Print a Report

• Jun 18, 2021
• 3 minutes to read

This topic describes how to print a report in a WinForms application.

Essential Methods

Create the ReportPrintTool class’ instance and use any of the following methods to print a report:

• The PrintToolBase.Print method sends a document to a printer (the system’s default or a specific printer) using default printing settings.

  Note

  An exception is thrown when a printer with the specified name is not found.

  In Print Preview, this method corresponds to the Quick Print command.

• The PrintTool.PrintDialog method raises the Print dialog, where an end-user can select a printer and specify other print options before printing the document:

  

  In Print Preview, this method corresponds to the Print command.

Print Light-Weight Reports

Pass the report’s instance to the ReportPrintTool constructor as a parameter. Use one of the ReportPrintTool‘s methods listed above to print the associated report.

The following code illustrates how to use these methods to print a report in a Windows Forms application:

C#

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using DevExpress.XtraReports.UI;
// ...

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
    XtraReport1 report = new XtraReport1();
    ReportPrintTool printTool = new ReportPrintTool(report));
    // Invoke the Print dialog.
    printTool.PrintDialog();
    // Send the report to the default printer.
    printTool.Print();
    // Send the report to the specified printer.
    printTool.Print("myPrinter");
}

VB.NET

Imports System
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.UI
' ...

Private Sub button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    Dim report As New XtraReport1()
    Dim printTool As New ReportPrintTool(report))
    ' Invoke the Print dialog.
    printTool.PrintDialog()
    ' Send the report to the default printer.
    printTool.Print()
    ' Send the report to the specified printer.
    printTool.Print("myPrinter")
End Sub

Tip

Calling any of these methods generates a report document by calling the XtraReport.CreateDocument method internally if the document is not created yet.

Print Large Reports

Use the CachedReportSource component to print reports that include a huge amount of data. This component allows you to avoid memory consumption-related issues by storing pages in a file system or database during document generation.

Create a CachedReportSource instance specifying a report to be printed and a storage to cache the report document.

C#

using DevExpress.XtraReports.UI;
using DevExpress.XtraPrinting.Caching;
//...
    var storage = new MemoryDocumentStorage();
    var report = new XtraReport1();
    var cachedReportSource = new CachedReportSource(report, storage); 

VB.NET

Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.UI
Imports DevExpress.XtraPrinting.Caching
'...
    Private storage = New MemoryDocumentStorage()
    Private report = New XtraReport1()
    Private cachedReportSource = New CachedReportSource(report, storage)

The MemoryDocumentStorage object used in this code stores a document in memory in a compact way. You can use the FileDocumentStorage, DbDocumentStorage or implement a custom storage instead.

Pass a CachedReportSource instance to the ReportPrintTool constructor as a parameter. Use one of the ReportPrintTool‘s methods listed above to print the report associated with the CachedReportSource object.

C#

using System.Windows.Forms;
using DevExpress.XtraReports.UI;
using DevExpress.XtraPrinting.Caching;
// ...

private void button_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
    var storage = new MemoryDocumentStorage();
    var report = new XtraReport1();
    var cachedReportSource = new CachedReportSource(report, storage);
    var printTool = new ReportPrintTool(cachedReportSource)
    // Invoke the Print dialog.
    printTool.PrintDialog();
}

VB.NET

Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.UI
Imports DevExpress.XtraPrinting.Caching
' ...

Private Sub button_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    Dim storage = New MemoryDocumentStorage()
    Dim report = New XtraReport1()
    Dim cachedReportSource = New CachedReportSource(report, storage)
    Dim printTool = New ReportPrintTool(cachedReportSource) printTool.PrintDialog()
    ' Invoke the Print dialog.
End Sub

Tip

Calling any of the printing methods generates a report document by calling the CachedReportSource.CreateDocumentAsync method internally if the document is not created yet.