Problems and questions during evaluation

[Pierre Boucher]

Hi,

We are currently evaluating the WPF version of your report engine (v 2010.3 + 2011.02.16) and we encountered some problems and have some questions.

a. Using the image control and an image field from my datasource, I was not able to obtain a uniform size among all the images. I tried a conbination of Aspect Ratio' and 'Stretch' without success;

b. I was trying to add a line in a child band that would be visible only in between records in a group (see following example)

GroupHeaderBand1 - Country
DataBand1 - Sales person 1
ChildBand1 - -----------------
DataBand1 - Sales person 2
ChildBand1 - -----------------
DataBand1 - Sales person 3
GroupFooterBand1 - Country

As you can see, the last child band (after sales person 3) is not visible. I used the following condition (with "Component is enabled" unchecked) in the ChildBand1 to make it invisible:

{Line} == {Count(GroupHeaderBand1)}

While {Line} and {Count(GroupHeaderBand1)} worked correctly when displayed as fields in the ChildBand1, I always get an error when using this syntax in a condition. I read in another post that {Count(GroupHeaderBand1)} should be written as Totals.Count(GroupHeaderBand1) when used in a condition. Why? What would be the syntax of {Line} in a condition?

c. From the report designer in preview mode, when there are errors, the source code viewer shown from the magnifier icon does not last long enough before desapearing and quite often, the source code is not visible when the surrounding lines are longer then the one in error;

d. It would be nice to have a report modification visual cue in the designer title bar (the is an * in VS2010 to show the file has been modified);

e. Adding a new variable from the designer makes the application crash in Windows 7;

Thanks in advance!

[Alex K.]

Hello,

a. Using the image control and an image field from my datasource, I was not able to obtain a uniform size among all the images. I tried a conbination of Aspect Ratio' and 'Stretch' without success;

Please send us a sample report with wich reproduses the issue.

b. I was trying to add a line in a child band that would be visible only in between records in a group (see following example)
GroupHeaderBand1 - Country
DataBand1 - Sales person 1
ChildBand1 - -----------------
DataBand1 - Sales person 2
ChildBand1 - -----------------
DataBand1 - Sales person 3
GroupFooterBand1 - Country
As you can see, the last child band (after sales person 3) is not visible. I used the following condition (with "Component is enabled" unchecked) in the ChildBand1 to make it invisible:
{Line} == {Count(GroupHeaderBand1)}
While {Line} and {Count(GroupHeaderBand1)} worked correctly when displayed as fields in the ChildBand1, I always get an error when using this syntax in a condition. I read in another post that {Count(GroupHeaderBand1)} should be written as Totals.Count(GroupHeaderBand1) when used in a condition. Why? What would be the syntax of {Line} in a condition?

Please send us a sample report with wich reproduses the issue.

c. From the report designer in preview mode, when there are errors, the source code viewer shown from the magnifier icon does not last long enough before desapearing and quite often, the source code is not visible when the surrounding lines are longer then the one in error;

We are working on the problem. We will let you know when the solution is available.

d. It would be nice to have a report modification visual cue in the designer title bar (the is an * in VS2010 to show the file has been modified);

Unfortunately, we do not have plans to develop this feature.

e. Adding a new variable from the designer makes the application crash in Windows 7;

The issue is fixed. Please check the build from 23-02-2011

Thank you.

[Pierre Boucher]

Hi again,

We are still evaluating your WPF report designer/engine and we ran into some problems while creating an invoice report that we would need to produce for some of our customers. Most of those customers are garage mechanics that needs to print invoices that contain two types of details, one for services and one for parts.

I sent to support@stimulsoft.com an email with InvoiceDemo in the subject and a zip file that contains the report, xml schema and data in order to reproduce the problem.

In this project, I used a Databand for the invoice header in which I added two Panels and their own Databands for the two details. The invoice header with its fields needs to be repeated on every pages and the first invoice has enough details to fill more than one page to demonstrate the problem.

Here is a list of some of the problems I encountered:

1. The first page is blank (it does not happens when Panels are not used, but they are required in order to have both details side by side);

2. The header Databand is not repeating on the second page ("Print on All Pages" is checked) when an invoice needs more than one page;

Using subreports in Panels did not solved the issues.

Other issues not related to this specific report but related to the WPF designer:

3. When changing a property that contains text or number, I need to click in the property name in order to commit the property value (ex: changing the name of a band (Databand or other)). Changing the value and moving the focus elsewhere causes the change to be lost. Changing a CheckBox property located at the bottom of the property list causes the property list to scroll up while not committing the property change;

4. When assigning a Datasource to a Databand and trying to set a filter in the same process (without closing the "Design..." dialog), the Datasource is not available when trying to select a field from the "Column" drop down list (we need to close the dialog and open it again in order to complete the filter creation);

5. It is not clear when to use expressions surrounded by {} or not. It's always a trial and error process
(ex: In a data field value that needs a special formatting, the syntax {String.Format("{0:yyyy/MM/dd}", InvoiHdr.InvoiDate)} needs to be used.
In a filter expression, the syntax (this.InvoiHdr.InvoiId == "250" || this.InvoiHdr.InvoiId == "251") needs to be used.)

We were able to solve most of our previous problems so our tests are going fine.

Thanks and have a nice day!

[Alex K.]

Hello Pierre Boucher,

1. The first page is blank (it does not happens when Panels are not used,
but they are required in order to have both details side by side);

Please set the "Can Break" property of the DataBand and Panel components to true.

2. The header Databand is not repeating on the second page ("Print on All
Pages" is checked) when an invoice needs more than one page;
Using subreports in Panels did not solved the issues.
Other issues not related to this specific report but related to the WPF
designer:

For this task you can use Header component with "Print On All Pages" properties.
Please see modified report in attachment.

3. When changing a property that contains text or number, I need to click in
the property name in order to commit the property value (ex: changing the
name of a band (Databand or other)). Changing the value and moving the focus
elsewhere causes the change to be lost. Changing a CheckBox property located
at the bottom of the property list causes the property list to scroll up
while not committing the property change;

We couldn't reproduce this bug. Could you explain your issue in more details?
Also, please, check the latest prerelease build.

4. When assigning a Datasource to a Databand and trying to set a filter in
the same process (without closing the "Design..." dialog), the Datasource is
not available when trying to select a field from the "Column" drop down list
(we need to close the dialog and open it again in order to complete the
filter creation);

Unfortunately, on the current moment that works "as is". For first time this dialog does not see datasources.

5. It is not clear when to use expressions surrounded by {} or not. It's
always a trial and error process
(ex: In a data field value that needs a special formatting, the syntax
{String.Format("{0:yyyy/MM/dd}", InvoiHdr.InvoiDate)} needs to be used.
In a filter expression, the syntax (this.InvoiHdr.InvoiId == "250" ||
this.InvoiHdr.InvoiId == "251") needs to be used.)

Yes, that this should work so. In text expression you need use }. In conditions, in filters does not using.

Thank you.