Page vs RDL vs Section Reports in a .NET C# Application

Choosing the right report format is key to delivering clear, actionable data in your .NET applications. With ActiveReports.NET, developers have access to three distinct report styles, Section, Page, and RDL, each designed to address different layout needs and levels of control. Whether you’re building traditional banded reports, fixed-layout document pages, or flexible, continuous layouts, understanding the strengths and ideal scenarios for each format will help you create more effective and maintainable reporting solutions for your business requirements.

Why a Reporting Tool?

Collecting data is only half the challenge; making that data meaningful, readable, and actionable is where most applications struggle. Raw datasets, spreadsheets, or grids may be fine for storage, but they fall short when users need to analyze trends, compare values, or make decisions. This is where a dedicated reporting tool becomes essential.

A reporting tool abstracts away much of the complexity involved in presenting data. Instead of manually formatting outputs or writing custom rendering logic, developers can focus on supplying a data source and defining how that data should be displayed. With features like grouping, sorting, calculations, charts, tables, and tablix controls, data can be transformed into structured, visually clear reports that are far easier to understand than unformatted rows and columns.

ActiveReports.NET builds on this foundation by offering a comprehensive reporting platform tailored for Microsoft .NET developers. It provides an integrated, ad hoc report designer that allows developers and, when appropriate, end users to design and modify reports without rewriting application code. Reports can be bound to a wide range of data sources and configured through intuitive properties, expressions, and layout tools, dramatically reducing development time while improving consistency and accuracy.

Beyond basic data presentation, ActiveReports.NET supports multiple report types, Section, Page, and RDL, so developers can choose the format that best fits their use case. Whether the goal is generating traditional banded reports, creating pixel-perfect documents, or building flexible, data-driven layouts, the framework adapts to different reporting needs without forcing a one-size-fits-all approach. The result is a scalable, maintainable reporting solution that turns complex data into clear, professional outputs aligned with real-world application requirements.

In this blog, we'll break down these types of reports:

• Section-Based Reports
• Page Reports
• RDL Reports

Want to Get Started? Download ActiveReports.NET Today!

Section-Based Reports

Section-based reports are the traditional banded reports with predefined sections: Page Header, Detail, and Page Footer. From Invoices to Budget and Sales-Accounting reports, or even a school report card, virtually any report can be divided into these three basic sections. Reporting eventually reduces to just binding data to controls or providing a data source to fetch from, leaving the reporting engine to render beautiful, professional reports. We can further customize these reports using code/scripts in the report events with Section Reports. Detailed explanations of Section Report concepts, such as report structure and event handling, are available in our documentation.

Strengths:

• Traditional banded report section
• Provides ultimate flexibility - Event-driven reporting, embedded scripts to control runtime behavior
• Suitable for developers as opposed to end-user, ad hoc, reporting

User Scenario: Consider an e-commerce store that needs to generate a simple packing slip for the products it sells. The report will start with the store name, address, and contact details, followed by a summary of the total amount due before taxes, the taxes involved, and the amount due after taxes. It will then display the list of all purchased items, their quantities, and the final price. This list may span several pages, and finally, the total amount, the calculation for taxes, and the final amount due will be displayed.

The design of the report would be in the following manner: 

• ReportHeader would have the fields displaying: the name of the store, its address, and contact details 
• Detail would have the fields displaying: purchased items, their quantity, and the final price 
• ReportFooter would have the fields displaying: the total amount, the calculation for taxes, and the final amount due

The final report would look like the following:

Page-Based Reports

Sometimes designing reports requires tailoring each page to a specific need. Page-based reports are the perfect solution in such scenarios because they allow the developer to control the layout. In Page Reports, each page is an object that contains controls with fixed size and position to display data from a data source.

Because you're designing the layout for each page, each page can have different controls, sizes, layout orientation, margins, and more. This layout produces a 100% WYSIWYG output. While not event-driven like Section Reports, Page and RDL reports support Expressions that allow you to control the dynamic runtime behavior of the report.

Strengths:

• Each Page of the report can have its own design
• Offers more powerful controls compared to Section Reports (Table, Tablix, Maps, TOC, etc.)
• Great for fixed layout reports such as legal documents
• WYSIWYG layout
• The simplified design makes it ideal for ad hoc reporting by non-technical users

User Scenario: Let's again talk about the e-commerce store above. This time, we'll take a different approach to billing. Every time a bill is generated, the store name, address, and contact details will appear at the top of each bill. It will then display the customer's list of purchased items and the total amount of the bill.

A desirable situation would be to have two copies of this report: one for the store and one for the customer. The store's copy will have a 'Merchant's Copy' message and might also include the customer's details (name, contact number) for further follow-up.

On the other hand, the customer's copy would have a 'Customer's Copy' message, the store's toll-free helpline number, and other custom messages. In such a scenario, a report with two pages (one for the customer's copy and the other for the store's copy) could be created, with each page having a different layout. The final report, in this case, would look like the following:

RDL Reports

RDL, or Continuous Page Layout (CPL), Reports are the most common that combine flexibility and power in one. With RDL Reports, controls can grow vertically and horizontally, whereas in Page Reports, you define the maximum size of the control. RDL Reports are ideal for showing data from different data sets, and when you do not need to control where the data appears on the page. Hence, RDL Reports offer the best of both worlds.

Strengths:

• RDL Reports, like Page Reports, are more graphical and easier to design for non-technical users. Therefore, both report types are ideal for ad hoc reporting
• Controls and data regions grow to accommodate the data
• Flexible, code-free, report design capabilities
• Powerful reporting features (Layers, Group Editor, Reports Library)
• Powerful controls (BandedList, FormattedText, Table, Tablix, Charts, and more)

User Scenario: Considering the e-commerce example again, the online store wants to create an annual report highlighting its total sales that year (by Category), including a list of its five most loyal customers and five most valuable employees. Designing this report will be a breeze with RDL Reports.

The final report would look like the following:

Choosing the right report type in ActiveReports.NET ultimately comes down to understanding your application’s layout requirements, data complexity, and level of control needed at runtime. Section Reports, Page Reports, and RDL Reports each solve a distinct class of reporting problems, from traditional banded layouts to pixel-perfect documents and flexible, data-driven designs. By aligning the report type with your use case early on, you can simplify development, improve maintainability, and deliver reports that are both performant and easy for users to consume. ActiveReports.NET gives .NET developers the flexibility to mix and match these approaches, ensuring your reporting strategy can evolve alongside your application’s needs.

Learn more about ActiveReports.NET features by visiting our Online Demos. 

Want to Get Started? Download ActiveReports.NET Today!