Setting up a connection to the data source is the first step in binding data to the report. Once a successful connection is established, a query is required to get the data you want to show in the report.

Data Sources

In Section reports, you can set the data source information in the  Report Data Source dialog properties.

The Report Data Source dialog is where you select the type of data to use, provide a connection string, create a query string, and choose other options for your data source. You can also control the timeout period and select a method for handling credentials. Once you add a data source, its fields appear under the Bound node in the Report Explorer. You can also add calculated fields in a section report.

To quickly build the query strings, ActiveReports provides a JSON Query Designer for JSON provider, and a Visual Query Designer for OLEDB and SQL providers.

Supported Data Providers

The supported data providers for designing section reports are:

• OLEDB Provider
• ODBC Provider
• SQL Provider
• XML Provider
• CSV Provider
• JSON Provider
• Unbound Provider