Customize Data Source Wizard Pages

• Nov 20, 2025
• 5 minutes to read

Important

Customization options described in this help topic are available to owners of DevExpress WinForms, DXperience, and Universal subscriptions (subscriptions that include DevExpress WinForms UI Controls). The DevExpress Reporting Subscription does not support UI customization in Report Viewer or End-User Report Designer. You can use ReportPrintTool and ReportDesignTool classes to display Print Preview and End-User Report Designer in their default configurations.

Refer to the following help topic for information on subscription options: Installation - Subscriptions that Include Reporting Components.

This example customizes Data Source Wizard pages. When a user clicks “Add Data Source” in the Report Designer, the invoked Data Source Wizard does the following:

• Adds a custom page for naming data sources.

  

• Limits the available SQL data source providers to MSSQLServer, Oracle, Amazon Redshift, MySQL, Postgres, and SQLite.

  

The WizardCustomizationService class implements the IWizardCustomizationService interface and allows you to customize the Data Source Wizard. The CustomizeDataSourceWizard method body contains the main logic for wizard customization:

• Registers a custom data source name creation service (DataSourceNameCreationService), which adds a page for naming the data source.
• Sets the Wizard start page to the custom page (ChooseDataSourceNamePage).
• Limits the available data source types and providers to a predefined list.

DataSourceNameCreationService is a helper class used to generate and validate unique data source names within the designer. It ensures that names are valid and do not conflict with existing data sources.

C#

using DevExpress.Data.Utils;
using DevExpress.DataAccess.UI.Wizard;
using DevExpress.DataAccess.Wizard.Model;
using DevExpress.DataAccess.Wizard.Presenters;
using DevExpress.DataAccess.Wizard.Services;
using DevExpress.XtraReports.Wizards;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.ComponentModel.Design;

namespace CustomizeDataSource {
    public class WizardCustomizationService : IWizardCustomizationService {
        static readonly string[] allowedSqlDataSourceProviders = new[] {
            // List of allowed SQL data source providers for the wizard.
            "MSSqlServer", "Oracle", "Amazon Redshift", "MySql", "Postgres", "SQLite"
        };

        public void CustomizeDataSourceWizard(DevExpress.DataAccess.UI.Wizard.IWizardCustomization<DevExpress.XtraReports.Wizards.XtraReportModel> tool) {
            //Add the ChooseDataSourceNamePage page to the Wizard.
            var serviceProvider = tool.Resolve<IServiceProvider>();
            tool.RegisterInstance<IDataSourceNameCreationService>(new DataSourceNameCreationService(serviceProvider));
            // Set the start page to the custom data source name page.
            tool.StartPage = typeof(ChooseDataSourceNamePage<XtraReportModel>);

            //Specify data source types and providers.
            tool.RegisterInstance(new DataSourceTypes(WizardDataSourceType.Sql | WizardDataSourceType.MongoDB | WizardDataSourceType.Json));
            var providerList = tool.Resolve<List<ProviderLookupItem>>();
            providerList.RemoveAll(x => !allowedSqlDataSourceProviders.Contains(x.ProviderKey));
        }

        void IWizardCustomizationService.CustomizeReportWizard(DevExpress.DataAccess.UI.Wizard.IWizardCustomization<DevExpress.XtraReports.Wizards.XtraReportModel> tool) { }

        bool IWizardCustomizationService.TryCreateDataSource(IDataSourceModel model, out object dataSource, out string dataMember) {
            dataSource = null;
            dataMember = null;
            return false;
        }
        bool IWizardCustomizationService.TryCreateReport(IDesignerHost designerHost, DevExpress.XtraReports.Wizards.XtraReportModel model, object dataSource, string dataMember) {
            return false;
        }
    }
    // Specify logic for generating and validating unique data source names in the designer.
    class DataSourceNameCreationService : IDataSourceNameCreationService {
        const string defaultDataSourceName = "DataSource";
        readonly IServiceProvider serviceProvider;
        public DataSourceNameCreationService(IServiceProvider serviceProvider) {
            this.serviceProvider = serviceProvider;
        }
        public string CreateName() {
            IContainer container = serviceProvider.GetService<IDesignerHost>().Container;
            int index = 1;
            string name = $"{defaultDataSourceName}{index}";
            while (container.Components[name] != null) {
                index++;
                name = $"{defaultDataSourceName}{index}";
            }
            return name;
        }

        public bool ValidateName(string name) {
            IContainer container = serviceProvider.GetService<IDesignerHost>().Container;
            return !HasWrongCharacters(name)
                && container.Components[name] == null;
        }

        static bool HasWrongCharacters(string name) {
            if(string.IsNullOrEmpty(name) || (!char.IsLetter(name[0]) && name[0] != '_')) {
                return true;
            }
            foreach(char c in name) {
                if(!char.IsLetterOrDigit(c) && c != '_') {
                    return true;
                }
            }
            return false;
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports DevExpress.Data.Utils
Imports DevExpress.DataAccess.UI.Wizard
Imports DevExpress.DataAccess.Wizard.Model
Imports DevExpress.DataAccess.Wizard.Presenters
Imports DevExpress.DataAccess.Wizard.Services
Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.Wizards
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.ComponentModel.Design

Namespace CustomizeDataSource
    Public Class WizardCustomizationService
        Implements IWizardCustomizationService

        Private Shared ReadOnly allowedSqlDataSourceProviders() As String = { "MSSqlServer", "Oracle", "Amazon Redshift", "MySql", "Postgres", "SQLite" }

        Public Sub CustomizeDataSourceWizard(ByVal tool As DevExpress.DataAccess.UI.Wizard.IWizardCustomization(Of DevExpress.XtraReports.Wizards.XtraReportModel))
            'Add the ChooseDataSourceNamePage page to the Wizard.
            Dim serviceProvider = tool.Resolve(Of IServiceProvider)()
            tool.RegisterInstance(Of IDataSourceNameCreationService)(New DataSourceNameCreationService(serviceProvider))
            ' Set the start page to the custom data source name page.
            tool.StartPage = GetType(ChooseDataSourceNamePage(Of XtraReportModel))

            'Specify data source types and providers.
            tool.RegisterInstance(New DataSourceTypes(WizardDataSourceType.Sql Or WizardDataSourceType.MongoDB Or WizardDataSourceType.Json))
            Dim providerList = tool.Resolve(Of List(Of ProviderLookupItem))()
            providerList.RemoveAll(Function(x) Not allowedSqlDataSourceProviders.Contains(x.ProviderKey))
        End Sub

        Private Sub IWizardCustomizationService_CustomizeReportWizard(ByVal tool As DevExpress.DataAccess.UI.Wizard.IWizardCustomization(Of DevExpress.XtraReports.Wizards.XtraReportModel)) Implements IWizardCustomizationService.CustomizeReportWizard
        End Sub

        Private Function IWizardCustomizationService_TryCreateDataSource(ByVal model As IDataSourceModel, ByRef dataSource As Object, ByRef dataMember As String) As Boolean Implements IWizardCustomizationService.TryCreateDataSource
            dataSource = Nothing
            dataMember = Nothing
            Return False
        End Function
        Private Function IWizardCustomizationService_TryCreateReport(ByVal designerHost As IDesignerHost, ByVal model As DevExpress.XtraReports.Wizards.XtraReportModel, ByVal dataSource As Object, ByVal dataMember As String) As Boolean Implements IWizardCustomizationService.TryCreateReport
            Return False
        End Function
    End Class
    ' Specify logic for generating and validating unique data source names in the designer.
    Friend Class DataSourceNameCreationService
        Implements IDataSourceNameCreationService

        Private Const defaultDataSourceName As String = "DataSource"
        Private ReadOnly serviceProvider As IServiceProvider
        Public Sub New(ByVal serviceProvider As IServiceProvider)
            Me.serviceProvider = serviceProvider
        End Sub
        Public Function CreateName() As String
            Dim container As IContainer = serviceProvider.GetService(Of IDesignerHost)().Container
            Dim index As Integer = 1
            Dim name As String = $"{defaultDataSourceName}{index}"
            Do While container.Components(name) IsNot Nothing
                index += 1
                name = $"{defaultDataSourceName}{index}"
            Loop
            Return name
        End Function

        Public Function ValidateName(ByVal name As String) As Boolean
            Dim container As IContainer = serviceProvider.GetService(Of IDesignerHost)().Container
            Return Not HasWrongCharacters(name) AndAlso container.Components(name) Is Nothing
        End Function

        Private Shared Function HasWrongCharacters(ByVal name As String) As Boolean
            If String.IsNullOrEmpty(name) OrElse (Not Char.IsLetter(name.Chars(0)) AndAlso name.Chars(0) <> "_"c) Then
                Return True
            End If
            For Each c As Char In name
                If Not Char.IsLetterOrDigit(c) AndAlso c <> "_"c Then
                    Return True
                End If
            Next c
            Return False
        End Function
    End Class
End Namespace

To apply your wizard customization logic to the End-User Report Designer for WinForms, pass an instance of your IWizardCustomizationSevice implemetation to the report designer’s XRDesignMdiController.AddService method as shown below.

C#

DesignMdiController.AddService<IWizardCustomizationService>(new WizardCustomizationService());

VB.NET

DesignMdiController.AddService(Of IWizardCustomizationService)(New WizardCustomizationService())

Tip

You can choose a proper page and a presenter, and create descendants for your custom page. The following help topic describe page views and presenters available in the Data Source Wizard:

• Data Source Wizard Pages