ActiveReports

Multiple report types to fit your reporting needs

• Fixed Page Layout gives developers a new way of creating reports where layout is the primary focus. Great for creating invoices, prospectus reports, forms or other highly structured reports.
• Continuous Page Layout makes it easy to create reports using tables, crosstabs, charts, and other data regions with flexible layouts.
• Section-based Reports follow the tradition of previous ActiveReports versions as well as being similar to Access reports. Using code-behind or scripts, you can respond to the various events that occur while the report generates to create extremely customised reports that are hard to produce with other products.

Fast .NET reporting engine

ActiveReports is optimised for speed. Its unique architecture allows the lean reporting engine to quickly read records from the data source and immediately render them to the output device. The simplicity of the design allows the data to pass through quickly from processing to rendering.

Flexible .NET API

The extensive ActiveReports API allows Visual Basic and C# developers to completely control the report processing engine to fit their needs. This includes:

• Data retrieval
• Data transformation
• Layout
• Rendering
• Complete control over the rendered document to allow selective printing/export, post-render drawing/stamping and n-page and booklet printing.

For added control, ActiveReports provides unmanaged access to the print job, allowing tray selection and duplex printer management as the document is rendered to the printer.

Data Visualisation and Layout

Create professional-quality reports in any size with nearly endless layout options using the lightweight data visualisation controls, including: textbox, checkbox, line, shape, cross section box, image, formatted text with mail merge, barcode (2D and 3D), chart, and more. Whether you need a simple listing or groups with keep-together control, master-detail reports, sub-reports, horizontal and vertical multi-column reports, address labels and badges, or rich formatted letters with mail merge support, ActiveReports is the solution.

Rich Data Binding

.NET data sources allow you to connect to any of the standard databases, plus .NET in-memory objects and collections. In addition, unbound data mode opens up the report to data from anywhere, in any form. If your application can access it, so can the report engine.

Visual Studio Integrated Design Time

The ActiveReports report designer integrates with the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE allowing C# and Visual Basic developers to create reports and compile them into their Windows Forms, ASP.NET and Silverlight applications. ActiveReports Professional Edition users can also use the royalty-free end-user report designer control to give similar report design functionality to end users within the business application.

Cross-platform Support

ActiveReports offers built-in report viewers for Windows Forms, Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and HTML. All include built-in search functions, hyperlink interaction, table of contents and multi-page zoom view support.

Support for Migration from Other Reporting Tools

ActiveReports helps you preserve your past investments with easy report conversion from Microsoft Access and SAP Crystal Reports, thus greatly reducing the effort involved in recreating old reports when you migrate. No need to start from scratch!

Global Options and Localisation Support

Localise the ActiveReports user interface to meet the needs of all of your international users. (There are fully localised Chinese and Japanese versions for those specific markets.) Localisation also extends to the reports themselves: the reporting engine can use locale-specific text and formatting without creating multiple reports.

Deployment

ActiveReports uses XCOPY deployment, making installation of your applications incredibly simple. There are no special merge modules to include, no licensing servers to install alongside your application, and no onerous activation procedures to go through.