Report Generator - CodeProject

Sample Image - ReportCreator.gif

Introduction

Printing is a normal part of most applications, but far too convoluted for many developers. The amount of work necessary to add printing of lists and reports to an application often seems daunting, and there are many pitfalls. Here, I come to the aid, with a package containing a plug-in report generator working with template files, a SDI-demo, a plug-and-play report editor for the template files, as well as a demo of the latter. And documentation! The code is intended either for use as-is in your own applications, or as a CReportEditor as well.

ReportCreator also contains a ruler that can be ripped out and used with other CDiagramEditor-derived works. This is an exercise left to the reader, however.

The documentation contains docs on the package structure.

Using ReportCreator

ReportCreator is an editor for the report generator template files. It's first and foremost a vector editor, letting you draw fields on screen with all the features of CDiagramEditor, such as panning, zoom, multiple selects, and much, much more.

It allows you to work in pixels, centimeters or inches as is befitting for a printer-oriented application. The documentation contains detailed information.

Licenses

If you want to add the package(s) or parts of them into your own code - commercial or not, you are completely free to do so. The code comes with the TISATAAFL-license, There Is Such A Thing As A Free Lunch, and you are free to modify, rewrite, resell or do whatever you feel like with the code. You are explicitly allowed to remove my comments in the source and headers, replacing them with your own. You don't have to acknowledge me, neither in code, nor in documentation or the finished application if you should use the code in a commercial application.

History

6/5 2005

Initial version.

28/5 2005

First of all, a few bug corrections:

Fixed resource leak in CCornerBox::OnPaint in the report creator (alex_br).
Fixed silly line-thickness bug in draw object line thickness/brush creation (lordly).

As well as a few others that was removed as a spin-off from other modifications.

There are also quite a few changes:

Multi-template reports. A report can be composed from several templates, for example, a title page, several sections and a summary (Carsten Bøgh Poulsen).
Dynamic object access. Objects can be accessed at runtime, so attributes can be inspected and modified. Objects can also be added at runtime (Håkan Nilsson).
More special markers for fields and cells. [%bold%] and [%italic%] will make the field/cell bold or italic respectively. [%separator%], [%bold-separator%], [%double-separator%] will draw a thin line, a thick line or a double line across a row in a grid instead of data (Carsten Bøgh Poulsen).
Images can not only be set from files, but also from HBITMAPs and handles to DIBs (Alex Evans).
Templates can not only be added from file, but also with data from a CStringArray, a LPCTSTR, a CFile or even from the application resources (DaberElay, Carsten Bøgh Poulsen).

1/10 2006

This project has been neglected for some time, but now it's time for an update! This time, we have:

Returning TRUE from Add when adding data as per documentation
Added support for font charset. (Vladimir Svrkota, J Bartkowiak).
Added locale-handling (J Bartkowiak).
Added [%pagebreak%]-command for grids. This works as the other commands, when putting this text in a cell, the grid will break and continue on the next page. (Charlie Curry, Carsten B Poulsen)
Added a function call ReplaceCell to set cell data in a grid. This call replaces the data in a specific cell with new data. (Carsten B Poulsen)

And a big thanks for all the help, feedback and support for this project!

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under A Public Domain dedication

About the Author

Johan Rosengren

Software Developer (Senior)
Abstrakt Mekanik AB

Sweden

Member

45 years old, married, three kids.

Started with computers more than 20 years ago on a CBM-64.

Read Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Lund.

Working as a C++ consultant developer.

Science-fiction freak. Enjoy vintage punkrock.

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Comments and Discussions

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How to insert a control?

JerryTom

21:58 16 Apr '12

thanks for your excellent code! I want to know how to insert a control to it such as mschart?
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Visual Studio 2010 New Project Problems

rubrighj

9:38 26 Mar '12

Not sure if anyone is still monitoring this application thread, but has anyone tried importing the code into a VS 2010 Solution/Project? If anyone has successfully accomplished this could you post the steps to your success? Attempting to fix any errors generated during compilation is leaving me with about 1500 errors. Thanks
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My vote of 5

Hady Marzuki

17:35 25 Nov '11

Very Useful
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Finally, I got memory leakage!

Member 4736035

0:42 12 Jul '11

Thank you for your great classes. I'v used your code several times, and there is a memory leakage when printing images. Image from LoadImage() shoud be released by DeleteObject(). CDrawPicture::SetFilename(CString value) { . . . if(m_filename.GetLength()) { . . if(bmp) { m_bitmap= DDBToDIB(bmp); ::DeleteObject(bmp) } } }
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	1.00/5 (1 vote)

My vote of 5

hireboy

22:52 3 Jul '11

so good!
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Can reports be cut and pasted?

Ann Nockerts

5:42 2 Jul '11

Can the reports be displayed in a view where they can be cut and pasted into MS Word or some other application? Or, like the demo, can they only be viewed and printed? Ann Nockerts, C++ developer
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report_fields

gerhard45

22:27 29 Jan '11

How can I fill report_fields with data during printing?
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Re: report_fields

Member 1471039

13:43 1 Sep '11

Create a merge engine.

1. Parse and map the template data fields by name and data record column.

Example: Data record.name is column 2. Template NameField would be mapped to 2.

2. For each data record iterate the template(s) using the map to find the matching data field in the template(s).

3. Remember there are 3 basic "types" you must switch between. Field, Picture and Grid.

4. Merge the data into the data fields according to the map. All fields of the same name are replaced with the same data as in a simple mail merge.

Example adding data where "strValue" is the value from the record:
((CDrawPicture*)pObj)->AddData(strValue);
or
((CDrawField*)pObj)->AddData(strValue);

TO CONVERT MDI FOR SDI?

asfur

2:51 18 Nov '10

Greater work, TO CONVERT MDI FOR SDI? TKS.
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GREAT WORK, TKS...

asfur

0:42 16 Nov '10

GREAT WORK, TKS...
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CPrintDialog

gerhard45

21:35 31 Mar '10

Thanks Johan, how can I suppress the CPrintDialog?
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	2.67/5 (3 votes)

Implementation

Adeel Mirza

2:02 4 Feb '10

Hi Johan, I like this report generator, I have a situation in which I am using an ATL COM Project which is an MS Office Addin. I want to implement this thing in my project mainly for previewing the reports, so can you guide me, the benifits and hazards of implementing this thing in an ATL COM Office Addin? Will it make my application extremely heavy?? Thanks in Advance Maverick
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finally ! ;-)

Ief Kox

21:36 27 Jan '10

finally, been looking for something like this for a while thanks !
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Thank you

futurejo

6:48 19 Jan '10

Thank you
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	3.00/5 (2 votes)

Report Creator

Member 2999929

9:22 8 Dec '09

I would like to create a template using the report creator application. I want the user to be able to generate templates that is more than one page. Is there a way to add a page break to the template so that the generator knows that it is a page break and go to the next page while displaying it in the preview screen. Thanks for all the help. SS.
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	2.20/5 (5 votes)

Fantastic

stixoffire

15:38 19 Nov '09

Hello and Thanks for the code. Also thanks for the License - TISATAAFL Is that pronounced TIZ AH TAF FULL ?
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Header and Footer

presidentkevin

16:56 14 Sep '09

Hi Johan, Thanks for your codes, it is very useful! I am trying to add some Header and footer into the report. (which can be shown on each page of the report). Do you have any idea how this can be achieved? It seems the Muli-template can only add different section into the report (which are shown on different pages). Thanks & Regards, Kevin
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	1.50/5 (2 votes)

print bmp picture memory leak

xiayingang

20:13 1 Aug '09

hello Johan Rosengren
first , thank you supply so nice source
I have use your report three days ,i found when i print the report with bmp on it ,there always have memory leak and only if the report with bmp on it will occur memory leak

of course nobody always to print his report ,but i think if there really have a little bug ,you should have method to amend it

modified on Friday, September 25, 2009 10:37 AM

How to change individual Grid Column Widths at Runtime [modified]

CarlH

4:00 23 Jul '09

How can I change the width of specific grid columns at runtime? SetWidth() is not an option with GetObject(). Thanks. modified on Monday, August 3, 2009 8:41 AM
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	3.00/5 (3 votes)

Grid columns

Member 1471039

7:59 7 May '09

Hello!

Once again my thanks for this wonderful contribution. I wanted to let you know about a couple things I uncovered.

I started using grids in some templates and noticed a problem with column sizes. The columns were consistently smaller widths in the Generator compared to the Editor. I kludged around the problem by replacing the CUnitConversion::InchesToPixels calls in the "void CDrawGrid::Draw( int page, CDC* dc )" column calculations with:



CUnitConversion::LineToPixels

{

    double pixelsPerInch = static_cast(CUnitConversion::s_resolution) * 

                           (inches * 1.25);

    return static_cast(pixelsPerInch);

}

The 1.25 offset made them fit the border rectangle perfectly, but I don't know why my kludge works or why InchesToPixel wasn't sufficient. It seems my results are not totally correct either since I can make a box in the Editor the same width as the column, but box and column will be different widths in the Generator.

The second problem with sizing was with the page itself. I set a page to 8.5 x 11 inches and set a .5 inch border on each side. The page then prints/previews from the Editor with an extra .5 inches on the right and bottom.

I traced the problem to "void CReportCreatorView::OnDraw(CDC* pDC)" and made another kludge as follows:



// Print zoom is the difference between screen and printer resolution.

 

   double zoom = pDC->GetDeviceCaps( LOGPIXELSX ) / m_screenResolutionX;

   zoom += .12;

Again, I don't know why adding .12 to the zoom factor was necessary or exactly how it fixed the problem.

If anyone knows why this is or has a good fix for the problem(s) please let me know. Thank you in advance.

Re: Grid columns

Member 1471039

11:04 7 May '09

Wouldn't you know I discovered and fixed the column width bug right after I sent in my question! The problem is that in CColumn the width is set to type int, where it should be type double. If you have columns that are fractional they would be truncated to int! To fix, simply change all CColumn "width" properties and methods to type double. All the column width issues disappear.
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Thank you for such a great code

xellmn

3:20 31 Mar '09

ReportEditor source looks have lots of things. I'll appreciate again if you offer some usage to use it in MFC apps. Could you upload a ReportEditor demo project?
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	2.00/5 (1 vote)

Re: Thank you for such a great code

Johan Rosengren

5:32 1 Apr '09

`ReportEditor` builds on `CDiagramEditor`, which you find here CDiagramEditor - DIY vector and dialog editor[^]. That article contains info on how to put the editor in other applications.
Sign In·View Thread·Permalink	5.00/5 (1 vote)

Use the same field more than once [modified]

pscholl

6:51 18 Feb '09

I need to use one field more than once. I have looked at CReportGenerator::Add (as you sugested on 5 Jan '07 to yokosuna) and have tried to modify it, unfortunately without any luck.
How do I get the name of the objects that I iterate over? I am thinking of something like this:

BOOL CReportGenerator::Add( const CString & field, const CString & data )  
{
  SetErrorMessage( _T( "" ) );
  BOOL result = FALSE;
  CDrawField* obj = dynamic_cast< CDrawField* >( GetObject( field ) );
  if (!obj)
    return FALSE; 
 
  int iMax = GetData().GetSize();
  for(int i=0; i<imax;>
  {
    // ????? = GetData().GetAt(i);
    if (obj->GetName() == ?????->GetName()) // ?????
    {
      obj->AddData( data );
      result = TRUE;
    }
  } 
 
  return result; 
}

However, I am not sure that this will solve the problem. For testing, I added a second

obj->AddData(data);

right after the first one but the second occurence of the field was still not printed.
I believe it is important that the same field can be used more than once. Any help would be very much appreciated.
Like others have already said, thank you very much for this great code.

modified on Thursday, February 19, 2009 2:28 AM

Re: Use the same field more than once

Johan Rosengren

21:21 21 Feb '09

I'm not sure why you want to use the same field twice? As the field would have the same properties, it would just print over itself, and being the same instance, any delete would wreak havoc with the other instance. You might want to copy the field to a new one instead - which still would be of little use if the attributes of the two fields would be identical.
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