Reporting with a Console Application.

8547ch07final.qxd 8/30/07 3:49 PM CHAPTER Page 253 Reporting with a Console Application S o far, we’ve covered various clients with visual interface capacities to host our reporting projects Now, if I ask you to host a report with a client with no GUI interface, how would you respond? Naturally, you might be thinking that preview mode is ideal for the report delivery, and you’re right However, in the real world, there are many cases where we have to automatically produce reports without any human intervention (like clicking a print button or exporting to Excel) This chapter will start with explaining how to build a console application You’ll see how to automate report delivery with console applications without a GUI After that, we’ll work on real-world practical reporting projects In this chapter, I’ll cover • “Console Applications 101,” a step-by-step tutorial for using console applications • Producing a report in Excel format on a local drive • Producing a report in PDF format and delivering it using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) • Scheduling the delivery of a report Console Applications 101 Let’s begin with the question, “What is a console application?” Well, the answer is simple: an application that doesn’t have any GUI elements and runs at a DOS or command prompt You have probably interacted with console applications in some way or other You might be wondering why we need console applications, in these days of modern GUI interfaces Well, wait until you practice the reporting projects in this chapter; you’ll see how much power is packed in this client It’s no wonder that VS 2005 and the forthcoming VS 2008 application have this project type available Console applications are built to a variety of batch processing jobs like archiving old database logs or backing up data drives’ content to a secure location We’re going to focus on a console application’s ability to host reports and deliver them to various targets, like a file server and an FTP folder Console applications can start from a command prompt by typing the program’s name or by using the Run dialog box Another common way to start a console application is to browse 253 8547ch07final.qxd 254 8/30/07 3:49 PM Page 254 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION for it in Windows Explorer and double-click it Most of the time, a console application doesn’t need any user input, but if necessary, users can pass in data using text-based input We can use the Windows Task Scheduler to run a console application at certain predefined intervals This technique is commonly used to automate the delivery of reports on the client-side of reporting services Creating a Console Application Project Open Visual Studio, and use the following steps to create a console application project; see Figure 7-1 for a graphical presentation of these steps: Click File ➤ New ➤ Project, or press the hot key Ctrl+Shift+N In the “Project types” pane of the New Project dialog box, select Visual C# ➤ Windows In the Templates pane, select Console Application Let’s give a name to the application; I’ve called the project RSConsole101 You may choose a different location for storing the application files according to your preference Click the OK button to finish the process; Visual Studio will create a new console application project Figure 7-2 shows the produced code and files inside Solution Explorer Figure 7-1 Steps to create a new console application project 8547ch07final.qxd 8/30/07 3:49 PM Page 255 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION Figure 7-2 The newly created console application Should we add the ReportViewer to the project now? Well, as you know, the ReportViewer is a GUI component, and this console application has no GUI, so we will not use the ReportViewer control here Instead, we’ll use a different approach to produce the reports with the console application client How about the dataset? Yes, the console application does need the dataset like any other client, to act as the data provider for reports User Interaction with a Console Application Typically, a console application has little user interaction When I say user interaction, I mean providing user input in run-time mode or overseeing the progress of the report Most console applications run in a batch and produce application logs, which are examined in the case of a failure or to confirm success Let’s say you want to create a console application that tells you about the progress of the application process and looks for input at the same time We can use the following four methods to just that: • Read(): Returns the integer value of a character supplied through standard input • ReadLine(): Returns all the characters supplied through standard input as a string • Write(): Writes the provided expression as standard output to the console window • WriteLine(): Same as Write() but the expression is terminated by a new line 255 8547ch07final.qxd 256 8/30/07 3:49 PM Page 256 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION ■Note The Console class is part of the System Namespace and is responsible for handling standard input and output streams There is more to learn about console applications; I’m only touching base on functions that are important for you to know to produce reports Let’s add some input/output instruction and see how it looks in run-time mode To start, please make sure the code inside Program.cs looks like the following: using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Text; namespace RSConsole101 { class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { Console.Title = "Console Application 101"; Console.Write("Please enter some text followed by Enter: "); String strInput = Console.ReadLine(); Console.WriteLine("You entered: " + strInput); Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit!"); Console.Read(); } } } Building the Project The code used in this tutorial is simple: The user will enter some text, and that entered text will be output to the user The program ends after the user presses any key on the keyboard If you don’t include the last line, Console.Read();, the program will automatically close as soon as the user enters the text That’s it This is what you’ll need to get your console application ready to produce clientside reports Now, let’s build the project You can click the small, green Play button in the main toolbox or press F5 on the keyboard to start the application in run-time mode If all goes well, your project should compile without any issues, and you should be able to see the console application in the command window, which should look somewhat similar to Figure 7-3 8547ch07final.qxd 8/30/07 3:49 PM Page 257 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION Figure 7-3 The console application in run-time mode Customer E-mail List by Country Report Assume you’re working for Home Decorations, Incorporated as a developer with the task of creating a report that must list all the e-mail addresses of the customers by the customer’s country of origin The report should have all the characteristics described in Table 7-1 Table 7-1 Report Characteristics Characteristics Value Report title Customer E-mail List by Country Report (Header, aligned center) Company title Home Decorations Inc (Header, aligned center) Logo No Print date Yes (Header, aligned center) Data source tblCustomerEmail Columns to report CustomerID, FirstName, LastName, EmailAddress, CountryRegionName Page size Letter Page orientation Portrait Page number Page: n/n (Header, aligned Left) Grouping CountryRegionName Page footer No Output format Excel The Customer E-mail List by Country report output in Excel format should look similar to Figure 7-4 257 8547ch07final.qxd 258 8/30/07 3:49 PM Page 258 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION Figure 7-4 The Customer E-mail List by Country report Business Case We know how important the customer is to a business; naturally, lots of business transactions are related to the customers It is common practice in the real world to produce various special reports to help workers to deal better with the customer base The Customer E-mail List by Country report is one such special report, and it is commonly used by marketing department folks to communicate breaking news, such as the newest production line, through e-mail Since the output is produced in Excel, the information is easily shared and accessible by other departments too Getting the Host Client Ready I showed you how to create a console application client earlier in this chapter; now it’s your turn to practice getting the client ready You may make use of the solution RSConsole101 as a template for this project or create the client from scratch It is good idea to create the new application from scratch; you can always refer to steps mentioned in the tutorial if you get stuck Please use the following steps to create a console application project; refer to Figure 7-1 for an illustration of the steps: Click File ➤ New ➤ Project, or press the hot key Ctrl+Shift+N In the “Project types” pane of the New Project dialog box, select Visual C# ➤ Windows 8547ch07final.qxd 8/30/07 3:49 PM Page 259 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION In the Templates pane, select Console Application Give a name to the application; I’ve called the project CustomerEmail You may choose a different location for storing the application files according to your preference Click the OK button to finish the process; Visual Studio will create a new console application project with name CustomerEmail You might be wondering about the dataset Well, let’s take care of that now Please add a new dataset to the project, and name it dsCustomerEmail (You may always revisit Chapter for detailed instructions for adding the dataset) Before continuing, please make sure your solution looks similar to the one shown in Figure 7-5 Figure 7-5 The console application viewed in Solution Explorer Step 1: Creating a Data Table As we in each reporting project, let’s arrange to gather and store data before supplying it to the reporting engine As you know, the last step we did to get the host client ready was adding the dataset; now, its time to add a data table to it We need five columns in the data table as identified in the report characteristics Table 7-1 Please use the following steps to add the data table inside the dataset: You can go to the dataset designer in two ways: double-click dsCustomerEmail inside Solution Explorer, or right-click the dsCustomerEmail node and select View Designer Add a data table by right-clicking the design surface and selecting Add ➤ DataTable Click the header of the newly created data table, and name it dtCustomerList Start adding the columns to dtCustomerList by right-clicking the data table, and selecting Add ➤ Column 259 8547ch07final.qxd 260 8/30/07 3:49 PM Page 260 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION Please add the following columns into the data table: your data table should look like Figure 7-6: • CustomerID (System.String) • FirstName (System.String) • LastName (System.String) • EmailAddress (System.String) • CountryRegionName (System.String) Figure 7-6 Final look of data table dtCustomerList ■Note If you face any issues with adding the dataset or data table, please refer to Chapter Step 2: Designing the Report Layout Al lright, we have our dataset in place with the data table and all the necessary columns We’re all set to start designing the report layout Add the report by selecting the project in Solution Explorer, right-clicking it, and selecting Add ➤ New Item Then, select Report from the Add New Item template, and name the report rptCustomerEmail.rdlc Click the Add button to complete the process Once you click the Add button, a new report is added to the project and opened in the Report Designer You’ll also notice that a new toolbox called Data Sources is available; it has our dataset’s information inside ■Note You can always go to the Data Sources toolbox by pressing the hot key Shift+Alt+D Adding a Header I’m sure that you know by this time that when we add a new report, the body section is automatically created, but we need to add the header to the report (remember, we don’t need a footer in this report) As usual adding the header is simple; all you’ve got to is right-click the open area inside the report designer and select Page Header After completing the action your report 8547ch07final.qxd 8/30/07 3:49 PM Page 261 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION design surface should look similar to Figure 7-7; you may also notice that I’ve resized the Page Header and Body bands Figure 7-7 The report designer with Page Header and Body sections Setting Up the Page Let’s set up the page so that the report is letter-sized and has a portrait page orientation Right-click an open area on the design surface, and select Properties You may wish to put your name as Author and add information about the report to the Description field I’d advise you to let all other choices stay at defaults ■Note Please make sure to set the properties Page Width to 8.5 inches and Page Height to 11 inches for a letter-sized, portrait report Designing a Page Header Now, we have the header and body sections added to our report As we always, let’s work on the header first Please drag and drop the following report items inside the header section: • A text box item for the report title • A text box item for the company name • A text box item for the print date • A text box item for the page number 261 8547ch07final.qxd 262 8/30/07 3:49 PM Page 262 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION When you drag and drop, have you thought about the ideal location to drop the report items on the designer surface? Well, I’d say go with your own flow I typically just drop them on the top-right corner of the design surface and later move them according to the report design Make sure to align all text boxes to center except the text box that will hold page numbers After adding the report items to the design surface, you’ll see that the header section is ready with the look and feel It is important to check with the requirements often to help you reduce the number of design errors Let’s change the properties of the report items to make them work By this time, you know that, as you drop report items onto the design surface, they assume default names like TextBox1 or TextBox5 It is good to give them some meaningful names, so later, it’ll be easy to make a reference to them Report item properties are changed in one of these two ways: select the report item, rightclick it, and select Properties or access the general properties toolbox Let’s start changing properties; after selecting each text box, please specify the values according to Table 7-2 Table 7-2 Report Item Properties for the Header Report Item Property Value Name txtReportTitle Value Customer E-mail List by Country Report Name txtCompanyTitle Value Home Decorations Inc Name txtPrintDate Value ="Print Date: " & Today Name txtPageNumber Value ="Page: " & Globals!PageNumber & "/" & Globals!TotalPages Color DarkBlue Name lineHeader LineWidth 1pt textbox1 textbox2 textbox3 textbox4 line1 After you’re finished with the header section, your report design surface should look something similar to the one shown in Figure 7-8 8547ch07final.qxd 270 8/30/07 3:49 PM Page 270 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION If the program complies without any errors, Visual Studio will generate CustomerEmail.exe based on your build choice (debug or release) See Figure 7-13 for the location of the generated console application executable Figure 7-13 The location of CustomerEmail.exe on the local drive You can double-click the CustomerEmail.exe file to generate the report and examine the output using Excel If all goes well, the generated Excel file, output.xls, should have content similar to Figure 7-13 ■Note The code used to produce the PDF file, by default, will store the file inside the BIN build folder If you wish the output to appear in the root of the C drive, change the code as follows: FileStream fs = new FileStream(@"c:\output.pdf", FileMode.Create) Daily Vendor Purchase Order Summary Report Assume that you’re working for MyFirm Dairy Products, Incorporated as a developer, and the purchasing department is seeking a better way to communicate with all vendors, who want a daily summary report of all purchase orders (POs) issued to purchasing department To serve the vendors’ needs, you’ll produce a Daily Vendor PO Summary report The report is to be delivered to the vendor FTP site by p.m each day All characteristics described in Table 7-4 should be met, and report output in PDF format should match Figure 7-14 Table 7-4 Report Characteristics Characteristics Value Report title Daily Vendor PO Summary Report (Header, align left) Company title MyFirm Diary Products Inc (Header, align right) Vendor title Vendor : Value passed using Parameter Print date Yes (Header, align left) 8547ch07final.qxd 8/30/07 3:49 PM Page 271 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION Characteristics Value Data source tblVendorPO Columns to report PurchaseOrderID, OrderDate, SubTotal, TaxAmt, TotalDue, OrderPlaceByName Page size Letter Page orientation Portrait Page number Page: n/n (Footer, align left) Output format PDF Figure 7-14 Output of the Daily Vendor PO Summary report Business Case Every business has customers and vendors MyFirm buys raw material from the vendors and sells the finished dairy products to customers It is important for the firm to be on the top of the purchasing activities to make sure manufacturing folks are not short on supplies of raw materials Sending a daily summary of purchase orders to vendors is a key part of the communication strategy This summary information can give a head start to the vendors in preparing and completing the purchase orders in a timely manner Automatically delivering the report to the vendor FTP site saves the purchasing department a lot of the manual effort to produce the report PDF is an ideal document format, as it’s widely used in all business environments for exchanging information So, what is an FTP site? 271 8547ch07final.qxd 272 8/30/07 3:49 PM Page 272 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION FTP is an abbreviation for File Transfer Protocol As the name suggests, FTP is used to transfer files It is common practice among business partners to share information over an FTP site Getting the Host Client Ready Please use the following steps to create a console application project; see Figure 7-1 for an illustration of these steps: Click File ➤ New ➤ Project, or press the hot keys Ctrl+Shift+N In the “Project types” pane of the New Project dialog box, select Visual C# ➤ Windows In the Templates pane, select Console Application Give a name to the application; I’ve called the project VendorPO You may choose a different location for storing the application files according to your preference Click the OK button to finish the process; Visual Studio will create a new console application project with the name VendorPO Add the dsVendorPO dataset to the project Add the Microsoft.ReportViewer.WinForms reference to the project (see Figure 7-11) Before going further, please make your solution looks something like Figure 7-5 Please refer to either the “Console Applications 101” tutorial or the CustomerEmail projects earlier in this chapter if you need further details about how to add controls Figure 7-15 The console application viewed in Solution Explorer ... Most console applications run in a batch and produce application logs, which are examined in the case of a failure or to confirm success Let’s say you want to create a console application that... Page 259 CHAPTER ■ REPORTING WITH A CONSOLE APPLICATION In the Templates pane, select Console Application Give a name to the application; I’ve called the project CustomerEmail You may choose a. .. textbox3 Value Last Name textbox10 Value E-mail Address CustomerID Value =Fields!CustomerID.Value FirstName Value =Fields!FirstName.Value LastName Value =Fields!LastName.Value EmailAddress Value =Fields!EmailAddress.Value