1. Create a new Visual Studio project.
2. From the Project menu, select Add New Item.
3. In the Add New Item dialog that appears, select ActiveReports 14 Section Report (xml-based) and in the Name field, rename the file as rptMain.
4. Click the Add button to open a new section report in the designer.

See Quick Start for information on adding different report layouts.

1. In the Report Data Source dialog, on the OLE DB tab, next to Connection String, click the Build button.
2. In the Data Link Properties window that appears, select Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider and click the Next button to move to the Connection tab.
3. Click the ellipsis (...) button to browse to your database, for example the NWind.mdb sample database. Click Open once you have selected the appropriate database path.
4. Click the Test Connection button to see if you have successfully connected to the database.
5. Click OK to close the Data Link Properties window and return to the Report Data Source dialog. Notice that the Connection String field gets filled automatically.
6. In the Query field on the OLE DB tab, enter the following SQL query.

   SQL Query	Copy Code
   SELECT * FROM Orders INNER JOIN Customers ON Orders.CustomerID = Customers.CustomerID ORDER BY CompanyName, OrderDate

7. Click OK to save the data source and return to the report design surface.

1. From the Project menu, select Add New Item.
2. In the Add New Item dialog that appears, select ActiveReports 14 Section Report (xml-based) and in the Name field, rename the file as rptSub.
3. Click the Add button to open a new section report in the designer.
4. Right-click the PageHeader or PageFooter section and select Delete. Subreports do not render these sections, so deleting them saves processing time.
5. Click in the grey area below the report to select it, and in the Properties window, change the report's ShowParameterUI property to False. This prevents the subreport from requesting a parameter from the user.

See Quick Start for information on adding different report layouts.

1. In the Report Data Source dialog, on the OLE DB tab, next to Connection String, click the Build button.
2. In the Data Link Properties window that appears, select Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider and click the Next button to move to the Connection tab.
3. Click the ellipsis (...) button to browse to your database, for example the NWind.mdb sample database. Click Open once you have selected the appropriate database path.
4. Click the Test Connection button to see if you have successfully connected to the database.
5. Click OK to close the Data Link Properties window and return to the Report Data Source dialog. Notice that the Connection String field gets filled automatically.
6. In the Query field on the OLE DB tab, enter the following SQL query.

   SQL Query	Copy Code
   SELECT * FROM [order details] inner join products on [order details].productid = products.productid

7. Click OK to save the data source and return to the report design surface.

1. Right-click the design surface of rptMain and select Insert then Group Header/Footer to add group header and footer sections to the report.
2. In the Properties Window, make the following changes to the group header.

   Property Name	Property Value
   Name	ghCompanies
   BackColor	LemonChiffon
   CanShrink	True
   DataField	CompanyName
   GroupKeepTogether	All
   KeepTogether	True

3. In the Report Explorer, expand the Fields node, then the Bound node. Drag the CompanyName field onto ghCompanies and in the Properties window, set the properties as follows.

   Property Name	Property Value
   Size	4, 0.2 in
   Location	0, 0 in
   Font Bold	True
   Font Size	12

4. Right-click the design surface of rptMain and select Insert then Group Header/Footer to add the second group header and footer sections to the report.
5. In the Properties Window, make the following changes to the second group header.

   Property Name	Property Value
   Name	ghOrders
   BackColor	LightYellow
   CanShrink	True
   DataField	OrderDate
   GroupKeepTogether	All
   KeepTogether	True

6. From the toolbox, drag three TextBox controls onto ghOrders and set the properties for each control as follows.

   TextBox1

   Property Name	Property Value
   DataField	OrderDate
   Location	1.1, 0 in
   Size	1, 0.2 in
   OutputFormat	MM/dd/yy

   TextBox2

   Property Name	Property Value
   DataField	RequiredDate
   Location	3.5, 0 in
   Size	1, 0.2 in
   OutputFormat	MM/dd/yy

   TextBox3

   Property Name	Property Value
   DataField	ShippedDate
   Location	5.5, 0 in
   Size	1, 0.2 in
   OutputFormat	MM/dd/yy
   Alignment	Right

7. From the toolbox, drag three Label controls onto ghOrders and set the properties for each control as follows.

   Label1

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	0, 0 in
   Size	1, 0.2 in
   Text	Ordered:
   Font	Bold:True

   Label2

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	2.5, 0 in
   Size	1, 0.2 in
   Text	Required:
   Font	Bold:True

   Label3

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	4.8, 0 in
   Size	0.65, 0.2 in
   Text	Shipped:
   Font	Bold:True

8. Select the Detail section and in the Properties window, set the CanShrink property to True.
9. From the toolbox, drag the Subreport control onto the Detail section and in the Properties window, set the properties as follows.

   Property Name	Property Value
   ReportName	full project path\rptSub.rpx
   Name	SubReport1
   Size	6.5, 1 in
   Location	0, 0 in

1. Right-click the design surface of rptSub and select Insert then Group Header/Footer to add group header and footer sections to the report.
2. In the Properties window, make the following changes to the group header.

   Property Name	Property Value
   Name	ghOrderDetails
   BackColor	LightSteelBlue
   CanShrink	True
   DataField	OrderID

3. From the toolbox, drag four label controls to ghOrderDetails and set the properties for each label as follows.

   Label1

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	0, 0 in
   Text	Product Name
   Font	Bold:True
   Alignment	Left

   Label2

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	3.25, 0 in
   Text	Quantity
   Font	Bold:True
   Alignment	Right

   Label3

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	4.4, 0 in
   Text	Unit Price
   Font	Bold:True
   Alignment	Right

   Label4

   Property Name	Property Value
   Location	5.5, 0 in
   Text	Discount
   Font	Bold:True
   Alignment	Right

4. From the toolbox, drag four Line controls to ghOrderDetails and set the properties for each line as follows.

   Line1

   Property Name	Property Value
   X1	3.2
   X2	3.2
   Y1	0
   Y2	0.2

   Line2

   Property Name	Property Value
   X1	4.3
   X2	4.3
   Y1	0
   Y2	0.2

   Line3

   Property Name	Property Value
   X1	5.45
   X2	5.45
   Y1	0
   Y2	0.2

   Line4

   Property Name	Property Value
   X1	0
   X2	6.5
   Y1	0.2
   Y2	0.2

5. Click the Detail section and in the Properties window, set the following properties.

   Property Name	Property Value
   BackColor	Gainsboro
   CanShrink	True

6. From the toolbox, drag four TextBox controls onto onto the Detail section and set the properties as follows.

   TextBox1

   Property Name	Property Value
   DataField	ProductName
   Location	0, 0 in
   Size	3.15, 0.2 in
   Alignment	Left

   TextBox2

   Property Name	Property Value
   DataField	Quantity
   Location	3.25, 0 in
   Size	1, 0.2 in
   Alignment	Right

   TextBox3

   Property Name	Property Value
   DataField	Products.UnitPrice
   Location	4.4, 0 in
   Size	1, 0.2 in
   Alignment	Right
   OutputFormat	Currency

   TextBox4

   Property Name	Property Value
   DataField	Discount
   Location	5.5, 0 in
   Size	1, 0.2 in
   Alignment	Right
   OutputFormat	Percentage

7. From the toolbox, drag four Line controls to the Detail section and set the properties as follows.

   Line5

   Property Name	Property Value
   X1	3.2
   X2	3.2
   Y1	0
   Y2	0.2

   Line6

   Property Name	Property Value
   X1	4.3
   X2	4.3
   Y1	0
   Y2	0.2

   Line7

   Property Name	Property Value
   X1	5.45
   X2	5.45
   Y1	0
   Y2	0.2

   Line8

   Property Name	Property Value
   X1	0
   X2	6.5
   Y1	0.2
   Y2	0.2

1. Change the ScriptLanguage property for the report to the appropriate scripting language. The default setting is C#.
2. Click the Script tab located below the report designer to access the scripting editor.
3. Embed script to set the data source for the main report and pass data into the subreport.

The following example shows what the script looks like.

To write the script in Visual Basic.NET

Dim rptSub As GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReport
Sub ActiveReport_ReportStart
  'Create a new instance of the generic report
  rptSub = new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReport()
  'Load the rpx file into the generic report
  rptSub.LoadLayout(me.SubReport1.ReportName)
  'Connect data to the main report
  Dim connString As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=[User Folder]\Samples14\Data\NWIND.mdb;Persist Security Info=False"
  Dim sqlString As String = "Select * from orders inner join customers on orders.customerid = customers.customerid order by CompanyName,OrderDate"
  Dim ds As new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Data.OleDBDataSource()
  ds.ConnectionString = connString
  ds.SQL = sqlString
  rpt.DataSource = ds
End Sub

Sub Detail_Format
  Dim rptSubCtl As GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SubReport = me.SubReport1
  Dim childDataSource As New GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Data.OleDBDataSource()
  childDataSource.ConnectionString = CType(rpt.DataSource, GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Data.OleDBDataSource).ConnectionString
  'Set a parameter in the SQL query
  childDataSource.SQL = "Select * from [order details] inner join products on [order details].productid = products.productid where [order details].orderid = <%OrderID%>"
  'Pass the data to the subreport
  rptSub.DataSource = childDataSource
  'Display rptSub in the subreport control
  rptSubCtl.Report = rptSub
End Sub
  

To write the script in C#

GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReport rptSub;
public void Detail_Format()
{
  GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReportModel.SubReport rptSubCtl = this.SubReport1;
  GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Data.OleDBDataSource childDataSource = new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Data.OleDBDataSource();
  childDataSource.ConnectionString = ((GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Data.OleDBDataSource) rpt.DataSource).ConnectionString;
  //Set a parameter in the SQL query
  childDataSource.SQL = "Select * from [order details] inner join products on [order details].productid = products.productid where [order details].orderid = <%OrderID%>";
  //Pass the data to the subreport
  rptSub.DataSource = childDataSource;
  //Display rptSub in the subreport control
  rptSubCtl.Report = rptSub;
}

public void ActiveReport_ReportStart()
{
  //Create a new instance of the generic report
  rptSub = new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReport();
  //Load the rpx file into the generic report
  rptSub.LoadLayout(this.SubReport1.ReportName);
  //Connect data to the main report
  string connString = @"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=[User Folder]\Samples14\Data\NWIND.mdb;Persist Security Info=False";
  string sqlString = "Select * from orders inner join customers on orders.customerid = customers.customerid order by CompanyName,OrderDate";
  GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Data.OleDBDataSource ds = new GrapeCity.ActiveReports.Data.OleDBDataSource();
  ds.ConnectionString = connString;
  ds.SQL = sqlString;
  rpt.DataSource = ds;
}

• Click the preview tab to view the report at design time.

OR

• Open the report in the Viewer. See Windows Forms Viewer for further information on how to load the xml-based section report onto the viewer.