How to: Use the Custom Report Preview Form

• Aug 20, 2024
• 2 minutes to read

This example demonstrates how to show a custom Report Preview form in a WinForms XAF application that uses the Reports V2 Module.

1. Create a new custom form (CustomPreviewForm in this example) in the WinForms application project (MySolution.Win). Design this form as described in the following help topic: Create a Custom Print Preview.

   Tip

   Refer to the API and Customization section in the XtraReports documentation to learn more about report preview customization.

2. Add the ShowReport method to CustomPreviewForm:

   File:
   MySolution.Win\CustomPreviewForm.cs

   C#

   using DevExpress.XtraReports.UI;
   using System.Windows.Forms;
   // ...
   public partial class CustomPreviewForm : Form {
       // ...
       public void ShowReport(XtraReport report){
           documentViewer1.DocumentSource = report;
           report.CreateDocument();
           Show();
       }
   }
   

   In this example, documentViewer1 is the DocumentViewer component added to this form in the previous step.

3. Create the following Controller to display a report preview in the CustomPreviewForm form in the WinForms application project (MySolution.Win).

   File:
   MySolution.Win\Controllers\CustomPreviewController.cs

   C#

   using DevExpress.ExpressApp;
   using DevExpress.ExpressApp.ReportsV2;
   using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
   // ...
   public class CustomPreviewController : ViewController {
       private ReportServiceController reportServiceController;
       protected override void OnActivated() {
           base.OnActivated();
           reportServiceController = Frame.GetController<ReportServiceController>();
           if(reportServiceController != null) {
               reportServiceController.CustomShowPreview += reportServiceController_CustomShowPreview;
           }
       }
       void reportServiceController_CustomShowPreview(object sender, CustomShowPreviewEventArgs e) {
           var reportStorage = Application.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService<IReportStorage>();
           var reportContainer = reportStorage.GetReportContainerByHandle(e.ReportContainerHandle);
           reportServiceController.SetupBeforePrint(reportContainer.Report,
               e.ParametersObject, e.Criteria, e.CanApplyCriteria, e.SortProperty, e.CanApplySortProperty);
           CustomPreviewForm form = new CustomPreviewForm();
           form.ShowReport(reportContainer.Report);
           e.Handled = true;
       }
       protected override void OnDeactivated() {
           if(reportServiceController != null) {
               reportServiceController.CustomShowPreview -= reportServiceController_CustomShowPreview;
           }
       }
   }