Installing ActiveReports 14

With ActiveReports 14 the installation has changed. This is mainly due to all ActiveReports assemblies being hosted on NuGet and the JS and CSS resource files on NPM.

While this brings a lot of ease to many developers, it is also a change in the way installation worked with previous versions. In this post, we'll go over the quick installation and integration of ActiveReports with your Visual Studio, as well as tips on working with NuGet packages.

ActiveReports 14 Installation

The easiest method to install ActiveReports is to download the installer and run the MSI.

This will integrate ActiveReports with the supported version(s) of Visual Studio and install several essential tools. Read more about the tools and where they are found.

Once the installation is complete, you will be prompted to activate ActiveReports 14 with a product key. If you have not yet purchased ActiveReports 14, simply close the dialog box to activate a 30 day trial period.. Otherwise, you can Continue to launch the GrapeCity License Manager and activate your copy of ActiveReports 14 with a product key.

Alternatively, you can always launch the GrapeCity License Manager utility any time from the Start menu. This utility helps you license ActiveReports 14 on your machine.

Read more about licensing and how to activate a license offline.

At this point, if you ‘Add > New item’ to your project in Visual Studio, you should see the following report templates under Reporting depending on the framework you target:

On opening any of these report types, you will see the Visual Studio integrated report designer along with an ActiveReports 14 Toolbox, Report Explorer, and updated Properties panels. This will also add the required NuGet packages to create your reports as well as create the necessary licenses.licx file

Tips and Troubleshooting: Installation, Integration, and Licensing

How can I update existing reports to ActiveReports 14?

Open your project in Visual Studio and use the "Convert to ActiveReports 14" option under the Tools menu. This will convert your existing reports and update your assembly references to ActiveReports 14. Please note, this process does not alter your code in any way.

Why does Visual Studio Toolbox not show ActiveReports 14 controls?

If you have Visual Studio 2019, please make sure you have both ActiveReports 14 and Visual Studio updated to the latest versions. Please add the ActiveReports NuGet package(s) to your project. If, however, you're using Visual Studio 2013 or 2015, you can manually add the report controls to your toolbox.

More information here.

Why can't I use Section Reports in .NET Core?

Currently, Section Reports are not supported in .NET Core. However, this is coming very soon. In the meantime, consider converting your *.rpx section report files to RDL and Page reports.

To do so, launch the "ActiveReports Import Wizard" and select ActiveReports (rpx) option:

Why am I getting a licensing error?

Licensing errors can have multiple causes:

1. The license is not activated on the machine. Launch the GrapeCity License Manager from the Start menu to check.
2. Make sure the licenses.licx file is included in your project.
3. If you have compiled code with ActiveReports, you may need to include a gclicx file in your application. To generate this file, open a command prompt and change directory to C:\ProgramData\GrapeCity\gclm. Run the following command: gclm.exe "de456e2c-d2e3-4246-94e8-9648bbd6fbf0" -lc "[output dir].gclicx [entry assembly name].[calling assembly name].dll". Move the resulting file to your Visual Studio project and rebuild your solution.
4. Contact us for further assistance.

For additional licensing solutions read this post.

Managing NuGet Packages

All ActiveReports 14 assemblies are published to NuGet. Therefore, you have the option of using the live Public repo, which will easily keep you updated with the latest updates and service packs, or a local package for when you might need to work offline.

Public NuGet Packages

When you need to reference ActiveReports in your projects, use the NuGet Package Manager to search for GrapeCity.ActiveReports. Make sure that you have the set to _. _
Most users generally have trouble in two places when using NuGet packages. First, their nuget.config file is corrupt. This file can be found here:

C:\Users[UserName]\AppData\Roaming\NuGet

At a minimum, you will need the following in your nuget.config:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>  
<configuration>  
<packageSources>  
<add key="[nuget.org](http://nuget.org)" value="[https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json](https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json)" protocolVersion="3" />  
</packageSources>  
</configuration> 

You can also take a look at this article by Microsoft that discusses the common NuGet configurations.

Second, users do not have the right option selected from the Package source dropdown. In some cases, you might have multiple <packageSources> defined in your config file pointing to different repos. For public packages, make sure that it is set to nuget.org in this case.

One last note is to keep the "Include prerelease" checkbox unchecked to make sure you are getting the latest stable version of any software.

Local Packages

In cases where you travel and don't always have a stable connection, or work in a restricted, offline, environment such as government building, you might consider using local NuGet packages.

By Default the ActiveReports installer creates a local repository for you at the following directory:

C:\Program Files (x86)\GrapeCity\ActiveReports 14\NuGet

To use local packages, you will need to modify your nuget.config file to include an extra line:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>  
<configuration>  
<packageSources>  
<add key="[nuget.org](http://nuget.org)" value="[https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json](https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json)" protocolVersion="3" />  
**<add key="ActiveReportsLocal" value="C:\Program Files (x86)\GrapeCity\ActiveReports 14\NuGet" />**  
</packageSources>  
</configuration> 

Please note, you can have multiple config files on your system. Please read this to understand the differences.

When you use the NuGet Package Manager, you can select _ActiveReportsLocal _from the Package source drop down.

Tips and Troubleshooting: NPM/NuGet Packages and Assembly References

Why does my project try to reference v13 after updating ActiveReports to v14?

While it is perfectly fine to install ActiveReports 14 side by side with ActiveReports 12 and earlier, it is not recommended to install ActiveReports 14 alongside ActiveReports 13. As the assembly naming conventions are similar between v13 and v14, this can lead to referencing problems in your project.

If you have already removed ActiveReports 13 from your system, please check your project config files for any references to ActiveReports 13. An easy way to do this is to search (ctrl+f) the entire solution for the exact assembly being referenced.

Why does 'npm install...' not install packages?

Try initializing the package store by executing npm init -y. Then execute npm install @grapecity/ar-designer (or @grapecity/ar-viewer).