ActiveReports has been one of the most popular reporting tools right from its initial VB6 days.With each new release it has evolved and therefore it is so popular among report designers. If we talk about the licensing process for the .NET versions for ActiveReports, then the first three versions viz ActiveReports for .NET 1.0, ActiveReports for .NET 2.0, and ActiveReports for .NET 3.0 had the same licensing model. With ActiveReports 6 it was changed and finally further modified with the release of ActiveReports 7. This blog article is dedicated to the first three versions of ActiveReports for .NET. The reason to publish this blog is simple. To provide developers who are still working with legacy ActiveReports for .NET versions, a place to get all the information they require to successfully license their machines. So let start:

STEPS:

1. Open up the ‘Web.Config Key Generator’ from the start menu under the DataDynamics folder, then the version you are running. If it pre-populates your ‘Name’ and ‘Company Name’ go to Step 3. If it does not pre-populate those fields then you need to run your license executable, see Step 2.

   

2. Since the ‘Web.Config Key Generator’ did not populate the fields, you need to run the license executable and start over at Step 1. If you have your original copy, you should have gotten one of these files also. If you can not find it please email our support at **_supportone@componentone.com._** Here is a list of the license executable names:

   • V1 Std: License.exe
   • V1 Pro: Licensepro.exe
   • V2 Std: LicenseStd2.exe
   • V2 Pro: LicensePro2.exe
   • V3 Std: LicenseStd3.exe
   • V3 Pro: LicensePro3.exe

   NOTE: If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7 machine, you will need to right click on the exe and select “Run as Administrator”.

3. Now we create the web.config key using the ‘Web.Config Key Generator’ tool. You should just be able to enter in your serial number (in CAPITAL LETTERS) and generate a web.config key. It should look like thisNow that we have generated the web.config key, we need to apply this to the project. Please copy just the selected text that you can see above and use it in the project depending upon its type. Let us see how to do this:

Windows Form Application

Since you have a Windows Forms project or a class library, you will need to add an ‘Application Configuration File’ to your project. It will be named ‘App.Config’. So if you already have one, you do not need to add it to your project. Open up your ‘App.Config’ file and paste in the selected text from figure 2. Make sure you do not already have a node in your ‘App.Config’ file. If you already do have an node in your ‘App.Config’ file, please just select the node and paste it inside the node. Now you should be able to run your project and the evaluation banner should be gone.

Web Application Or Websites

Since you have a Website project you will need to paste the selected text from figure 2 to the web.config file of your website. Make sure you do not already have the node inside the node. If you do, just paste in the node into the existing node. Now you should be able to run your project and the evaluation banner should be gone.