Convert Third-Party Reports to DevExpress Reports
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This document describes the conversion of Microsoft Access reports, Crystal Reports and Active Reports to DevExpress Reports.
Note
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Bulk-Convert Third-Party Reports
You can use our conversion tool to convert third-party reports:
After running this tool, use the following command line to convert multiple reports at a time:
FOR /R Reports %R IN (*.rpt) DO ReportsImport "/in:%R" "/out:%R.repx"
The following command starts converting a specific report:
ReportsImport /in:c:\0\crystal\file.rpt /out c:\0\converted\testreport.repx
Note
This tool is written in C# and does not contain third-party libraries. You need to add the required assemblies to compile a converter application.
Import a Specific Third-Party Report
The Visual Studio Report Designer enables you to import a Microsoft Access, Crystal Reports or Active Reports report.
Tip
This way, you can only convert one report at a time. Use the converter tool to convert multiple reports at once.
Do the following to import a third-party report:
Open your reporting application and click the report’s smart tag. Choose the Open/Import… command from the actions list that is invoked.
In the invoked dialog, locate the file containing a required report (it should have the RPX extension for Active Reports and RPT for Crystal Reports) or containing a database with multiple reports (MDB or MDE file).
The conversion process starts automatically if you are importing reports from Crystal Reports or Active Reports.
When importing Microsoft Access reports, you are prompted to choose a report to import:
You also need to choose whether to bind a report to a data source that already exists in your application, or create a new typed dataset with the specified name:
This is not required during the import from Crystal Reports or Active Reports, because it is assumed that you already have a data source in your .NET application.
Tip
When the resulting report does not completely match the imported report’s original structure, you may need to manually customize the created report.
Please consider the requirements and limitations applied to the import of third-party reports.
Requirements and Limitations
As a result of differences between DevExpress Reports and other reporting tools, the extent to which your converted report will match the original one depends on the layout of the initial report.
Please consider the following when importing reports from third-party vendors:
Vendor | Requirements | Limitations |
---|---|---|
Crystal Reports | The Crystal Reports version 13.0+ should be installed on the machine that will be used to import the reports. Install the “Installation package for visual studio ide“ package from the https://www.crystalreports.com/crvs/confirm/ web site. The following assemblies must be present in the Global Assembly Cache:
|
|
GrapeCity ActiveReports | The ActiveReports version 11.0 should be installed on the machine that will be used to import reports. The following assemblies should be present in the Global Assembly Cache:
| Subreports and expressions will not be imported. |
Microsoft Access | Microsoft Access 2000 or higher should be installed on the machine that will be used to import the reports. | Subreports and expressions will not be imported. |
Next Step: Create a Simple Data-Aware Report