AI-powered Report Generation in Visual Studio Designer

• Sep 11, 2025
• 3 minutes to read

AI-powered Report Generation allows you to create report layouts directly within the Visual Studio Report Designer. With the DevExpress AI-powered Assistant, you can connect to Azure OpenAI or OpenAI services and automatically generate reports based on natural language prompts.

DevExpress AI Assistant for Visual Studio

The DevExpress Unified Component Installer installs the AI-powered Assistant extension for Visual Studio.

Configure AI Services

Go to Tools → Options → DevExpress → AI Assistant to open AI Assistant options.

Option	Description
Endpoint URL	The service endpoint used to connect to Azure OpenAI. For OpenAI connections, this option must be empty.
API Key	A personal access key required to authenticate requests to the AI service.
Model Name	The identifier of the AI model (for example, gpt-4o-mini).
Enable Logging	If enabled, the extension records request and response details for diagnostic purposes. Logs are stored in the following folder: C:\Documents and Settings<UserName>\AppData\Local\DevExpress\AI_Assistant_VSIX
Enable Prompt Caching	If enabled, previously used prompts and responses are cached to improve performance and reduce repeated requests.

Warning

Some OpenAI models (for example, GPT-5, o1, and o3 series) do not support the Temperature parameter. To avoid runtime exceptions when targeting these models, set the Temperature to 1. The value is ignored by the service, but this setting prevents validation/compatibility errors.

Configure Prompt to Report Options

Option	Description
Fix Layout Errors	When enabled, the AI automatically attempts to correct layout issues (for example, misaligned controls or overlapping elements) in the generated report.
Retry Attempt Count	Specifies how many times the AI should retry report generation if the initial attempt fails.
Temperature	Controls randomness in AI output and produces more deterministic results. Higher values increase variation. The default value is 0.

Generate Reports with AI

Add a DevExpress Report item or open the Report Wizard for an existing report using the report’s smart tag menu. In the Report Wizard, select AI Prompt-to-Report and click Next.

Select Data Source Option

No Data Source

Creates a complete report structure based only on the user’s natural language description.

Add Data Source

Creates and configures a report data source, and automatically includes this metadata in the LLM prompt.

Configure Report Prompt

Enter a prompt or choose a predefined prompt and modify it as needed. Then click Finish.

Tip

Output quality depends on the detail level in your prompt. Specify layout preferences, calculations, grouping, and visualization types. As with other LLM-based systems, results may require adjustments.

Use the Temperature setting to control output randomness and RetryAttemptCount to specify how many times the system tries to fix layout errors in the LLM response.

Troubleshooting

Report Wizard Does Not Display AI Prompt-To-Report Item

Possible Cause

The DevExpress AI-powered Assistant for Visual Studio extension is disabled.

Solution

Open the Extension Manager in Visual Studio (Extensions → Manage Extensions…). Switch to the Installed tab and enable the DevExpress AI-powered Assistant for Visual Studio extension. Restart Visual Studio.

HTTP 400 (Unsupported Value)

Possible Cause

Some OpenAI models (for example, GPT-5, o1, and o3 series) do not support the Temperature parameter.

Solution

Open AI Assistant Options and check Model Name and Temperature settings. If the selected model does not accept the Temperature, set the Temperature to 1 to avoid errors, or switch to a supported model (for example, gpt-4o-mini).

HTTP 404 (Deployment Not Found)

Possible Cause

The specified model deployment does not exist. This may happen if the deployment name is incorrect, if the deployment was recently created and is not yet active, or if it was deleted.

Solution

Open AI Assistant Options and check the Model Name setting.