Fastreports - Standalone Designer

I've been using QR/QRDesign for a while but I'm now looking for a new
reporting tool and Fastreports is one that I'm considering.

Can the designer component be used standalone? I've playing around with the
trial and it seems you have to have datasets on the form before they appear
on the report. Is there anyway of starting the designer and then creating a
connection to the database and then to the tables?

Can the designer be used in a MDI application. When the designer is called
it currently takes up the full screen.

[Michael Philippenko]

Dear Ray.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006, 8:00:21 PM, you wrote:

R> I've been using QR/QRDesign for a while but I'm now looking for a new
R> reporting tool and Fastreports is one that I'm considering.

R> Can the designer component be used standalone? I've playing around with the
R> trial and it seems you have to have datasets on the form before they appear
R> on the report. Is there anyway of starting the designer and then creating a
R> connection to the database and then to the tables?

Yes. See the FRdemo, report "Internal datasets"

R> Can the designer be used in a MDI application. When the designer is called
R> it currently takes up the full screen.

No it cannot, it is modal only.

[Nard Moseley (Digital Metaphors)]

The ReportBuilder 10 Designer can be used stand alone, modal or non-modal
and it can be used on a Panel or within an MDI application.

You can download a trial version from

www.digital-metaphors.com/download

For an example of MDI., run RBuilder\Demos\EndUser\MDI

For an example of using the Designer within a Panel, download a trial
version and then download the following example.

www.digital-metaphors.com/tips/Designer10_DesignerInPanel.zip

Thanks for replying.

Nard, although I do really like the looks of ReportBuilder I am actually
using Borland Builder C++. I didn't realise this was a Delphi only
newsgroup, sorry.

Michael, I have had a look at the demos you suggested. Am I right in saying
that you can use the ADO Components to link to data once the designer is
running? If this is so, then that may be a problem as I'm using an Interbase
DB and would have to use ODBC.

[Michael Philippenko]

Dear Ray!

Thursday, September 14, 2006, 12:47:49 PM, you wrote:

R> Michael, I have had a look at the demos you suggested. Am I right in saying
R> that you can use the ADO Components to link to data once the designer is
R> running? If this is so, then that may be a problem as I'm using an Interbase
R> DB and would have to use ODBC.

Like, you see demo of FastReport Studio.
You can use _any_ DB sources from FastReport for Delphi.
Did you see demo of FastReport for Delphi?

Download here:
http://fast-report.com/en/download/fast-report-3-download.html

Hi Michael.

Yes, I have seen the demos, the Internal Datasets->Internal Table is the one
I was looking at. However, it doesn't actually describe what is happening so
I have no idea what it is doing or how! The only thing I found out was that
there is an ADO Components button on the left hand side toolbar at the
bottom. From this I could create a connection to my Interbase DB using ODBC.
I don't want to use ODBC.

I explain in further detail what I'm trying to do.

I have a form, with TfrxReport, TfrxDesigner and TButton components on it.
In the TButtons on click event I open the Designer using the following code:

frxReport1->DesignReport();

Please note at this stage I don't have any data available to me when I go to
the Report|Data menu, which is what I would expect because I don't have any
datasets on the form.

From this point I now want to create a connection to my database, from
within the designer and then open a table in my database, so that it becomes
available on the Report|Data menu. I do not know how to do this and I can't
find any way of doing it. The logical place would be on the Report|Data menu
but there is no option there to create a connection. Incidentally, the ADO
components icon does not appear on the designer when used in my project.
Perhaps this is due to it being the trial version?

Post by Michael Philippenko
Dear Ray!
R> Michael, I have had a look at the demos you suggested. Am I right in saying
R> that you can use the ADO Components to link to data once the designer is
R> running? If this is so, then that may be a problem as I'm using an Interbase
R> DB and would have to use ODBC.
Like, you see demo of FastReport Studio.
You can use _any_ DB sources from FastReport for Delphi.
Did you see demo of FastReport for Delphi?
http://fast-report.com/en/download/fast-report-3-download.html
--
Best regards,
Fast Reports - cross-platform multi-language solutions for developers
http://www.fast-report.com

[Michael Philippenko]

Dear Ray!

You can use ADO, BDE, IBX, DBX and many other DB components (which have a DB engine for FastReport)
to create standalone reports. To do this (IBX example):
1) place TfrxIBXComponent from FR3 palette on your Delphi form
2) run your application, start the report designer
3) you will see the "IBX" button on the report objects toolbar
4) put the TfrxIBXDatabase on your report, configure it
5) now you can put a table or a query the same way.
6) you also can use File|New... menu to create database/tables/queries

See our documentation for more details.

Thursday, September 14, 2006, 8:00:37 PM, you wrote:

R> Hi Michael.

R> Yes, I have seen the demos, the Internal Datasets->Internal Table is the one
R> I was looking at. However, it doesn't actually describe what is happening so
R> I have no idea what it is doing or how! The only thing I found out was that
R> there is an ADO Components button on the left hand side toolbar at the
R> bottom. From this I could create a connection to my Interbase DB using ODBC.
R> I don't want to use ODBC.

R> I explain in further detail what I'm trying to do.

R> I have a form, with TfrxReport, TfrxDesigner and TButton components on it.
R> In the TButtons on click event I open the Designer using the following code:

R> frxReport1->DesignReport();

R> Please note at this stage I don't have any data available to me when I go to
R> the Report|Data menu, which is what I would expect because I don't have any
R> datasets on the form.

R> From this point I now want to create a connection to my database, from
R> within the designer and then open a table in my database, so that it becomes
R> available on the Report|Data menu. I do not know how to do this and I can't
R> find any way of doing it. The logical place would be on the Report|Data menu
R> but there is no option there to create a connection. Incidentally, the ADO
R> components icon does not appear on the designer when used in my project.
R> Perhaps this is due to it being the trial version?

Post by Michael Philippenko
Dear Ray!
R> Michael, I have had a look at the demos you suggested. Am I right in saying
R> that you can use the ADO Components to link to data once the designer is
R> running? If this is so, then that may be a problem as I'm using an Interbase
R> DB and would have to use ODBC.
Like, you see demo of FastReport Studio.
You can use _any_ DB sources from FastReport for Delphi.
Did you see demo of FastReport for Delphi?
http://fast-report.com/en/download/fast-report-3-download.html
--
Best regards,
Fast Reports - cross-platform multi-language solutions for developers
http://www.fast-report.com