Store Reports in the Report Designer

• Aug 18, 2023
• 2 minutes to read

This document describes how to implement a report storage to persist report definitions in a database or in any other custom location. This enables end-users to create and customize reports in the Report Designer and have a common target for saving and sharing all reports.

To accomplish the described functionality, do the following.

1. Create a custom report storage object by implementing the IReportStorage interface.

   C#

   using DevExpress.Xpf.Reports.UserDesigner;
   //... 
   
   public class DataSetFileStorage : IReportStorage {
       //...
   }
   

   VB.NET

   Imports DevExpress.Xpf.Reports.UserDesigner
   '... 
   
   Public Class DataSetFileStorage
       Implements IReportStorage
       '...
   End Class
   

2. Override the following methods provided by the IReportStorage interface.

   • IReportStorage.CanCreateNew - Indicates whether or not it is possible to create a new tab with a blank report in the Report Designer.
   • IReportStorage.CreateNew - Creates a new report.
   • IReportStorage.CreateNewSubreport - Creates a new subreport.
   • IReportStorage.CanOpen - Indicates whether or not the Open command is available.
   • IReportStorage.Open - Opens a report selected by an end-user using a custom dialog.
   • IReportStorage.Load - Loads a report with the specified ID that has been selected using the Open method. You can use the IReportSerializer functionality to save or load a given report from a stream.
   • IReportStorage.GetErrorMessage - Displays an error message for any encountered exception.

   • IReportStorage.Save - Saves the currently edited report. The method’s parameters are the following.

     • reportID specifies an unique ID of the edited report.
     • reportProvider allows you to access the actual report instance being edited and optionally rename it.
     • saveAs indicates which particular command has been executed (Save or Save As).
     • reportTitle specifies the actual report title.
     • designer specifies the actual report designer instance.

3. After you have defined the custom report storage type, assign it to the ReportDesignerBase.ReportStorage property (for instance, in the Window’s Loaded event handler).

   C#

   reportDesigner.ReportStorage = new DataSetFileStorage();
   

   VB.NET

   reportDesigner.ReportStorage = New DataSetFileStorage()
   

View Example: WPF End-User Report Designer - How to Implement a Report Storage

Tip

Implement the IConnectionProviderService interface to save and restore data source connections when users load the report from storage.