Register SQL Data Connections in ASP.NET Web Forms Reporting

Feb 07, 2025
6 minutes to read

This document describes how to provide a set of SQL data connections to the Web Report Designer. The Data Source Wizard displays these connections when end users create new SQL data sources.

Use a Project’s Connection Strings

You can enable the Report Designer to use connection strings that you specified in the application’s configuration file (Web.config).

Call the static DefaultReportDesignerContainer.RegisterDataSourceWizardConfigFileConnectionStringsProvider method at the application’s startup to register the default connection string provider as shown below.

C#
VB.NET

using DevExpress.XtraReports.Web.ReportDesigner;
using System;
// ...

public class Global_asax : System.Web.HttpApplication {
    void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) {
        // ...
        DefaultReportDesignerContainer.RegisterDataSourceWizardConfigFileConnectionStringsProvider();
    } 
    // ...
}

Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.Web.ReportDesigner
Imports System
' ...

Public Class Global_asax
    Inherits System.Web.HttpApplication
    Private Sub Application_Start(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
        ' ... 
    DefaultReportDesignerContainer.RegisterDataSourceWizardConfigFileConnectionStringsProvider()
    End Sub
    ' ... 
End Class

Important

When the Data Source wizard obtains connection strings from the Web.config file, only the connection names are serialized with the report definition.

Implement a Custom Connection Strings Provider

This approach allows you to define data connections to display in the Data Source Wizard when end users configure a report’s data source.

Implement the IDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider interface as demonstrated below to create a custom connection string provider.

C#
VB.NET

using DevExpress.DataAccess.ConnectionParameters;
using DevExpress.DataAccess.Native;
using DevExpress.DataAccess.Web;
using System.Collections.Generic;
// ...

public class MyDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider : IDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider {
    public Dictionary<string, string> GetConnectionDescriptions() {
        Dictionary<string, string> connections = AppConfigHelper.GetConnections().Keys.ToDictionary(x => x, x => x);

        // Customize the loaded connections list. 
        connections.Remove("LocalSqlServer");
        connections.Add("CustomDbConnection", "Custom DB Connection");
        connections.Add("CustomSqlConnection", "Custom SQL Connection");
        return connections;
    }

    public DataConnectionParametersBase GetDataConnectionParameters(string name) {
        // Return custom connection parameters for the custom connection(s). 
        if (name == "CustomDbConnection") {
            return new SQLiteConnectionParameters() {
                FileName = "nwind.db",
                Password = null
            };
        }
        else if (name == "CustomSqlConnection") {
            return new MsSqlConnectionParameters("localhost", "dbName", "userName", "password", MsSqlAuthorizationType.SqlServer);
        }
        return AppConfigHelper.LoadConnectionParameters(name);
    }
}

Imports DevExpress.DataAccess.ConnectionParameters
Imports DevExpress.DataAccess.Native
Imports DevExpress.DataAccess.Web
Imports System.Collections.Generic
' ...

Public Class MyDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider
    Implements IDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider
    Public Function GetConnectionDescriptions() As Dictionary(Of String, String)
        Dim connections As New Dictionary(Of String, String)()

        ' Customize the loaded connections list. 
        connections.Remove("LocalSqlServer")
        connections.Add("CustomDbConnection", "Custom DB Connection")
        connections.Add("CustomSqlConnection", "Custom SQL Connection")
        Return connections
    End Function

    Public Function GetDataConnectionParameters(name As String) As DataConnectionParametersBase
        ' Return custom connection parameters for the custom connection(s). 
        If name = "CustomDbConnection" Then
            Return New SQLiteConnectionParameters() With {
            .FileName = "nwind.db",
            .Password = Nothing
            }
        ElseIf name = "CustomSqlConnection" Then
            Return New MsSqlConnectionParameters("localhost", "dbName", "userName", "password", MsSqlAuthorizationType.SqlServer)
        End If
        Return AppConfigHelper.LoadConnectionParameters(name)
    End Function
End Class

In this code sample, the IDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider.GetConnectionDescriptions method obtains existing connection strings from the Web.config file, removes an undesired data connection, and adds a new custom connection with a description.

The IDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider.GetDataConnectionParameters method provides connection parameters for a custom data connection.

Call the static DefaultReportDesignerContainer.RegisterDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider<T> method at the application’s startup to register the custom connection string provider.

C#
VB.NET

using DevExpress.XtraReports.Web.ReportDesigner;
using System;
// ...

public class Global_asax : System.Web.HttpApplication {
    void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) {
        // ...
        // Register the custom connection strings provider.
        DefaultReportDesignerContainer.RegisterDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider<MyDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider>();
    }
    // ...
}

Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.Web.ReportDesigner
Imports System
' ...

Public Class Global_asax
    Inherits System.Web.HttpApplication
    Private Sub Application_Start(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
    ' ...
    ' Register the custom connection strings provider.
    DefaultReportDesignerContainer.RegisterDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider(Of MyDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider)()
    End Sub
    ' ...
End Class

This method has another overload with the overrideWebConfigConnections parameter. When you call the method without parameters or with the parameter set to false, data connection parameters are serialized with the report data source when the report is passed to the client.

Note

The MachineKey algorithm is used to encrypt these parameters. You can implement a custom data protection mechanism using the ISecureDataConverter or IDataSourceProtectionService interface.

If you pass true as the method parameter, only the connection name is serialized with the report definition (data connection parameters are not saved). When the Web Document Viewer and the Report Designer’s Preview generate a report document, they request connection parameters from the custom connection string provider instead from the predefined provider that gets connection information from the Web.config file.

C#
VB.NET

using DevExpress.XtraReports.Web.ReportDesigner;
using System;
// ...

public class Global_asax : System.Web.HttpApplication {
    void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) {
        // ...
        DefaultReportDesignerContainer.RegisterDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider<MyDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider>(true);
    }
    // ...
}

Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.Web.ReportDesigner
Imports System
' ...

Public Class Global_asax
    Inherits System.Web.HttpApplication
    Private Sub Application_Start(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
    ' ...
    DefaultReportDesignerContainer.RegisterDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider(Of MyDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider)(True)
    End Sub
    ' ...
End Class

Note

The IDataSourceWizardConnectionStringsProvider interface allows you to fill the connection string list for the Data Source Wizard only.

If you print or export reports in code outside the Web Report Designer’s context, implement the cross-platform IConnectionProviderService interface instead.

Connection String Examples

The Data Source Wizard can use only connection strings that contain the XpoProvider used to identify a data source provider. If you don not specify, the “Schema loading failed.” error occurs.

You can use one of the following approaches to avoid this error:

Add the XpoProvider key to the existing connection strings.
Duplicate the connection strings and add the XpoProvider key to the copied strings. You should also implement a custom connection string provider to display the strings with this key only. See the next document section for implementation details.

See connection string examples in the table below:

Relational Database System	Connection String Sample
Microsoft SQL Server	XpoProvider=MSSqlServer;Data Source=(local);User ID=username;Password=password;Initial Catalog=database;Persist Security Info=true The MS SQL Server data provider is automatically specified if you set the “Initial Catalog” parameter and do not use the word “Provider” (for instance, the “XpoProvider” parameter) in the connection string.
Microsoft Access	XpoProvider=MSAccess;Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\mydatabase.mdb;User Id=admin;Password=; XpoProvider=MSAccess;Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=C:\mydatabase.accdb;User Id=admin;Password=;
Microsoft SQL Server CE	XpoProvider=MSSqlServerCE;Data Source=MyDatabase.sdf;Password=MyPassword
Oracle Database	XpoProvider=Oracle;Data Source=TORCL;User ID=MyUserName;Password=MyPassword XpoProvider=ODP;Data Source=TORCL;User ID=MyUserName;Password=MyPassword XpoProvider=ODPManaged;Data Source=TORCL;User ID=MyUserName;Password=MyPassword
Amazon Redshift	XpoProvider=Amazon Redshift;Server=127.0.0.1;User ID=MyUserName;Password=MyPassword;Database=MyDatabase;Encoding=UNICODE
Google BigQuery	XpoProvider=BigQuery;ProjectID=myProject;DataSetId=myDataSet;OAuthClientId=myClientId;OAuthClientSecret=mySecret;OAuthRefreshToken=myRefreshToken XpoProvider=BigQuery;ProjectId=project;DatasetId=dataset;ServiceAccountEmail=example@gmail.com;PrivateKeyFileName=key.p12
Teradata	XpoProvider=Teradata;Data Source=myServerAddress;User ID=myUsername;Password=myPassword;
SAP HANA	XpoProvider=Hana;server=myServerAddress:40000;uid=user;pwd=password;
SAP Sybase Advantage	XpoProvider=Advantage;Data Source=\myserver\myvolume\mypat\mydd.add;ServerType=local;User ID=ASSSYS;TrimTrailingSpaces=true
SAP Sybase ASE	XpoProvider=Ase;Port=5000;Data Source=MyAseServer;User ID=MyUserName;Password=MyPassword;Initial Catalog=MyDatabase;Persist Security Info=true
SAP SQL Anywhere	XpoProvider=Asa;eng=server;uid=user;pwd=password;dbn=database;persist security info=true;
IBM DB2	XpoProvider=DB2;Server=server:port;Database=database;UID=user;PWD=password;
Firebird	XpoProvider=Firebird;DataSource=localhost;User=SYSDBA;Password=masterkey;Database=MyDatabase.fdb;ServerType=0;Charset=NONE
MySQL	XpoProvider=MySql;Server=MyServerAddress;User ID=MyUserName;Password=MyPassword;Database=MyDatabase;Persist Security Info= true;Charset=utf8
Pervasive PSQL	XpoProvider=Pervasive;Server=MyServerAddress;UID=MyUserName;PWD=MyPassword;ServerDSN=MyDatabase
PostgreSQL	XpoProvider=Postgres;Server=127.0.0.1;User ID=MyUserName;Password=MyPassword;Database=MyDatabase;Encoding=UNICODE
VistaDB	XpoProvider=VistaDB;Data Source=C:\mydatabase.vdb4 XpoProvider=VistaDB5;Data Source=C:\mydatabase.vdb5
SQLite	XpoProvider=SQLite;Data Source=filename
XML file	XpoProvider=InMemoryDataStore;data source=D:\Contacts.xml;read only=True

Note

The connection strings demonstrated above are examples. You can specify alternative variants.

Controls

Tools

Controls and Extensions

Tools

Maintenance Mode

Controls

Tools

Controls and Extensions

Tools

Maintenance Mode

Use a Project’s Connection Strings

Implement a Custom Connection Strings Provider

Connection String Examples