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Bind a Report to a Federated Master-Detail Data Source (Runtime Sample)

  • 6 minutes to read

This example demonstrates how to create a federated data source that retrieves data from multiple data sources into separate queries. The example also shows how to specify a master-detail relationship between these queries.

Create a SqlDataSource

Create a SqlDataSource object that retrieves data from the Northwind database’s Categories table. See Bind a Report to an MDB Database (Runtime Sample) for more information.

using DevExpress.DataAccess.ConnectionParameters;
using DevExpress.DataAccess.Sql;
// ...
static SqlDataSource CreateSqlDataSource() {
    var connectionParameters = new SQLiteConnectionParameters("Data/nwind.db", null);
    var sqlDataSource = new SqlDataSource(connectionParameters) { Name = "Sql_Categories" };
    var categoriesQuery = SelectQueryFluentBuilder.AddTable("Categories").SelectAllColumnsFromTable().Build("Categories");
    sqlDataSource.Queries.Add(categoriesQuery);
    sqlDataSource.RebuildResultSchema();
    return sqlDataSource;
}

Create an ExcelDataSource

Create an ExcelDataSource object that contains data about products. See Bind a Report to an Excel Workbook (Runtime Sample) for more information.

using DevExpress.DataAccess.Excel;
// ...
static ExcelDataSource CreateExcelDataSource() {
    var excelDataSource = new ExcelDataSource() { Name = "Excel_Products" };
    excelDataSource.FileName = Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(typeof(Form1).Assembly.Location), "Data/Products.xlsx");
    excelDataSource.SourceOptions = new ExcelSourceOptions() {
        ImportSettings = new ExcelWorksheetSettings("Sheet"),
    };
    excelDataSource.RebuildResultSchema();
    return excelDataSource;
}

Create a FederationDataSource

Create a FederationDataSource object that retrieves data from the SQL and Excel data sources into separate queries. Specify a master-detail relationship between these queries.

using DevExpress.DataAccess.DataFederation;
// ...
static FederationDataSource CreateFederationDataSource(SqlDataSource sql, ExcelDataSource excel) {
    // Create SQL and Excel sources.
    Source sqlSource = new Source(sql.Name, sql, "Categories");
    Source excelSource = new Source(excel.Name, excel, "");

    // Create the federated "Categores" query and select data from the SQL source's query.
    var categoriesNode = sqlSource.From()
        .Select("CategoryID", "CategoryName", "Description").Build("Categories");
    // Create the federated "Products" query and select data from the Excel data source.
    var productsNode = excelSource.From()
        .Select("ProductName", "CategoryID", "UnitPrice").Build("Products");

    // Create a federated data source and add the federated queries to the collection.
    var federationDataSource = new FederationDataSource();
    federationDataSource.Queries.AddRange(new[] { categoriesNode, productsNode });
    // Specify a master-detail relationship between these queries based on the "CategoryID" key field.
    var relation = new FederationMasterDetailInfo("Categories", "Products", new FederationRelationColumnInfo("CategoryID", "CategoryID"));
    federationDataSource.Relations.Add(relation);
    // Build the data source schema to display it in the Field List.
    federationDataSource.RebuildResultSchema();

    return federationDataSource;
}

Bind a Report to the FederationDataSource

Create a new report and construct its master-detail layout. Use the report’s DataSource and DataMember properties to bind it to a federated data source.

using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Drawing;
using DevExpress.XtraReports.UI;
using System.IO;
// ...
public static XtraReport CreateReport() {
    // Create a new report.
    var report = new XtraReport();

    // Add the Detail band to the master report and create a label bound to the "CategoryName" data field.
    var detailBand = new DetailBand() { HeightF = 25 };
    var categoryLabel = new XRLabel() { WidthF = 150 };
    categoryLabel.ExpressionBindings.Add(new ExpressionBinding("BeforePrint", "Text", "[CategoryName]"));
    detailBand.Controls.Add(categoryLabel);

    // Create the detail report and add the Detail band to it.
    var detailReport = new DetailReportBand();
    var detailBand2 = new DetailBand() { HeightF = 25 };
    detailReport.Bands.Add(detailBand2);
    report.Bands.AddRange(new Band[] { detailBand, detailReport });
    // Add a label bound to the "ProductName" data field.
    var productLabel = new XRLabel() { WidthF = 300, LocationF = new PointF(100, 0) };
    productLabel.ExpressionBindings.Add(new ExpressionBinding("BeforePrint", "Text", "[ProductName]"));
    detailBand2.Controls.Add(productLabel);

    // Create data sources. 
    var sqlDataSource = CreateSqlDataSource();
    var excelDataSource = CreateExcelDataSource();
    var federationDataSource = CreateFederationDataSource(sqlDataSource, excelDataSource);
    // Add all data sources to the report to avoid serialization issues. 
    report.ComponentStorage.AddRange(new IComponent[] { sqlDataSource, excelDataSource, federationDataSource });
    // Assign a federated data source to the report and its detail report.
    report.DataSource = federationDataSource;
    report.DataMember = "Categories";
    detailReport.DataSource = federationDataSource;
    detailReport.DataMember = "Categories.CategoriesProducts";

    return report;
}

View the Result

You can now initialize the End-User Report Designer or Document Viewer and display the report returned by the CreateReport() function declared above. Refer to the following topics for instructions on how to do this on different platforms:

The following code snippet demonstrates how to open the resulting report in the WinForms Report Designer:

ReportDesignTool designTool = new ReportDesignTool(CreateReport());
designTool.ShowRibbonDesignerDialog();

See Also