Business Object

• Jan 25, 2022
• 2 minutes to read

You can bind reports to a business object that serves as an object data source.

Tip

Use an object data source to prepare stored data to display in a report. For instance, in a multi-tier application where the data layer is separated from the presentation layer, you can bind a report to a .NET object that fetches data from a database.

An object can supply data in one of the following ways:

• Include a public member (method or property) to return an object that implements the IEnumerable<T> interface.

  This member can be a static or instance property (method). It serves as the data source’s data member. If a method has parameters, use data source parameters to pass parameter values to the method.

• Use the object’s fields to supply data.

Use one of the following approaches to bind your report to an object data source:

• If your object implements the IList, ITypedList, IBindingList, or IListSource interface, assign it to a report’s XtraReportBase.DataSource. Note that these objects are non-serializable. In an End-User Report Designer, they are lost when users save a report. See Bind a Report to a List Object for more information.

• For other object types, use the ObjectDataSource class to bind a report to your object. See Bind a Report to an Object Data Source for more information.

The following demos use object data sources (the DevExpress Demo Center should be installed):

• Balance Sheet
• Profit and Loss Report
• Hierarchical Report
• Multi-Column Report
• Restaurant Menu
• Large Dataset
• Swiss QR Bill