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Visual Studio Report Designer - Troubleshooting

  • 8 minutes to read

This guide helps you troubleshoot issues with DevExpress Visual Studio Report Designer. You can resolve many common problems if you adjust your environment according to our recommendations below. If you can’t resolve a problem on your own and need to contact us, review the information on how to collect appropriate diagnostic data.

Best Practices: Product Versions and Updates

Avoid version conflicts and install DevExpress updates regularly:

  1. The version of DevExpress libraries should be compatible with the version of Visual Studio and .NET. The following help article lists platform-specific requirements: Prerequisites.
  2. You may use two installation methods for DevExpress products: NuGet packages or the Unified Component Installer. Make sure that the version number is identical for all DevExpress libraries, regardless of how you obtained them.
  3. Update DevExpress libraries to the latest version available to you. Review the following article for additional information: Supported Versions, Version History, and IDE Prerequisites.

Log Files

DevExpress Visual Studio Report Designer stores logs with information on all sessions.

Obtain All Logs in a ZIP File

To create a ZIP archive with all log files available in your system, use the following command in the Visual Studio menu: Extensions → DevExpress → Report Designer → Collect Diagnostic Data:

Collect Diagnostic Data

The resulting archive contains data that can help us identify and resolve issues:

  • Visual Studio version
  • DevExpress installation version
  • Logs of recent Report Designer sessions
  • System events related to Visual Studio errors
  • RepxPackage logs

If you need to contact us about an issue with the Report Designer, attach the log file to your support ticket.

Obtain Individual Log Files (.NET 8+)

You can find log files in the following location:

%HOMEPATH%\AppData\Local\DevExpress\XtraReportsDesignNetCore\

Look for files with the following names: designer_trace.log, external_trace.log, UnhandledErrors.log, or {guid}.log.

Troubleshooting Guide

Cannot launch the Visual Studio Report Designer

This problem can occur if you installed NuGet packages only. Run the Unified Component Installer to setup all components required for the Visual Studio Report Designer. Refer to the following topic for installation details: Download and Install Your Registered Products.

Cannot find the “Report Controls” section on the toolbox when the Visual Studio Report Designer is open

Can you find other DevExpress controls on the toolbox?

YES

Select Reset Toolbox in the XtraReports menu. (This menu is only available in the Visual Studio Report Designer.)

XtraReports Menu Reset Toolbox

NO
Follow instructions in the following article: Resolve Issues With Toolbox Items.

All toolbox items in the “Report Controls” section are disabled

This can happen if the Show All toolbox option is enabled. This option forces the toolbox to display components that are not supported by the current platform and are disabled (grayed out). Right-click the toolbox and turn off the Show All option to hide unsupported controls.

The name of the toolbox section with DevExpress report controls may differ depending on the framework:

  • .NET Framework - DX.XX.X: Report Controls (XX.X is a version number).
  • .NET 8+ - DX: Report Controls (without a version number).

Visual Studio freezes when I try to open Visual Studio Report Designer

Your IDE may freeze temporarily if you open the designer for the first time after installing DevExpress products. Visual Studio refreshes the toolbox with newly added items. This process takes longer if you have two or more major versions of DevExpress products installed at the same time. Wait until the operation is completed.

This issue is not related to the way we implemented our Visual Studio Report Designer, but rather to the way Visual Studio updates toolbox items.

Report classes look like C#/VB code – the designer does not appear when I click these files

Missing RepxPackage Extension

This issue may occur if the DevExpress.XtraReports.RepxPackage extension is either not installed or disabled in Visual Studio.

If the package is missing, re-install our components or run the DevExpress Unified Component Installer in Repair mode.

To check if the extension is disabled, open the Manage Extensions window in Visual Studio. Search for DevExpress.XtraReports.RepxPackage and change the status if necessary.

SDK-Style Projects

If your project is an SDK-style project, the Report Designer does not appear when you double-click a report. To open the designer, right-click the report in the Solution Explorer and select View Designer from the context menu.

Cannot open .REPX files with the Designer

This behavior is expected since the Visual Studio Report Designer no longer supports the .REPX format. Review the following Breaking Change for additional information: The .repx (report definition) files cannot be opened in the Visual Studio Report Designer.

You can add a new blank *.CS report to your project and import content from a *.REPX file.

Note that Report Designer Extension for VS Code still works with .REPX files.

Visual Studio or Visual Studio Report Designer crashes while opening a report

Re-install our components or run the DevExpress Unified Component Installer in Repair mode. Review the following article for additional information: Download and Install Your Registered Products.

If this does not help, create a new support ticket and share the following diagnostic information:

  • A call stack with design-time exceptions.
  • Visual Studio logs related to this issue. Run Visual Studio with the Log command. After you close Visual Studio, find the ActivityLog.xml file in the Visual Studio data folder: %AppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ActivityLog.xml. If the file contains error information related to the crash, share it with us.
  • For .NET 8+ only. Send us the most recent logs generated by our Visual Studio Report Designer. See the Log Files section above for additional information.

The Font combo box on the toolbar breaks the layout and displays repeated text

When you open a newly created blank report in Visual Studio Report Designer, the report’s Font value may be set to a long string that contains repeated text:

VS Designer Error - Multiple Font Size Value String

This issue occurs because of certain regional settings in your Windows operating system. Follow the steps below:

  1. Locate and open the following file: %LocalAppData%\Developer Express Inc\XtraReports Suite\DesignerSettings.xml

  2. Change its content as follows:

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
<DesignerSettings xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <Font>Arial, 9.75pt</Font>
</DesignerSettings>
  3. Remove unnecessary resources in the .RESX file.
  4. Re-open the Visual Studio Report Designer.

Error Messages

This section lists errors and warnings that may appear in the Report Designer.

XRD101

Message Text
Build your solution and reopen this window for the Report Designer to operate correctly.
Details and Next Steps
You did not build the project before you started the Report Designer. The changes made to the project may not be visible. Rebuild the project to resolve this issue.

XRD102

Message Text
The Report Designer is not initialized properly. Restart Visual Studio and rebuild your solution.
Details and Next Steps
Our code detected a malfunction in the Report Designer process. To resolve the issue, rebuild the project and restart Visual Studio. If you still experience issues, please contact DevExpress Support and attach Report Designer log files.

XRD103

Message Text
The Report Designer process failed to start. Please contact DevExpress Support and send us the following log files: designer_trace.log, external_trace.log, and UnhandledErrors.log (found in the Designer’s Logs folder or in the parent folder of the logs).
Details and Next Steps
Our code could not identify the cause of the issue. Please contact DevExpress Support and attach Report Designer log files.

XRD104

Message Text
The Report Designer is unable to instantiate a user-defined data source type. Please contact DevExpress Support and send us log files with information about the problematic type. Designer_trace.log, external_trace.log, UnhandledErrors.log, and {guid}.log files are located in the Logs folder or in the parent folder.
Details and Next Steps
Report Desinger could not instantiate a class referenced in your code. Please contact DevExpress Support. Attach Report Designer log files that may contain information about the incident. Describe the public API of the class that could not be instantiated.

XRD105

Message Text
The report contains scripts. The following NuGet package is required to run these scripts: Microsoft.CodeAnalysis. Do you want to install it?
Details and Next Steps
Your application requires the Microsoft.CodeAnalysis NuGet package to compile and run report scripts. If you do need to run scripts, install the package.

XRD106

Message Text
The version of DevExpress libraries (DLL assemblies or NuGet packages) referenced in the project does not match the version of libraries installed on your machine.
Details and Next Steps
The version of DevExpress libraries that you reference in your project should match the version of DevExpress libraries installed on your machine. To fix this error, either reference the version of the DevExpress libraries installed on your machine or install the version of DevExpress components that you reference in your project.

XRE310

Message Text
The Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.VisualBasic and Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Common packages, required to compile the VisualBasic scripts, are missing in the C# project.
Details and Next Steps
This message appears when the referenced packages are missing in your project. Install Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.VisualBasic and Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Common packages to fix the problem.

XRE311

Message Text
The Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp and Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Common packages, required to compile the C# scripts, are missing in the Visual Basic project.
Details and Next Steps
This message appears when the referenced packages are missing in your project. Install Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp and Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Common packages to fix the problem.