Microsoft Solution Brief on ActiveReports

Microsoft today published a Visual Studio Partner Solution Brief on the ActiveReports Reporting and Business Intelligence (BI) Suite by GrapeCity that will be available on Microsoft and GrapeCity-Data Dynamics web sites.

It features customer quotes, a historical perspective on .NET reporting and business intelligence (BI) challenges, and how ActiveReports and related tools from GrapeCity have helped customers solve the problems by tightly integrating with Microsoft Visual Studio for the .NET development plaftform.

Download the PDF version of the Solution Brief.

Win a Trip to Microsoft PDC!

INETA is sponsoring the INETA Component Code Challenge, with the winner receiving a scholarship to Microsoft PDC 2009 in Los Angeles, CA. All you need to do is build the best application using one of ActiveReports, Data Dynamics Reports or Analysis product and another component.

The Details:

Build a .NET Application (WinForms, ASP.NET, WPF, Silverlight, Compact Framework, etc.) using at least 2 components from at least 2 different approved vendors (yes, GrapeCity is an approved vendor) then make a 3-5 minute Camtasia video showing your entry and describing what components you used and why your application is cool. The INETA judges will review the submissions and the best two will win a scholarship to Microsoft PDC 2009 in Los Angeles, CA, including air fare, hotel, and conference pass.

The submission deadline is 08/25/2009 at Midnight Eastern and the winners will be announced on 09/14/2009.

Entries will be judged on four criteria:

1. Effective use of a component to solve a problem/display data
2. Innovative use of components
3. Impact using components (i.e. reduction in lines of code written, increased productivity, etc.)
4. Most creative use of a component

See the contest page on the INETA web site for more details and full rules.

That’s it. So what are you waiting for? Show them how you are using ActiveReports or other GrapeCity-Data Dynamics products today and possibly win a free trip to PDC. Good luck!

Jeremy Yoder's team totally depends on ActiveReports programmability

“Why do we use ActiveReports? In a word: Flexibility. There is simply no other reporting product on the market that allows so many elements to be altered programmatically. This enables us to make an end-user product that relies almost entirely on GUI interfaces, which we programmatically translate into fast running reports, whether it’s via customized control properties, our own report wizards, or dynamically created subreports, all of which are done by our users with a few mouse clicks.”

He further describes the "slick" development features in their reporting module built using ActiveReports that he is especially proud of:

1. Report Wizards
2. Dynamically created underlying queries (via a stored proc)
3. Control wrappers for use in the property grid (which uses the Tag field for customized properties)
4. Ability to create formulas that can be reused in different reports
5. Generate other labels and summary fields when user places fields on the designer
6. GUI interface for almost everything, including subreports with multiple links
7. Ability to filter each report “on the fly” before it’s run via pre-created filters and/or individual field selection
8. Generate crosstab reports after the user specifies the X, Y, and D fields, and possibly other fields on the designer
9. Customized toolbars: For placing report controls, editing control properties, and a treeview list of views/fields with multiple tabs based on field type
10. The user never writes scripts, but he does it programmatically for various features, such as tying to subreport, make numeric fields red if less than zero, etc.
11. User defined font defaults to apply by section as fields are placed on the designer or generated
12. Export/Import reports in their entirety with all relevant subtables into a single XML file
13. Ability to run reports in a “Void” format to show the report layout without exposing potentially sensitive data


Jeremy Yoder,
Software developer,
Software Unlimited, Inc.

ActiveReports 6 Beta Launch!

We are happy to announce that ActiveReports 6 beta is now available for download on the GrapeCity-Data Dynamics web site.

The Standard Edition of this premier .NET reporting tool features new Report Designer enhancements that make it even easier to design reports. New Designer features include Cross-section Controls, Snap Lines, In-line Text Editing, support for repetition patterns, image annotations, and a number of Text and Label enhancements.

It also features new Bar Code Control support for Reduced Space Symbology (RSS) Bar Codes and External Stylesheets for sharing look and feel between reports.

The Professional Edition gets even more powerful and easy to use for end users with:

1. A First-time Flash based Report Viewer
(Click on the image to see full screenshot)



2. Advanced PDF reporting features such as support for Adobe's Digital Signatures and version timestamps
(Click on the image to see full screenshot)



3. Redistributable End User Report Designer help for End Users

4. Nifty toolstrip controls for the End User Report Designer.

Learn more on the Download Page.

GrapeCity-Data Dynamics in Europe

New UK Office to Allow Easier Access to Data Dynamics Products and Solutions

KIRKLAND, Wash.--(BusinessWire)--Data Dynamics, now part of GrapeCity, the world’s largest component developer, today announced the opening of West Sussex, England offices to best serve developers and IT professionals in Europe. While Data Dynamics has been selling globally for years, adding offices and staff in England reflect GrapeCity’s commitment to excellence in customer service and support and delivering the highest quality developer tools and components across Europe.

Commenting on the new announcements, Naoyuki Baba, GrapeCity President, said, “This is an important step forward as we try to get closer to our international customers and providing them with even greater value. We are confident that Neil Slater and his team of Europe based professionals will continue GrapeCity’s 25 year old tradition of excellent customer service and commitment.”

About the Products

ActiveReports is the award-winning .NET reporting tool used by Microsoft Visual Studio.NET developers for over a decade. It has over 50,000 registered users worldwide, and its user base is steadily growing.

Data Dynamics Reports is a new business reporting tool for .NET that allows developers to embed dashboards, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Microsoft Excel transformations, and new user tools for business reporting in their .NET applications. The product supports and enhances the Microsoft SQL Server Reporting format, helping customers to get more from their investments in Microsoft technologies.

Data Dynamics Analysis was the first free-form data visualization component for Microsoft Visual Studio.NET. It enables .NET developers to embed free-form visual analysis and business intelligence for both structured and unstructured data into their .NET applications.

About GrapeCity
GrapeCity is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, an international award-winning software firm, and the world’s largest component vendor, employing more than 850 worldwide. The company’s corporate headquarters are in Japan, with US headquarters in Kirkland, WA. For over 25 years, the company has provided enterprises around the world with state-of-the-art software tools, solutions, and services to help them turn ideas into marketable products. For more information, visit www.grapecity.com and www.datadynamics.com

Billy McCafferty on MVC with ActiveReports

Billy McCafferty (twitter.com/devlicious) has written a great post on integrating ASP.NET MVC with ActiveReports for .NET.

He writes:

"A long time favorite PDF reporting tool of mine is ActiveReports for .NET. It's relatively painless to integrate into your project, has a great designer tool, and has plenty of power for more advanced reporting needs. When I started becoming an ASP.NET MVC zealot, I was afraid of losing the ability to use this great tool. With a little tinkering, I got it to play nicely within an MVC project and have included the steps below for future reference:"....

Read his full posting.

ActiveReports .NET Reporting and BI Tools Get High Ratings from Customers

Survey Results Highlight Flexibility, Ease of Use, Time Savings

KIRKLAND, Wash. GrapeCity, an international software development firm that recently purchased Data Dynamics, a developer of .NET reporting and business intelligence (BI) tools, today announced the results of a survey it just completed of Data Dynamics customers. The company reports that more than three quarters of survey respondents had highly positive reactions. For example:

1. 75% said the .NET reporting features are above average or well above average in their helpfulness to developers.
2. 77% said the overall quality of the .NET reporting components is above average or well above average.
3. 80% said they are satisfied or highly satisfied with the company and its .NET developer tools.

For more information, read the press release.

ActiveReports, Data Dynamics and GrapeCity win ComponentSource Awards

Earlier this year, ActiveReports, Data Dynamics and GrapeCity won a number of awards from ComponentSource, the world's largest component marketplace for being a best-selling product, and best-selling component developers. Other products such as Data Dynamics Reports also featured among the Top 100 downloads.

The awards won by GrapeCity and Data Dynamics are:

2008 Bestselling Products Awards
ActiveReports for .NET—Ranked #2 in Top 5 Products
ActiveReports COM/ActiveX—Ranked #26 in Top 50 Products
Data Dynamics Reports—Ranked #100 in Top 100 Products

2008 Bestselling Publisher Awards
GrapeCity-Data Dynamics—Ranked #4 in Top 5 Publishers
GrapeCity (Japan)—Ranked #5 in Top 5 Publishers

Read the press release for more information.

ActiveReports is asp.netPRO Award Finalist for 2009

ActiveReports is among the 3 finalists for the 2009 asp.netPRO Readers' Choice Awards in the Reporting Tools category. See update.

Vedrun Hudec, Croatia on ActiveReports .NET reporting

ActiveReports for .NET reporting was a great solution which in that moment was the number One we needed.

Vedrun Hudec,
S/W Developer,
Croatia

ActiveReports has great reporting functionality

ActiveReports has great .NET reporting functionality.

Development Manager,
Croatia

Comparing ActiveReports with Crystal Reports

ActiveReports .NET reporting is easier to integrate with web applications than Crystal Reports.

Software Programmer, USA

ActiveReports is very stable

ActiveReports is very stable and it looks great!

Software Engineer, Switzerland

About ActiveReport's flexibility

I like the flexibility of ActiveReports .NET reporting.

Software Engineer, USA

Larry Harker, Oregon Counties on report events

I like the ability to add code in report events.

Larry Harker,
IT Manager,
Oregon Counties
USA