ActiveReports 2 COM versus ActiveReports 14

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This section explains about the difference between ActiveReports 2 COM (ActiveX version) and ActiveReports 14.

Comparison between Section Report Controls

The following table compares the controls available in Section Report in ActiveX product and ActiveReports 14 (.NET Core product).

ActiveX product	.NET Core product
Field	TextBox
Label	Label
CheckBox	CheckBox
Image	Picture
Line	Line
OleObject	OleObject
PageBreak	PageBreak
RichEdit	RichTextBox
Shape	Shape
SubReport	SubReport
ActiveX control (includes Barcode)	×（※１）
Frame	×（※２）
ADO Data Control	OLEDataSource（※３）
XML Data Control	XMLDataSource（※４）
RDO Data Control	×
DAO Data Control	×
－	Chart（※５）
－	CrossSectionBox（※６）
－	CrossSectionLine（※７）
－	ReportInfo（※８）
-	InputField （※9）

※１ It will only get migrated as basic class ARControl.

※２ Control placed inside the Frame will be migrated.

※３ Only Source (SQL) and ConnectionString properties set at design time are migrated.

※４ Only FileURL/RecordSetPattern property set at design time are migrated.

※５ Control that renders 2D/3D graph.

※６ Control that renders a rectangle across multiple sections.

※７ Control that renders a straight line across multiple sections.

※８ A control that renders the execution date and time of report, page number, and total number of pages in a specified format.

※ 9 A control that provides editable fields on exporting a report to PDF. This is a Professional Edition feature.

Important properties that have been changed in .NET Core product

	Property Name
Control names in Section Report (.NET Core product)	ActiveX product	.NET Core product	Remarks
GroupHeader	GrpKeepTogether	GroupKeepTogether	The type itself is different
	Repeat	RepeatStyle	The type itself is different
CheckBox TextBox Label	WordWrap	WrapMode	The type itself is different
TextBox	DataValue	Value
	SummaryDistinctField	DistinctField
CheckBox	Alignment	CheckAlignment	The type itself is different
	Value	Checked
Picture	Picture	Image	The type itself is different
Shape	Shape	Style
SubReport	Object	Report

Important properties added in .NET Core product

Control names in Section Report (.NET Core product)	Property Name	Description
GroupHeader	ColumnGroupKeepTogether	Make groups as one block on the same column
Detail	RepeatToFill	Adds an empty line
CheckBox TextBox Label	Padding	Sets the blank space inside a control
TextBox Label	CharacterSpacing	Sets the character pitch(interval) in points units
	LineSpacing	Sets the line spacing in point units
	TextJustify	Sets equal allocation
	VerticalText	Optimize character shape for vertical writing
	ShrinkToFit	Shrink the character according to the Control size
Picture	Description	Sets the visual explanation of Picture's appearance (valid when exporting Html)
Line	AnchorBottom	Draw the end of the ruled line till the adjacent section
Shape	RoundingRadius	Sets the roundness of round cornered rectangle in percentage unit
SubReport	CloseBorder	When a sub-report spans multiple pages, it sets whether to close it with a ruled line or not

The above table lists only those properties that are frequently used, although, in addition to the above properties, there are some newly added properties and changed properties in the .NET Core product.

Also, the properties and methods of OleObject control and RichTextBox (RichEdit) control have been significantly changed. If you are using these controls, refer to "Class Library Reference" and adjust the settings as necessary.

Difference in Export Function

Export function of .NET Core product is developed to export the reports of .NET Core product.
Compared with the ActiveX products, various enhancements have been made in the Export function of .NET Core products along with the changes in properties and events.

For more information, please refer to the content below.

Subject	ActiveX product	.NET Core product
PDF Version	1.1～1.3	1.1～1.7
PDF image quality setting of internal image	JPGQuality property in settings (1～100)	ImageQuality (three levels - Lowest, Medium, and Highest) and ImageResolution (75～2400 dpi) property in settings
Non embedding of Japanese font	× (always embedded)	○ (※1, always embedded in Standard Edition)
Bold characters of Japanese font	× (output with normal thickness)	○ (※1)
Foreign letters	× (no output)	○ (※1)
Electronic Signature Time Stamp	×	○: Signature property (※1)
GIF and transparent elements of meta images	× (present in non-transparent state)	○
Output of bookmark	○: OutputTOCAsBookmarks property	○: ExportBookmarks property
Document property	×	○: Options property (※2)
Document display state	△: ShowBookmarksInAcrobat (only display bookmarks are configurable)	○: PdfDocumentOptions.DisplayMode property (※3)
Display window setting	×	○: PdfDocumentOptions property (※4)
UI setting	×	○: PdfDocumentOptions property (※5)
Print only	×	○: PdfDocumentOptions.OnlyForPrint property
Gets the state of progress	○: OnProgress event	×

※1　Can be set only for Professional Edition.

※2　Five items - Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, and Application can be set.

※3　Four types - None, Outlines, Thumbs, and FullScreen can be set.

※4　CenterWindow, FitWindow, and DisplayTitle can be set.

※5　Display permission of Menu bar (HideMenubar), Toolbar (HideToolbar), and UI Window (HideWindowUI) can be set.

Subject		ActiveX product	.NET Core product
Save File	File version	Excel 95/97	Excel 95/97/2007 (OpenXML)
Layout	Space between cell and borders to prevent overlapping of cells	○：BorderSpace Property	×
	Column appearance in the output	○：DoubleBoundaries Property	×
	Generate page break automatically	○：GenPageBreaks property	△: (always output the page break)
	Display space between the report elements and the report margin	○：ShowMarginSpace property	×
	Print scale	○：SizeToFit property	×
	Remove vertical space	○：TrimEmptySpace property	○：RemoveVerticalSpace property
	Version	○：Version property	○：FileFormat property
	Display grid line	× (display fixing)	○：DisplayGridLines property
	Merge cells	×	○：UseCellMerging property
	Color palette	× (always keep palette in workbook）	○：UseDefaultPalette property
Printing	Paper size	× (dependent on excel default settings)	○：PageSettings.PaperSize property
	Page orientation	× (dependent on excel default settings)	○：PageSettings.Orientation property
Security	Read password	×	○：Security.Password property
	Write password	×	○：Security.WritePassword property
	Save as read only	×	○：Security.ReadOnlyRecommended property
	Username responsible to password protect an Excel sheet	×	○：Security.ProtectedBy property
State of progress		○：OnProgress event	×

Subject		ActiveX product	.NET Core product
Implementation method		control in SpreadBuilder object	control in Workbook object
Save File	File version	Excel 95/97	Excel 95/97/2007（OpenXML）
	prior error check	○：GetSaveCaps method	×（processing due to Exception）
Layout	Cell merge/unmerge	×	○: Merge/UnMerge method
	Display grid line	× (always display)	○: DisplayGridLines property
	Line striking through a text	×	○: FontStrikeOut property
	Format setting by range specification	×	○: Use DDCells class
	Color palette	× (always keep palette in workbook)	○: UseDefaultPalette property
Printing	Page setup	Setting available in DDSheet object	Use settings in PageSetup class
	Black and white print	×	○: BlackAndWhite property
	Print without graphics	×	○: Draft property
	Scale print to fit page	○：SizeToFit property	○: FitToPage property
	Vertical scale page count	× (set to one page)	○: FitToPagesTall property
	Horizontal scale page count	× (set to one page)	○: FitToPagesWide property
	Scale factor	× (set to 100%)	○: Zoom property
	Paper size	× (depends on excel default settings)	○: PaperSize property
	First page number	× (automatic)	○: FirstPageNumber property
	Header height	×	○: HeaderMargin property
	Footer height	×	○: FooterMargin property
	Page orientation	× (set from 'left to right' )	○: Order property
	Print setting of cell notes	× (set to 'none')	△: PrintNotes property ※only 'screen display image' can be set
Security	Read password	×	○: Password property
	Write password	×	○: WritePassword property
	Save as read only	×	○: ReadOnlyRecommended property
	Username responsible to password protect an Excel sheet	×	○: ProtectedBy property
	Workbook protection password	×	○: ProtectWorkbookPassword property

Subject		ActiveX product	.NET Core product
Compression scheme		Decided by the method to use	Setting available in CompressionScheme property
Compression format	none	×	○：”None”
	Lzw	×	○：”Lzw”
	Rle (PackBits)	○：Export/ExportTIFF method	○：”Rle” (however, default is black and white)
	CCITT Group3	○：FaxExportCITT3 method	○：”Ccitt3”
	CCITT Group4	○：FaxExport method	○：”Ccitt4”
Dithering		○：only FaxExport or FaxExportCITT3 methods can be used (※1)	○：Dither property (※2)
Resolution		○：only ExportTIFF method can be used	○：DpiX, DpiY property
State of progress		○：OnProgress event	×

※1　The white threshold can be set within the range of 0～765.

※2　Valid only for “Rle”, ”Ccitt3”, ”Ccitt4”. Also, this property is of Boolean type.

Subject		ActiveX product	.NET Core product
File output	Image save location	○：AuxOutputPath property	× (always same path as HTML in output)
	Whether to embed CSS style inside the html file	○：CreateCSSFile property	× StyleStream property
	Output file name	FileNamePrefix property setting	Specified by argument of Export method
	File output location	HTMLOutputPath property setting	Specified by argument of Export method
	JPEG compression ratio	○: JPEGQuality property	×
	Output in MHT format	○: MHTOutput property	×
	Output setting for multiple pages	MultiPageOutput property setting	MultiPage property setting
	Output of bookmarks	○: TableOfContents property (※1)	○: BookmarkStyle property (※2)
Layout	Insert code just before HEAD tag	○: HeadExtraInnerText property	×
	HTML version setting	○: HTMLVersion property	○: OutputType property
	Remove vertical space	×	○: RemoveVerticalSpace property
	Add HTML just before page output	○: ExportPageStart event	×
	Add HTML just after page output	○: ExportPageEnd event	×
State of progress		○: OnProgress event	×

※1　Either of these properties can be set - None, <DL>tag format, DHTML format, or XML format.

※2　Either of these properties can be set - None, HTML.

Subject	ActiveX product	.NET Core product
Encoding	△: Unicode property (※1)	○: Encoding property
Obtaining state of progress	○: OnProgress event	×

※1　Unicode format and ASCII format configurable only from either of them.

Subject	ActiveX product	.NET Core product
Obtaining state of progress	○: OnProgress event	×

Difference in Barcode Control

The barcodes and their properties available in .NET Core product are different from that available in ActiveX product. While in ActiveX product, the barcode is rendered as an ActiveX control, in the .NET Core product, the Barcode is available as a control. For full list of barcodes available in ActiveReports, see Barcode topic.

Barcode formats

ActiveX product	.NET Core product	Remarks
CODE39	Code39, Ansi39	※1
CODE39(Full ASCII)	Code39x, Ansi39x
CODE49	Code49
CODE93	Code_93	Only Uppercase of letters,%, $, *, ., +, -, Space, number can be set.
CODE93	Code93x	whole letter of ASCII letter set can be set
CODE128	Code_128auto	※2
	Code_128_A	CODE-A fixed format
	Code_128_B	CODE-B fixed format
	Code_128_C	CODE-C fixed format
JAN8	EAN_8
JAN13	EAN_13
EAN128	UCCEAN128	※2, 3, 4
EAN128	EAN128FNC1	※2, 3, 4
ITF	Code25intlv	※5, 6
POSTNET5, 9, 11	PostNet	without depending on data number of digits, symbol can be generated
UPC/A	UPC_A
UPC/E	UPC_E0, UPC_E1	※7
UPC/E Addon2, Addon5	UPC_E0, UPC_E1
NW-7(CODABAR)	Codabar
Customer Barcode	JapanesePostal

※1　Code39 (Code39x) and Ansi39 (Ansi39x) have the same bar code configuration specifications, but the default width ratio of narrow bar and wide bar is different. The former is 1: 2, whereas the latter is 1: 3.

※2　Start character setting of CODE128 is different for ActiveX product and .NET Core product.

※3　In CODE128 format, there is no function to arbitrarily switch code sets.

※4　In CODE128 (EAN128) format, there is no function to insert FNC2 to FNC4 in arbitrary place.

※5　Check digit is not calculated automatically. For .NET Core products, you need to set a value with check digit added.

※6　Bearer bar is not supported.

※7　UPC_E0 is compressed zero type of UPC symbol and can only set only numbers. UPC_E1 is generally used in retail shops price labels and it supports six numeric characters.

Important ActiveX product properties that are not supported by .NET Core product

The properties that do not exist in .NET Core product but affect generated barcode are listed as follows:

Property name	Description
BarRatio	Set bar ratio. We can set relative width ratio of fine module to thick module in the range of 1:2 to 1:3 using NWRatio property.
LongModuleSize	Set thick module width.
TargetDpiX	Set the resolution of screen in the horizontal direction.
TargetDpiY	Set the resolution of screen in the vertical direction.

About ActiveReport Object

The ActiveReport object (the base of ActiveX product report), included not just the engine and the report layout information, but also the viewer function. The .NET Core product provides SectionReport class (the base class of section report) and the viewer function, and the Viewer class is reconfigured.
Also, In ActiveX product the generated page information was stored in the Pages class but in .NET Core product it has been reconfigured to the Document class and PagesCollection class. Along with these configuration updates, some methods and events have also been modified. The following table lists the important changes:

Difference in property

ActiveX product	.NET Core product		Remarks
	Class	Property name
AllowSplitters	Viewer	AllowSplitter
documentName	SectionDocument	Name
PageBorder	×	×	※1
Pages	SectionDocument	Pages	※2
Printer	SectionDocument	Printer
RulerVisible	×	×	Ruler does not exist.
ShowMessages	×	×	※3
ScriptDebuggerEnabled	SectionReport	EnableScriptDebugging
Status	SectionReport	State
TOC	SectionDocument	Bookmarks
TOCEnabled	TOCPanel (Viewer.Sidebar)	Enabled
TOCVisible	TOCPanel (Viewer.Sidebar)	Visible	※4
TOCWidth	Sidebar(Viewer)	Width
Toolbar	Viewer	Toolbar
ToolbarVisible	ToolStrip (Viewer.Toolbar)	Visible
Zoom	Viewer	Zoom

※1 Draw border in CrossSectionBox control and other controls.

※2 In ActiveX product, it is the collection of Canvas objects but in .NET Core product, it is the collection of Document.Page.

※3 If an exception is thrown due to an error in the .NET Core product, use Try and Catch Statement.

※4 Use the ToggleVisibility method of the Viewer.Sidebar object to display headings.

Difference in method

ActiveX product	.NET Core product
	Class	Method name	Remarks
Export	(each export filter)	Export
PageSetup	×	×	※1
PrintReport	SectionDocument PageDocument Viewer	Print
Refresh	×	×	※2

※1 Implemented using PageSetupDialog Class.

※2 Reset the report document using Document property and LoadDocument method.

Difference in event

ActiveX product	.NET Core product
	Class	Event name	Remarks
Error	×	×	※1
FindProgress	Viewer	Find
HyperLink	Viewer	HyperLink
PromptDialogClosed	SectionReport	ParameterUIClosed
TOCClick	Viewer	TableOfContentsClick
TOCSelChange	Viewer	TableOfContentsSelectedIndexChanged
ToolbarClick	×	×	※2

※1 If an exception is thrown due to an error in the .NET Core product, use Try and Catch Statement.

※2 Implement using Viewer.Toolbar.ToolStrip class. For more information please see Customize the Viewer Control.

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