Supporting Cross-Datasource Relations

The .NET DataProvider concept allows to bind to almost any data source. Basically, it mimics a relational database management system containing tables, relations, sort orders etc. However, often you'll find yourself needing to combine data from different sources, e.g. a server log file that contains customer logins and a SQL customer database that contains all pertinent information about the customers.

New Features in the Report Server – Part 2

select chart type

As promised, today I’d like to report on even more of the updates in Report Server 23. The updates are particularly impressive in the ad-hoc Designer, which provides support for fast creation of simple tables and diagrams. As opposed to the extensive Report Server Designer, only the most important setting options are provided here. In addition, the ad-hoc Designer is likewise available as a separate component in List & Label 23.

Virtual Formula Variables for Drag & Drop

expanded data values in tree view

In LL21, we improved the Drag & Drop behavior thoroughly. However there was one thing still missing. When dropping e.g. a date field, at times you don't need the actual date in the report but rather e.g. the year. The same for numerical values – do you want decimals? If yes, how many? Do you require a local formatting? Or a currency symbol? While you can easily achieve any of these formattings using simple formulas or the "Format" property, you have to do just that. So drag and drop is not the no-brainer it is supposed to be in a perfect world. In LL23, the world will actually become a little more perfect.

Using Your Own .NET Designer Objects in Unmanaged Code – Designer Object Bridge

Many things can often be implemented significantly easier and faster in managed code than in unmanaged code, such as with Delphi or C++. Sometimes, there already exist ready-made .NET modules which contain the desired requirements and which need to be used in your own unmanaged application. But the question then is: How can a .NET module be made accessible to an unmanaged system?

Unbelievable Printing Performance Boost

example printing performance boost

Continuing the journey of improving the performance, we decided to tweak a bit on the printing side as well. These optimizations help when using the same table several times with different fields. Think of a tabular report with some charts and a crosstab. Typically you have different views on your data in these objects. For these cases, the improvement is huge – I mean really huge.

Huge Designer Speed-Up for Large Databases

Historically, List & Label has always been working without a database in the background. During the years, we've added powerful databinding to the components, however at the core, the principle stayed the same: your application (or the databinding layer) passes all available data before opening the Designer.