or marked with an evaluation banner if you have purchased a Standard Edition license.

    Features Standard Professional
    Visual Studio Controls
    Web Forms WebViewer: Use this control to display your reports on the Web. Includes viewer types HTML and PDF. ✘ ✓
    HTTP Handlers: PDF and HTML (compiled report, RPX file) ✘ ✓
    Windows Forms Viewer: Use this control to offer your users report zoom and preview, multiple tabs for hyperlinks, split-page and multi-page views, a Table of Contents pane, a Thumbnails pane, text searches, and annotations. ✓ ✓
    Designer: Use this control to create a royalty-free, custom designer that your end users can use to create and modify their own reports. ✘ ✓
    ReportExplorer: Use this control along with the Designer control to provide functionality to your users. ✓ ✓
    ToolBox: Use this control along with the Designer control to provide report controls for your users. ✓ ✓
    LayerList: Use this control along with the Designer control to provide Layers functionality to your users. ✓ ✓
    ReportsLibrary: Use this control to view, add, or hide report parts. ✓ ✓
    WPF WPF Viewer: Use this control to display your section, page and RDL reports. The WPF Viewer offers the Thumbnails pane, the Parameters pane, the Document map pane, and the Search results pane. ✓ ✓
    Web and Windows Forms HtmlExport: Export reports to HTML, DHTML, or MHT formats that open in a Web browser. ✓ ✓
    PdfExport: Export reports to PDF, a portable document format that opens in the Adobe Reader. ✓ ✓
    RtfExport:  Export reports to RTF, RichText format that opens in Microsoft Word, and is native to WordPad. ✓ ✓
    WordExport (.doc): Export reports to DOC (Word HTML), a format that opens in Microsoft Word. ✓ ✓
    WordExport (.docx): Export reports to DOCX (LibreOffice), a format that opens in any word processing software. ✘ ✓
    TextExport: Export reports to TXT, plain text, a format that opens in Notepad or any text editor.
    This export filter can also export reports to CSV, comma separated values, a format that you can open in Microsoft Excel.    		 ✓ ✓
    ImageExport: Export reports to BMP, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, or PNG image format.
    Note that you can only export section reports to the TIFF image type. All other image types are for page reports and RDL reports.    		 ✓ ✓
    XlsExport: Export reports to formats that open in Microsoft Excel, XLS or XLSX. ✓ ✓
    XmlExport: Export reports to XML, a format that opens in a Web browser or delivers data to other applications. ✓ ✓
    Components Web Designer: Create or modify reports by embedding Web Designer into your web applications. ✘ ✓
    JSViewer: View reports in all modern browsers using JSViewer. ✘ ✓
    PDF Export Advanced Features Digital signatures ✘ ✓
    Time stamp ✘ ✓
    EUDC ✘ ✓
    Select from Japanese embedded fonts or unembedded fonts ✘ *1 ✓
    Bold ✘ ✓
    Italic ✓ ✓
    Multi Language ✓ *2 ✓
    PDF/A and PDF/UA Support ✘ ✓
    IVS Character Support ✘ ✓
    Devanagari Character Support ✘ ✓
    Print Presets ✘ ✓
    Integrated Report Designer
    Design Format

    Section reports support banded layouts.
    Page reports support fixed page layouts.
    RDL reports support continuous page layout.

    		 ✓ ✓
    Script and Code In section reports, you can add C# or VB code to events behind your code-based reports, or add script to events in the script editor in XML-based reports.
    In page reports/RDL reports, you can use regular expressions in any property, plus you can add VB.NET methods to the code tab, and call them in your expressions.    		 ✓*3 ✓*3
    Report File Formats You can save and load page reports/RDL reports in RDLX (extended RDL) format.
    You can save and load section reports in RPX (report XML) format, and you can compile section reports in CS or VB code formats.    		 ✓ ✓
    Report Controls The BarCode control supports all of the following styles:
    ANSI 3 of 9 ANSI Extended 3 of 9 Code 2 of 5 Interleaved 2 of 5
    Code 25 Matrix Code 39 Extended Code 39 Code 128 A
    Code 128 B Code 128 C Code 128 Auto Code 93
    Extended Code 93 MSI PostNet Codabar
    EAN-8 EAN-13 UPC-A UPC-E0
    UPC-E1 RoMail RM4SCC UCC/EAN-128 QRCode
    Code 49 Japanese Postal Pdf417 EAN-128 FNC1
    RSS-14 RSS-14 Truncated RSS-14 Stacked MicroPdf417
    RSS-14 Stacked Omnidirectional RSS Expanded RSS Expanded Stacked MicroQRCode
    BC412 Code_11 ISBN ISMN
    ISSN ITF14 MaxiCode Pharmacode
    Plessey PZN SSCC_18 Telepen
    IntelligentMail IntelligentMailPackage HIBC Code 128 HIBC Code 39
    		✓ ✓
    The InputField control provides support for editable fields in an exported PDF report where the InputField’s value can be modified. ✘ ✓
    The Map control allows you to display data against a geographical background on the report. ✘ ✓

    The TableofContents control allows you to display a document map in an organized hierarchy of the report heading levels and labels along with there page numbers, in the body of a report.

    		 ✘ ✓
    The Chart control supports all of the following styles:

    • Common Charts: Area, Bar2D, Bezier, Doughnut/Pie, Line, Scatter, StackedArea, StackedBar, StackedArea100Pct, and StackedBAR110Pct
    • 3D Charts: Area3D, Bar3D, ClusteredBar, Line3D, Doughnut3D/Pie, StackedBar3D, and StackedBar3D100Pct
    • XY Charts: Bubble, BubbleXY, LineXY, and PlotXY
    • Financial Charts: Candle, HiLo, and HiLoOpenClose
    • Composite Charts for following chart types:
      • Column: Plain, Stacked, Percent Stacked
      • Area: Plain, Stacked, Percent Stacked
      • Line: Plain, Smooth
    		 ✓ ✓
    Other report controls include:
    Label TextBox CheckBox Picture
    Line Shape RichText PageBreak
    SubReport ReportInfo CrossSectionLine CrossSectionBox
    		✓ ✓
    Styles and Report Settings You can control page settings, printer settings, global settings such as grid display, grid size, and whether to show a verification dialog when deleting controls. You can specify row count or column count in grids, ruler units, and how many pages to display in previews. ✓ ✓
    External Style Sheets You can reuse report designer styles by saving and loading style information in external files. ✓ ✓
    Others The designer also offers snaplines, report preview, designer zoom, various formatting settings, control and text alignment settings, Z order settings, unbound fields, and parameters support. ✓ ✓
    Input and Output
    Data Supported data includes: ADO.NET data provider, ADO.NET data class (DataSet, DataTable, DataReader, DataView), XML data, and unbound data ✓ ✓
    Print You can control the page size, orientation, and margins, as well as specifying bound (double page spread), collating, duplex printing, and paper feed trays. ✓ ✓
    Import You can import Crystal Reports, MS Access Reports, Excel files, and RPX files using the ActiveReports Import Wizard. ✓ ✓

    *1: Japanese fonts can only be output as embedded fonts.
    *2: Cannot handle output of multiple language fonts in a single control. Please refer to Multi-Language PDF for details.
    *3: See Designing Code-based Section Reports in .NET Core for more information.

    See Also
    Quick Start

     

     

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