In a section layout, you can create a base report as a template from which other reports can inherit. This behavior is similar to creating a master report and is available in a Section Report (code-based) layout.

Inheriting reports is useful when multiple reports share common features, such as identical page headers and footers. Instead of recreating the look every time, create template headers and footers once and use inheritance to apply them to other reports.

Use the following instructions to create a base report and inherit it in other reports.

Create a base report   

1. From the Visual Studio File menu, select New, then Project.
2. In the Create New Project dialog that appears, select Windows Forms App (.NET Framework) and click Next.
3. In the Configure your new project dialog, type a name for your project, set Framework to .NET Framework 4.7 and click Create.
4. Add a code-based Section Report by selecting ActiveReports 18 Code-Based Report in Project > Add New Item and naming it rptLetterhead.
   
5. In the report template that appears, add the following controls from the Visual Studio toolbox to the indicated section of rptLetterhead and set the properties.

   Control	Section	Location	Size	Miscellaneous
   Picture	PageHeader	0, 0 in	3, 0.65 in	Image = (click ellipsis and navigate to the location of your image file) PictureAlignment = TopLeft
   Label	PageHeader	1.16, 0.65 in	1.8, 0.25 in	Text = Inheritance Font = Arial, 15pt, style=Bold
   Label	PageFooter	0, 0 in	6.5, 0.19 in	Text = https://developer.mescius.com/activereportsnet HyperLink = https://developer.mescius.com/activereportsnet Font/Bold = True Alignment = Center

6. Right-click the gray area below the design surface and choose properties, to open the Properties window.
7. In the Properties window, set the MasterReport property to True. Setting the MasterReport property to True locks the Detail section.
   
   Caution: Do not set the MasterReport property to True until you have finished designing or making changes to the report. Setting this property to True triggers major changes in the designer file of the report.
   
   

You can use the Page Header and Page Footer sections to design the base report. When you create reports that inherit the layout from this base report, only the detail section is available for editing.

Inherit layout from a base report

These steps assume that you have already added another Section Report (code-based) template. This report functions like a content report where you can create the layout of the Detail section.

1. In a Visual Studio project, add a Section Report by selecting ActiveReports 18 Code-Based Report in Project > Add New Item  and naming it rptLetter.
2. In the Solution Explorer, right-click the new report and select the View Code option to open the code behind of the report.
3. In the code view, modify the inheritance statement as shown below. The content report inherits from the base report instead of GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReport.
   Caution: The existing report layout in the content report is lost once you inherit the base report. Even if you change it back to GrapeCity.ActiveReports.SectionReport, the original layout in content report will not be retrieved.

   To write the code in Visual Basic.NET

   Visual Basic.NET code.	Copy Code
   Partial Public Class rptLetter Inherits YourProjectName.rptLetterhead

   To write the code in C#

   C# code.	Copy Code
   public partial class rptLetter : YourProjectName.rptLetterhead

4. Close the reports and from the Build menu on the Visual Studio menu bar, select Rebuild. When you reopen the report, the inherited sections and controls are disabled.
   Note: To apply further changes from the base report to the content report, you might have to rebuild the project again.