Create an Angular Front-End Application with a Report Designer

• Jan 27, 2025
• 6 minutes to read

The Web Report Designer is used in applications that contain client and server parts:

Client

A Web Report Designer integrated in a client Angular application displays a report provided by the server-side model.

Server

The server is an ASP.NET Core application that handles client data requests and provides access to data sources, report storage, and other back-end capabilities.

This tutorial creates and configures a client Angular application and a server ASP.NET Core backend. The client contains the Web Report Designer control.

View Example

Tip

You can also use our DevExpress project templates to create a Angular Reporting application:

• Use DevExpress Visual Studio Templates to Create an Angular Reporting App with a Report Designer
• Use DevExpress .NET CLI Templates to Create an Angular Reporting App with Report Designer

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18.13 or later
• .NET 8 SDK or later
• Visual Studio 2022 (v17.0) or higher

Note the following details about package versions:

• The script version on the client should match the library version on the server.
• DevExpress npm package versions should be identical.

Server (Back-End) Application

Use the DevExpress CLI Template

You can use DevExpress CLI Templates to create an ASP.NET Core back-end application. Begin with the steps below:

1. Install DevExpress ASP.NET Core project templates from nuget.org:

   .NET CLI

   dotnet new install DevExpress.AspNetCore.ProjectTemplates
   

2. Create a back-end Reporting application:

   dotnet new dx.aspnetcore.reporting.backend -n ServerApp
   

   You can use the following parameters to see available command options: -? | -h | --help.

3. Enable cross-origin requests (CORS). Specify the policy that allows any local application to access the report’s back-end. Use the SetIsOriginAllowed method to set it up.

   Call the UseCors method and pass the policy name as a parameter. The UseCors method should be called after the UseRouting method and before any MVC-related code. Place the UseCors method before the UseMvc or UseEndpoints methods.

   Open the application startup file and insert the following code:

   Program.cs

   var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
   
   builder.Services.AddCors(options => {
       options.AddPolicy("AllowCorsPolicy", builder => {
           // Allow all ports on local host.
           builder.SetIsOriginAllowed(origin => new Uri(origin).Host == "localhost");
           builder.AllowAnyHeader();
           builder.AllowAnyMethod();
       });
   });
   
   var app = builder.Build();
   
   app.UseRouting();
   app.UseCors("AllowCorsPolicy");
   
   app.UseEndpoints(endpoints => {
       endpoints.MapControllerRoute(
           name: "default",
           pattern: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");
   });
   
   app.Run();
   

4. To run the server-side application, run the following command:

   cd ServerApp
   dotnet run
   

Use Visual Studio Template

To create a back-end application from a Microsoft or DevExpress Template in Visual Studio, review the following help topics:

• Report Designer Server-Side Application (ASP.NET Core)
• Report Designer’s Server-Side Configuration (ASP.NET MVC)

Client (Front-End) Application

Follow the steps below to create and configure an Angular client-side application:

1. Make sure you have the current Node.js version with npm installed on your machine.

   node -v
   npm -v
   

2. Open the console window and install the Angular CLI v17+ globally.

   npm install -g @angular/cli
   

   When prompted for options, select default settings (press Enter).

3. Run the command to create a new Angular project:

   ng new angular-report-designer
   

   Refer to the Angular documentation for information on the Angular application structure.

4. Install the following packages:

   • devextreme
   • devextreme-angular
   • (optional) devexpress-richedit
   • @devexpress/analytics-core
   • devexpress-reporting-angular

   cd angular-report-designer
   npm install devextreme@24.2-stable devextreme-angular@24.2-stable devexpress-richedit@24.2-stable @devexpress/analytics-core@24.2-stable devexpress-reporting-angular@24.2-stable
   

   Note

   Version numbers should be the same and match the version number of DevExpress libraries in the backend application.

   The devexpress-richedit package enables the Rich Text inline editor for the XRRichText control. If you do not need the Rich Text inline editor in your reports, do not install the devexpress-richedit package. This reduces the distribution package size.

5. Replace the content of the src\app\app.component.ts file with the following code:

   app.component.ts

   import { Component, ViewEncapsulation } from '@angular/core';
   import { CommonModule } from '@angular/common';
   import { RouterOutlet } from '@angular/router';
   import { DxReportDesignerModule } from 'devexpress-reporting-angular';
   import 'devexpress-reporting/dx-richedit';
   
   @Component({
     selector: 'app-root',
     encapsulation: ViewEncapsulation.None,
     standalone: true,
     imports: [
       CommonModule, 
       RouterOutlet,
       DxReportDesignerModule],
     templateUrl: './app.component.html',
     styleUrls: [
       "../../node_modules/ace-builds/css/ace.css",
       "../../node_modules/ace-builds/css/theme/dreamweaver.css",
       "../../node_modules/ace-builds/css/theme/ambiance.css",
       "../../node_modules/devextreme/dist/css/dx.light.css",
       "../../node_modules/devexpress-richedit/dist/dx.richedit.css",
       "../../node_modules/@devexpress/analytics-core/dist/css/dx-analytics.common.css",
       "../../node_modules/@devexpress/analytics-core/dist/css/dx-analytics.light.css",
       "../../node_modules/@devexpress/analytics-core/dist/css/dx-querybuilder.css",
       "../../node_modules/devexpress-reporting/dist/css/dx-webdocumentviewer.css",
       "../../node_modules/devexpress-reporting/dist/css/dx-reportdesigner.css"
   ]
   })
   
   export class AppComponent {
       title = 'DXReportDesignerSample';
       // If you use the ASP.NET Core backend:
       getDesignerModelAction = "/DXXRD/GetDesignerModel"
       // If you use the ASP.NET MVC backend:
       //getDesignerModelAction = "/ReportDesigner/GetReportDesignerModel";
       // The report name.
       reportName = "TestReport";
       // The backend application URL.
       host = 'http://localhost:5000/';
   }
   

6. Replace the src\app\app.component.html file content with the following code to add the dx-report-designer Angular component:

   HTML

   <div>
     <dx-report-designer [reportUrl]="reportName" height="700px" >
         <dxrd-request-options [getDesignerModelAction]="getDesignerModelAction" [host]="host"></dxrd-request-options>
     </dx-report-designer>
   </div>
   

Run the Project

1. Run the server application.

   Make sure to specify the correct server-side port (5000 in this example) and report name (TestReport in this example) in the src\app\app.component.ts file.

2. Run the client application:

   npm start
   

   Note

   For recent Angular versions (16 and later) you may have to compile the Angular project with the skipLibCheck option set to true, and increase the initial budget setting in the angular.json file up to 5mb to avoid compilation errors.

3. Open the http://localhost:4200/ location in the browser to see the result.

   

Troubleshooting

Note

For recent Angular versions (16 and later) you may have to compile the Angular project with the skipLibCheck option set to true, and increase the initial budget setting in the angular.json file up to 5mb to avoid compilation errors.

When you start the application, you may encounter the following problems:

Page is blank

The Report Designer page is blank. The following error message is displayed at the bottom of the page: The page is blank because the Report Designer failed to load the report. Consult the developer for assistance. Use development mode for detailed information.

Check the following:

• The backend application is up and running.
• The specified controller action path matches the back-end application type. If you use the ASP.NET Core backend, specify the /DXXRD/GetDesignerModel path; if you use the ASP.NET MVC backend, specify the /ReportDesigner/GetReportDesignerModel path.
• The backend application runs on the port specified in the host setting of the Report Designer component.
• The application’s URI satisfies the CORS policy specified in your back-end application.
• The reportUrl value matches an existing report. For the back-end application, ensure that either the Reports folder contains a reportUrl.repx file or the ReportsFactory.Reports dictionary contains the reportUrl entry (if the back-end application originated from the DevExpress template).
• The version of DevExpress npm packages should match the version of NuGet packages. Enable Development Mode to check for library version mismatch on every request to the server. For details, review the following help document: Server-Side Libraries Version.

Refer to the following help topic for more information: Troubleshooting.