How to: Use the Custom Report Preview Form

• Jun 11, 2019
• 2 minutes to read

This example demonstrates how to show a custom Report Preview form by handling the ReportServiceController.CustomShowPreview event.

Note

Mobile applications do not support the report preview mechanism, so the approach described in this topic cannot be implemented in the Mobile platform.

In this topic, it is assumed that you have an XAF application that uses the Reports V2 Module, and you have created one or more reports (see Reports V2 Module Overview).

Use the following Controller to display a report preview in a custom window (the CustomPreviewForm form, in this example).

C#

using DevExpress.XtraReports.UI;
using DevExpress.ExpressApp;
using DevExpress.ExpressApp.ReportsV2;
// ...
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) {
        IReportContainer reportContainer = 
            ReportDataProvider.ReportsStorage.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;
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.UI
Imports DevExpress.ExpressApp
Imports DevExpress.ExpressApp.ReportsV2
' ...
Public Class CustomPreviewController
    Inherits ViewController

    Private reportServiceController As ReportServiceController
    Protected Overrides Sub OnActivated()
        MyBase.OnActivated()
        reportServiceController = Frame.GetController(Of ReportServiceController)()
        If reportServiceController IsNot Nothing Then
            AddHandler reportServiceController.CustomShowPreview, AddressOf reportServiceController_CustomShowPreview
        End If
    End Sub
    Private Sub reportServiceController_CustomShowPreview(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As CustomShowPreviewEventArgs)
        Dim reportContainer As IReportContainer = ReportDataProvider.ReportsStorage.GetReportContainerByHandle(e.ReportContainerHandle)
        reportServiceController.SetupBeforePrint(reportContainer.Report, e.ParametersObject, e.Criteria, e.CanApplyCriteria, e.SortProperty, e.CanApplySortProperty)
        Dim form As New CustomPreviewForm()
        form.ShowReport(reportContainer.Report)
        e.Handled = True
    End Sub
    Protected Overrides Sub OnDeactivated()
        If reportServiceController IsNot Nothing Then
            RemoveHandler reportServiceController.CustomShowPreview, AddressOf reportServiceController_CustomShowPreview
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

The CustomPreviewForm form can be designed as described in the following tutorials:

• Adding Items to a Print Preview’s Standard Toolbar
• Adding Items to a Print Preview’s Ribbon Toolbar

When the CustomPreviewForm is ready, add the ShowReport method to it.

C#

public void ShowReport(XtraReport report){
    documentViewer1.DocumentSource = report;
    report.CreateDocument();
    Show();
}

VB.NET

Public Sub ShowReport(ByVal report As XtraReport)
    DocumentViewer1.DocumentSource = report
    report.CreateDocument()
    Show()
End Sub

In this example, documentViewer1 is the DocumentViewer component added to the current form.

Tip

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