VCL Reports (Report Designer & Viewer) for Delphi/C++Builder
- 5 minutes to read
DevExpress VCL Reports (ExpressReports or Report Generator for Delphi & C++Builder) is an AI-powered Report Platform solution designed to generate customizable reports. You can design report templates using the fully-functional Report Designer tool at design time and runtime as well as and generate documents based on data from a relational database, a memory-based dataset, or a VCL-compatible dataset (TDataSet descendant).
Tip
ExpressReports requires the purchase of our new VCL Subscription+ or an existing active VCL Subscription with any .NET subscription that includes DevExpress Reporting for ASP.NET Core/JavaScript (relevant subscription SKUs include Reporting, ASP.NET and Blazor (includes DevExtreme), DXperience, and Universal). A 30-day trial is also available for ExpressReports.
Getting Started
Review the following tutorials to get started with the TdxReport component:
- Create a Table Report Using the Report Wizard
- Follow this tutorial to create a table report and display it in a VCL application. The tutorial loads JSON data from a remote source, defines a table report layout, and binds it to data using the Report Wizard dialog at design time.
Refer to the following section for detailed information on report layout customization options: Reports for Web — Report Designer.
Prerequisites & Deployment
Ensure that your development environment meets ExpressDashboards and ExpressReports prerequisites:
- Microsoft Windows 10 or newer.
- Embarcadero RAD Studio IDE 12.3 or newer (Community Edition IDEs are not supported).
- DevExpress VCL v25.2.x. (You must own a VCL Subscription+ license or DevExpress VCL and Universal licenses).
- The EdgeView2 SDK package installed from the GetIt package manager.
Tip
Refer to the following topic for detailed information: VCL Reports/Dashboards App Deployment.
Report Generator Component
The ExpressReports Suite ships with the AI-powered TdxReport component (Report Generator). It includes fully-functional Report Designer and Report Viewer dialogs available at both design time and runtime.
DevExpress VCL Backend Components
- TdxBackendDataConnectionManager
- An auxiliary component designed to manage data connection components available as sources for TdxDashboard/TdxDashboardControl and TdxReport components.
Data Connection Components
- TdxBackendInMemoryJSONConnection
A component designed for interaction with local (in-memory) or remote JSON data accessible through a Web API service endpoint.
Refer to the following help topic for step-by-step instructions on using the TdxBackendInMemoryJSONConnection component as a data source for TdxDashboard/TdxDashboardControl and TdxReport.
- TdxBackendDataSetJSONConnection
A component designed to work with data in one or multiple VCL-compatible datasets (TDataSet descendants).
Use the TdxBackendDataSetJSONConnection component if you need to use TdxDashboardControl/TdxDashboard and TdxReport components together with VCL-compatible data sources.
- TdxBackendDatabaseSQLConnection
A DevExpress XPO-based component designed to fetch data from the following relational databases:
SQLite | Microsoft SQL Server/Azure SQL | PostgreSQL | Oracle Database | MySQL | Firebird
Tip
This component is based on the DevExpress XPO ORM engine (powered by ADO.NET).
TdxBackendDatabaseSQLConnection has built-in support for Microsoft SQL/Azure SQL and SQLite engines (you can use them without additional dependencies and extra configuration).
Refer to the following topic for a complete list of supported database engines and corresponding connection string examples: VCL Backend: Supported Database Engines.
ExpressReports AI-powered Extensions
The TdxReport component supports the same AI-powered extensions available for DevExpress Web Reports – Summarize, Translate, Preview Generation, etc.
Refer to the following topic for detailed information in this regard: AI-powered Extensions for DevExpress Reporting.
Enable DevExpress AI-powered Extensions for ExpressReports
You can enable DevExpress AI-powered Extensions in your ExpressReports-based application in the Project Settings dialog (the Reports tab).
Note
DevExpress AI-powered Extensions follow the bring your own key principle. DevExpress does not offer a REST API and does not ship any built-in LLMs/SLMs. You need an active Azure/OpenAI subscription to obtain the REST API endpoint, key, and model deployment name.
Localization
You can localize both UI and report templates using AI-powered extensions and the DevExpress Localization Service.
Refer to the following topics for detailed information in this regard:
Subreports
Subreports allow you to embed a report into a parent report (to enhance modularity and flexibility of your report design). Each subreport is an independent/reusable report template layout you can use to design recurring document sections, such as headers, footers, and cover pages. Subreports are particularly useful for building master-detail structures, merged reports, side-by-side reports, etc.
Parameters
Report Parameters allow users to filter report data dynamically using a straightforward/intuitive interface.
Related GitHub-Hosted Example Projects
Related Compiled Demo
To see the TdxReport component in action, run the Report Designer/Viewer demo in the VCL Demo Center installed with compiled DevExpress VCL demos. Click different items in the sidebar on the left to switch between demo features.
Tip
You can find full source code for the installed compiled Report demo in the following folder:
%PUBLIC%\Documents\DevExpress VCL Demos\MegaDemos\Product Demos\ExpressReports