RDLC Reports in MVC Web application

Step by Step adding an RDLC report to MVC4 project

For any large project, reports will be needed. I love RDLC so I’m sticking with them. I had some problems in the beginning but with some search here and there and some testing it start working. So I will describe it from the beginning.

Requirements:

·         In my new MVC I need to have a number of RDLC reports

·         I need the reports to read from objects, direct entities or report objects (for large reports I prefer to something like a Report View Model, in the end a report is view for data)

·         A report my require one or more data sets

·         Some of the reports will need parameters that the user will select from the MVC pages

·         I want to export the report by  PDF, but having word and Excel would be an advantage

·         Some report standardization point that is needed:

o   Required reports have a description title

o   Required have right and left main and sub headers

o   Required to have the user name printing the report in the footer

o   Required to have the printing date on the footer

o   Required to have number of page and total pages in the footer

o   All the reports are A4 stander reports ready for printing.

o   Reports will be multi language (currently English and Arabic)

o   Reports may contain charts and bars

o   Reports need to be secure

·         The system contains an alert module and some of the requirement needs the PDF document to be attached to the email.

So lets start clean and from the beginning.

Lunching Visual Studio, selecting new project

Selecting MVC4, intrenet application (all template will work too)

Adding a new project with the name: ASPNET_MVC_RDLC

I will start putting it all in one project; it’s the same if you have business and data access layers that are in separate projects too, only to make it short im putting it all together and skipping testing too.

 So let’s start by adding the report view model that will handle the report parameters, headers and data sets

   1:  using System;

   2:  using System.Collections.Generic;

   3:  using System.Linq;

   4:  using System.Web;

   5:  using Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms;

   6:  using System.Web;

   7:  using System.Web.Mvc;

   8:   

   9:  namespace ASPNET_MVC_RDLC.Models

  10:  {

  11:      public class ReportViewModel

  12:      {

  13:          public enum ReportFormat         { PDF=1,Word=2,Excel=3}

  14:          public ReportViewModel()

  15:          {

  16:              //initation for the data set holder

  17:              ReportDataSets = new List<ReportDataSet>();

  18:          }

  19:   

  20:          //Name of the report

  21:          public string Name { get; set; }

  22:   

  23:          //Language of the report

  24:          public string ReportLanguage { get; set; }

  25:   

  26:          //Reference to the RDLC file that contain the report definition

  27:          public string FileName { get; set; }

  28:   

  29:          //The main title for the reprt

  30:          public string ReportTitle { get; set; }

  31:   

  32:          //The right and left titles and sub title for the report

  33:          public string RightMainTitle { get; set; }

  34:          public string RightSubTitle { get; set; }

  35:          public string LeftMainTitle { get; set; }

  36:          public string LeftSubTitle { get; set; }

  37:   

  38:          //the url for the logo, 

  39:          public string ReportLogo { get; set; }

  40:   

  41:          //date for printing the report

  42:          public DateTime ReportDate { get; set; }

  43:   

  44:          //the user name that is printing the report

  45:          public string UserNamPrinting { get; set; }

  46:   

  47:          //dataset holder

  48:          public List<ReportDataSet> ReportDataSets { get; set; }

  49:     

  50:          //report format needed

  51:          public ReportFormat Format { get; set; }

  52:          public bool ViewAsAttachment { get; set; }

  53:   

  54:           //an helper class to store the data for each report data set

  55:          public class ReportDataSet

  56:          {

  57:              public string DatasetName { get; set; }

  58:              public List<object> DataSetData { get; set; }

  59:          }

  60:   

  61:          public string ReporExportFileName { get {

  62:              return string.Format("attachment; filename={0}.{1}", this.ReportTitle, ReporExportExtention);

  63:          } }

  64:          public string ReporExportExtention

  65:          {

  66:              get

  67:              {

  68:                  switch (this.Format)

  69:                  {

  70:                      case ReportViewModel.ReportFormat.Word: return  ".doc"; 

  71:                      case ReportViewModel.ReportFormat.Excel: return ".xls"; 

  72:                      default:

  73:                          return ".pdf";

  74:                  }

  75:              }

  76:          }

  77:   

  78:          public string LastmimeType

  79:          {

  80:              get

  81:              {

  82:                  return mimeType;

  83:              }

  84:          }

  85:          private string mimeType;

  86:          public byte[] RenderReport()

  87:          {

  88:              //geting repot data from the business object

  89:   

  90:              //creating a new report and setting its path

  91:              LocalReport localReport = new LocalReport();

  92:              localReport.ReportPath =System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath(this.FileName);

  93:   

  94:              //adding the reort datasets with there names

  95:              foreach (var dataset in this.ReportDataSets)

  96:              {

  97:                  ReportDataSource reportDataSource = new ReportDataSource(dataset.DatasetName, dataset.DataSetData);

  98:                  localReport.DataSources.Add(reportDataSource);

  99:              }

 100:              //enabeling external images

 101:              localReport.EnableExternalImages = true;

 102:   

 103:              //seting the partameters for the report

 104:              localReport.SetParameters(new ReportParameter("RightMainTitle", this.RightMainTitle));

 105:              localReport.SetParameters(new ReportParameter("RightSubTitle", this.RightSubTitle));

 106:              localReport.SetParameters(new ReportParameter("LeftMainTitle", this.LeftMainTitle));

 107:              localReport.SetParameters(new ReportParameter("LeftSubTitle", this.LeftSubTitle));

 108:              localReport.SetParameters(new ReportParameter("ReportTitle", this.ReportTitle));

 109:              localReport.SetParameters(new ReportParameter("ReportLogo", System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath(this.ReportLogo)));

 110:              localReport.SetParameters(new ReportParameter("ReportDate", this.ReportDate.ToShortDateString()));

 111:              localReport.SetParameters(new ReportParameter("UserNamPrinting", this.UserNamPrinting));

 112:   

 113:              //preparing to render the report

 114:   

 115:              string reportType = this.Format.ToString();

 116:             

 117:              string encoding;

 118:              string fileNameExtension;

 119:   

 120:              //The DeviceInfo settings should be changed based on the reportType

 121:              //http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms155397.aspx

 122:              string deviceInfo =

 123:              "<DeviceInfo>" +

 124:              "  <OutputFormat>" + this.Format.ToString() + "</OutputFormat>" +

 125:              "</DeviceInfo>";

 126:   

 127:              Warning[] warnings;

 128:              string[] streams;

 129:              byte[] renderedBytes;

 130:   

 131:              //Render the report

 132:              renderedBytes = localReport.Render(

 133:                  reportType,

 134:                  deviceInfo,

 135:                  out mimeType,

 136:                  out encoding,

 137:                  out fileNameExtension,

 138:                  out streams,

 139:                  out warnings);

 140:   

 141:              return renderedBytes;

 142:          }

 143:      }

 144:      

 145:  }

lets add a new report called MyMVCReport.rdlc as below:

we will need to add some stub methods to set the report data sources

Set the data source for the report using the stub methods

   1:  using System;

   2:  using System.Collections.Generic;

   3:  using System.Linq;

   4:  using System.Web;

   5:   

   6:  namespace ASPNET_MVC_RDLC.Models

   7:  {

   8:      public class Business

   9:      {

  10:          public List<Employee> StubForEmployeeDataSet()

  11:          {

  12:              //this is used only to help in adding the dataset of type employee to the report definition

  13:              return null;

  14:          }

  15:          public List<Project> StubForProjectDataSet()

  16:          {

  17:              //this is used only to help in adding the dataset of type project to the report definition

  18:              return null;

  19:          }

Note: in production code, I don't recommend putting this in the business layer, any report stub class will be better.

Set the data source for the report using the stub methods

so we have a problem here when selecting add data set from the report menu, the data source drop down list is empty, and when you click new it open a connection to the database.

So after some search I found a solution from stackoverflow, simply add a web form page to the MVC project and it will start working, I didn't have time to check why is this, but it works.

lets add another one.

lets set the design and layout of the report

the above is only for testing.

coming near the last steps , we need to add a reference to the Microsoft web form reports assembly

now lets add the controller that will produce the report.

   1:  using System;

   2:  using System.Collections.Generic;

   3:  using System.Linq;

   4:  using System.Web;

   5:  using System.Web.Mvc;

   6:  using ASPNET_MVC_RDLC.Models;

   7:   

   8:  namespace ASPNET_MVC_RDLC.Controllers

   9:  {

  10:      public class ReportController : Controller

  11:      {

  12:          public ActionResult PrintRepert()

  13:          {

  14:              //geting repot data from the business object

  15:              var Business = new Business();

  16:              var reportViewModel = Business.GetMyRepoertViewModel();

  17:   

  18:              var renderedBytes = reportViewModel.RenderReport();

  19:   

  20:              if(reportViewModel.ViewAsAttachment)

  21:                  Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", reportViewModel.ReporExportFileName);

  22:              return File(renderedBytes, reportViewModel.LastmimeType);

  23:   

  24:          }

  25:   

  26:      }

  27:  }

Add a link to the page to open the report wherever is needed.

@{

    ViewBag.Title = "Home Page";

}

@section featured {

    <section class="featured">

        <div class="content-wrapper">

            <hgroup class="title">

                <h1>@ViewBag.Title.h1>

                <h2>@ViewBag.Messageh2>

            hgroup>

          

        div>

    section>

}

<h3>We suggest the following:h3>

<ol class="round">

    <li class="one">

        <h5>Print an RDLC report in MVCh5>

          @Html.ActionLink("Print Report", "PrintRepert","Report")

    li>

 

ol>

ok lets run and see.

And its working, there still more work to be done as checking the other formats, the email attachment, 

adding some security, the Multilanguage, and uploading this example and linking it here.

I would love to here some comments.

Update: for the business class, it really must come from your original entities. so for this sample this is the one im using

   1:   

   2:  namespace ASPNET_MVC_RDLC.Models

   3:  {

   4:      public class Business

   5:      {

   6:          public List<Employee> StubForEmployeeDataSet()

   7:          {

   8:              //this is used only to help in adding the dataset of type employee to the report definition

   9:              return null;

  10:          }

  11:          public List<Project> StubForProjectDataSet()

  12:          {

  13:              //this is used only to help in adding the dataset of type project to the report definition

  14:              return null;

  15:          }

  16:          //somew

  17:          public ReportViewModel GetMyRepoertViewModel()

  18:          { 

  19:          // I will not go through getting data from ef, i will assume some test data here

  20:   

  21:            //first dataset, employee info

  22:              var EmplyeeDataSet =new List<object>() {

  23:                      new Employee() { Name="Ahmed Khaled", Mobile = "055111111", Email="Ahmed.Khaled@Somewhere.com", BirthDate=new DateTime(1970,10,10)},

  24:                      new Employee() { Name="Jamal Awsom" , Mobile = "055222222", Email="Jamal.Awsom@Somewhere.com", BirthDate=new DateTime(1977,1,10)},

  25:                      new Employee() { Name="James Salem" , Mobile = "055333333", Email="James.Salem@Somewhere.com", BirthDate=new DateTime(1982,12,10)},

  26:                      new Employee() { Name="Tony Read"   , Mobile = "055444444", Email="Tony.Read@Somewhere.com", BirthDate=new DateTime(1982,4,10)}

  27:        

  28:          };

  29:          var ProjectDataSet =new List<object>() ;

  30:              for (int i=1;i<30;i++)

  31:              {

  32:                  EmplyeeDataSet.Add(new Employee() { Name = "James Salem", Mobile = "055333333", 

  33:                      Email = "James.Salem@Somewhere.com", BirthDate = new DateTime(1982, 12, 10) });

  34:              }

  35:              

  36:              //Assuming the person printing the report is me

  37:              var UserPrinting="Ali Taki";

  38:   

  39:              var reportViewModel = new ReportViewModel()

  40:              {

  41:                  FileName = "~/Reprots/MyMVCReport2.rdlc",

  42:                  LeftMainTitle = "ABC Company Name",

  43:                  LeftSubTitle = "DEF Department Name",

  44:                  RightMainTitle = "اسم الشركة",

  45:                  RightSubTitle = "اسم القسم",

  46:                  Name = "Statistical Report",

  47:                  ReportDate = DateTime.Now,

  48:                  ReportLogo = "~/Content/logo.jpg",

  49:                  ReportTitle = "Summary report for top employee's and projects",

  50:                  ReportLanguage = "en-US",

  51:                  UserNamPrinting = UserPrinting,

  52:                  Format=ReportViewModel.ReportFormat.PDF,

  53:                  ViewAsAttachment=false,

  54:   

  55:              };

  56:              //adding the dataset information to the report view model object

  57:              reportViewModel.ReportDataSets.Add(new ReportViewModel.ReportDataSet() { DataSetData = EmplyeeDataSet.ToList(), DatasetName = "Employees" });

  58:              reportViewModel.ReportDataSets.Add(new ReportViewModel.ReportDataSet() { DataSetData = ProjectDataSet.ToList(), DatasetName = "Projects" });

  59:   

  60:   

  61:              return reportViewModel;

  62:          

  63:          }

  64:      }

  65:  }