Some problems...

Uros · Post by **Uros** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 8:45 am

Hi,
I have few problems with some of tools in Reports.FX.

First problem is that some styling options are not displayed properly when opening saved reports. For example, I've saved report file with some styling options, and when I open .mrt file styling options are there, like this:

...
DejaVu Sans,14,Bold
...

However, when I open that .mrt file in Designer fonts are displayed with with default styling (Arial, 9pt). I don't know is this bug or demo limitation or something system related.

Second problem, it seems that expressions for chart Value and Argument fields do not work as expected. In particular case, when I use {Minute(Group_10.datetime_written)} in simple text areas in data band only minute information is displayed, as expected. However, when I use that function in Argument field in Chart Series Editor, whole date-time string is displayed in chart (thus completely clogging X axis).
Further more, I have problems with Chart positioning in report. I can't figure out how to set Chart to be right in the middle of display, it always end up "shifted" to the right side (it seems that problem is somewhat dependent on values used for Argument field for Chart). Also, I don't know what is proper pattern for adding Chart in report, for instance if I have one Data Band with table-like display of data (as is in SimpleLIst.mrt you've provided in Quick Start) and put Chart below it (either in second Data Band or alone), depending on parameters I fiddle with Chart ends up either behind first Data Band (and thus only partially visible) or covering last few rows of previous Data Band thus rendering them invisible.

Finally, I have encountered some problems with Border property of elements. For instance, if I set Border width to 5 it is displayed properly, however if I set width to 4, bottom and right border have width of 2 or 3 (I cant tell precisely but they are noticeably thinner than top and left border)

...
I didn't want to copy/paste whole .mrt files in post, if you want to examine them I can send them to you.

Best regards & Thanks in advance
Uroš

Uros · Post by **Uros** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 8:51 am

Further more, what are exactly limitations of demo/trial version?

Uroš

Post by **Vladimir** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 3:09 am

Hello,

1. We could not reproduce the problem with the font, the report is saved and loaded correctly (before testing we installed the specified font). Please see the attached report.

2. Yes, there are some problems with the expressions in the charts. We are currently porting to new Chart kernel to Reports.Fx, these errors will be fixed.

3. We could not reproduce the error with the border. Please see the attached image.

4. Limitation of the Trial Version is displaying a DEMO watermark on all report pages.

Thank you.

Uros · Post by **Uros** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:18 am

Vladimir,
thank you very much for your response. Regarding Charts and Expressions, I've tried as well to make Calculated Column in Data Source (I simply pasted away expression in that text box that pops up when editing Clac. Column) but I still got meaningless results ( I've used {Minute(Group_10.datetime_written)} and got some very large integers instead of two digit numbers). However this is not critical issue because I can work around by forming auxiliary column in SQL query.

Regarding font and border issues, it might as well be up to browser/flashPlayer (I'm using Kubuntu+Firefox currently) so I will try to investigate if this is client dependent issue. If I get repeatable invalid behavior I will send you .mrt file.

There is one more minor issue:
is there any way to control behavior of Viewer/Designer from JavaScript? In particular to force Viewer to issue LoadReport and consecutive requests while avoiding repeated LoadConfig. and LoadLang. after initial configuration on page load? (I keep all connections and queries hard coded in PHP and data ranges and report types are controlled from HTML forms on top of page where report is displayed so I'm contemplating fully AJAXed approach without page reloads)

Finally, is there any way to customize color scheme for that Ribbon UI?

Thank you very much for response and kudos for great product (you've most probably saved me from painful and ugly path down the Crystal Reports alley)

Uroš

Uros · Post by **Uros** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:16 am

I have found out what was the problem with fonts and font styling.

I have started with your example report SimpleList.mrt. I have started to add and edit elements when I've noticed problem with fonts. After your forum response I have started to delete various elements to see if it was some element conflict issue or some sort of inheritance in element parameters. I have finally left only single text element and problem with wrong fonts was still there. However I have noticed peculiar issue when I've investigated .mrt file. At the beginning of file there is XML markup that corresponds with report structure as I see it in Designer. However at bottom of report there is Styles tag, under which I have noticed references to deleted elements and further more I have noticed that Font styling was different than in XML above (whole report is pasted at bottom of this post). I have marked as bold two lines that represent this issue, and as you can see they differ. When I open this report both Designer and Viewer use font styling found inside Styles tag. When I copy tag content of first bolded line (DejaVu Sans,18,Bold|Italic|Underline) in tag content of second bolded tag ( which is Arial,19) all styling features are displayed correctly. I don't know if this behavior is intended or not but it seems to me as some kind of bug (and this behavior could be the source of problems I had with chart positioning). Could you please investigate this issue (for now I can manually edit report file but that is quite cumbersome)?

BTW, what's purpose of tag? Can scripting be used in Reports.FX?

Thank you and Best Regards
Uroš

Code: Select all


  
    
    
    
    
    
    
  
  EngineV2
  
  
  
    
      None;Black;2;Solid;False;4;Black
      Transparent
      
        
          None;[193:152:89];1;Solid;False;4;Black
          Transparent
          0,0,19,0.8
          Title1
          
          [b]DejaVu Sans,18,Bold|Italic|Underline[/b]
          1bc08e78ae20472481fe55b04ade5b6a
          0,0,0,0
          Text23
          
          
          Temperature Messages
          [193:152:89]
          Expression
          Center
        
      
      
      366bfdc35bcf48f3aeb38f2b5f58db21
      1,1,1,1
      Page1
      29.7
      21
      
      
        Arial,100,Bold
        False
        [50:0:0:0]
      
    
  
  StandardAndDotMatrix
  33538047
  
  
    System.Dll
    System.Drawing.Dll
    System.Windows.Forms.Dll
    System.Data.Dll
    System.Xml.Dll
    Stimulsoft.Base.Dll
    Stimulsoft.Controls.Dll
    Stimulsoft.Report.Dll
  
  Simple List
  Stimulsoft
  10/25/2011 02:31:17 PM
  05/29/2004 10:59:00 AM
  The sample demonstrates how to create a simple list report.
  TemperatureMsgs_test12.mrt
  e48a43ae26d35b812bdc3b103318f5bc
  Report
  Centimeters
  2011.2.1100
  using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Data;
using Stimulsoft.Controls;
using Stimulsoft.Base.Drawing;
using Stimulsoft.Report;
using Stimulsoft.Report.ReportControls;
using Stimulsoft.Report.Components;

namespace Reports
{
    
    public class SimpleList : Stimulsoft.Report.StiReport
    {
        
		public SimpleList()
        {
            this.InitializeComponent();
        }
        #region StiReport Designer generated code - do not modify#endregion StiReport Designer generated code - do not modify
    }
}
  CSharp
  
    
      False
      None;[193:152:89];1;Solid;False;4;Black
      Transparent
     [b] Arial,19[/b]
      Right
      Title1
      [193:152:89]
      Center
    
    
      False
      None;[102:77:38];1;Solid;False;4;Black
      Transparent
      Arial,9
      Title2
      [102:77:38]
      Center
    
    
      False
      None;[193:152:89];1;Solid;False;4;Black
      Transparent
      Arial,19
      Header1
      [193:152:89]
      Center
    
    
      False
      None;[193:152:89];1;Solid;False;4;Black
      Transparent
      Arial,12,Bold
      Center
      Header2
      [193:152:89]
      Center
    
    
      False
      All;[193:152:89];1;Solid;False;4;Black
      [242:234:221]
      Arial,9,Bold
      Center
      Header3
      [193:152:89]
      Center
    
    
      False
      None;[193:152:89];1;Solid;False;4;Black
      Transparent
      Arial,9
      Data1
      [102:77:38]
      Center
    
    
      False
      False
      False
      False
      False
      [240:237:232]
      Arial,9
      Data2
      Black
    
    
      False
      None;[193:152:89];1;Solid;False;4;Black
      [240:237:232]
      Arial,9
      Data3
      [102:77:38]
      Center
    
    
      False
      Top;[193:152:89];1;Solid;False;4;Black
      Transparent
      Arial,9
      Footer1
      [102:77:38]
      Center
    
    
      False
      None;[193:152:89];1;Solid;False;4;Black
      Transparent
      Arial,12,Bold
      Right
      Footer2
      [193:152:89]
      Center

Post by **Vladimir** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 6:35 am

Hello, Uroš

1. Calculated columns have not been completed fully and errors can be found. We will check this situation.

2. Unfortunately, these data can't be loaded using Javascript.

3. You can specify one of three themes for Viewer: Blue, Silver, Black. But the Designer supports only Blue theme.

4. This is correct behavior because, after loading a report component takes all the style settings. You need to either clear the style property component or configure the style. In your case, you need to set the 'Allow Use Font' property to False.

Thank you.