We are glad to announce the official release of the version 2014.2. This release is a next major improvement of reporting tools, which includes a large number of significant new features and enhancements.
Improved Report Checker
In previous versions, if reports have a compilation errors, the Report Checker could only point to these errors in the report code. Our developers have implemented a special mechanism to fix such errors. Now, the Report Checker knows in what component and in which property or event the error occurs. The Report Checker immediately highlights a problem component in the report page or calls the editor of expressions or events.
Chart Editor
One of the most important changes in the new version was a completely new chart editor in the report designer for ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC (version HTML5).
Its basic feature is the immediate previewing of all changes made during editing. Our developers did their best to structure the chart editor and make it intuitive. The structure contains a component category, drop-down lists, and more, which greatly facilitates and speeds up the process of creating charts.
Sub-Report Editor
In version 2014.2 we have improved the Sub-Report editor.
The content of the sub-report can be placed on a separate page of the main report or in the external report. In earlier versions the user could connect the external report only from the code of a user application. We have done some improvements in this direction. Now, in addition to the previous methods, you can specify an external report as a path or hyperlink to a file. These properties can now be found in a separate editor, which contains the following tabs – Page (where you can select one of the report pages), File (to specify a file on disk), URL (to indicate a hyperlink to the required file) and Parameters (to specify parameters that will be transferred to the sub-report).
New Themes for Web Designer
The new version of the component StiMobileDesigner has now 18 themes. Earlier it had only 3 themes. Each color schema Office2013DarkGray, Office2013LightGray, Office2013White has 6 styles which are Blue, Carmine, Green, Orange, Purple, Teal, Violet.
Beside decoration purposes, the new themes have the practical function. Now the user does not need to adjust the appearance of his website to our report designer or vice versa. It is enough, to choose the theme, which looks similar to the appearance of the web-application.
New Theme in Flash Designer and Viewer
In Flash Designer and Viewer we have added the theme Office 2013. This new bright theme goes well with the design of modern sites. In the release 2014.2 it is installed by default, but you can optionally select a different design theme.
Redesigned Editors of Components
We have redesigned all editors of components. Each of the editors was added at different time and in different versions of our products. As a result, users could found some small inconsistencies in the use of each of them. In the new version, we have tried to adjust them to a common style so that the developer could use the same techniques in working with components.
Less Properties
In order to simplify the use of special components, we have decided to remove some of their properties from the property panel. Now those properties are available in the editors of components. For example, in the DataBand, all the properties, except one – Data Source, of the category Data are removed. The Data Source property calls the editor of the DataBand, which is also available from the context menu or by double-clicking. What we hid in the properties panel has been integrated into the editor of the component. So we redesigned most of the components of the reporting tool. As a result, using the properties of the components has become easier.
Undo/Redo in Flash Designer
In the new version of all our software which uses the built-in Flash Designer we added the function Undo/Redo. This means that all reporting tools from Stimulsoft have now the function, which allows the user do not worry for his actions.
Undo and Redo save the full list of user actions. The developer can immediately go back by the list and undo the last action (or redo it).
This function is realized on the toolbar in the Ribbon interface.
Dependent Variables
In Flash Designer and Viewer we added one function for handling report parameters – dependent variables. In our tools report variables are used as parameters, which may be requested by the user. The report developer indicates in the data dictionary, which variables should be used as report parameters. It also indicates how these parameters are needed to be requested in the report viewer. When the report runs, the parameters are requested in the report viewer and after their completion passed to the reports. The reporting tool uses them in the data sample, filtering, or for displaying in the report.
In the new version, the report developer can link two variables in the report, making one of them dependent on the other. For example, two variables that display two lists are created in the report. The first one is a list of product categories, and the second one is the list of products. Having created the second variable dependent on the first (linking them), you can filter the list of products in the selected product category. That means that in the second list only the products that fit the selected category in the first variable will be displayed. It should be noted that this level of connection of variables can be not only one in the report, and the number of nested levels is also not limited.
Improvements in Exports
We have made the following enhancements and improvements in exports:
- exporting of reports to PowerPoint now supports hyperlinks;
- updated processing of empty RichText components when exporting to MS Word 2007.
It is worth to say about improving the export to PDF. In addition to supporting digital signature we added the property Allow Editable to the form of exports of components StiWebViewer and StiMvcViewer. Also when the property StiOptions.Export and WinFormsHighAccuracyWordWrap is enabled the hyphen is displayed correctly.
Optimization
We have optimized many processes, reduced the rendering time of the report, if the Unlimited Height property is activated.
The speed of rendering the component Cross-Tab was substantially increased on average by 20-30%.
In addition, we have optimized time for drawing charts with a large number of data and significantly speed up the processing of RichText components.
Watermark Editor
The Watermark editor has been substantially rewritten and improved. The editor has now a preview window, where you can see how it will look to create or edit a watermark. Also it is possible not only to change the color of the watermark, but also apply a fill.
By the links below you can see the full list of changes and download the latest version of the products:
Stimulsoft Reports.Ultimate
Stimulsoft Reports.Net
Stimulsoft Reports.Silverlight
Stimulsoft Reports.Web
Stimulsoft Reports.Wpf
Stimulsoft Reports.WinRT
Improved Report Checker
In previous versions, if reports have a compilation errors, the Report Checker could only point to these errors in the report code. Our developers have implemented a special mechanism to fix such errors. Now, the Report Checker knows in what component and in which property or event the error occurs. The Report Checker immediately highlights a problem component in the report page or calls the editor of expressions or events.
Chart Editor
One of the most important changes in the new version was a completely new chart editor in the report designer for ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC (version HTML5).
Its basic feature is the immediate previewing of all changes made during editing. Our developers did their best to structure the chart editor and make it intuitive. The structure contains a component category, drop-down lists, and more, which greatly facilitates and speeds up the process of creating charts.
Sub-Report Editor
In version 2014.2 we have improved the Sub-Report editor.
The content of the sub-report can be placed on a separate page of the main report or in the external report. In earlier versions the user could connect the external report only from the code of a user application. We have done some improvements in this direction. Now, in addition to the previous methods, you can specify an external report as a path or hyperlink to a file. These properties can now be found in a separate editor, which contains the following tabs – Page (where you can select one of the report pages), File (to specify a file on disk), URL (to indicate a hyperlink to the required file) and Parameters (to specify parameters that will be transferred to the sub-report).
New Themes for Web Designer
The new version of the component StiMobileDesigner has now 18 themes. Earlier it had only 3 themes. Each color schema Office2013DarkGray, Office2013LightGray, Office2013White has 6 styles which are Blue, Carmine, Green, Orange, Purple, Teal, Violet.
Beside decoration purposes, the new themes have the practical function. Now the user does not need to adjust the appearance of his website to our report designer or vice versa. It is enough, to choose the theme, which looks similar to the appearance of the web-application.
New Theme in Flash Designer and Viewer
In Flash Designer and Viewer we have added the theme Office 2013. This new bright theme goes well with the design of modern sites. In the release 2014.2 it is installed by default, but you can optionally select a different design theme.
Redesigned Editors of Components
We have redesigned all editors of components. Each of the editors was added at different time and in different versions of our products. As a result, users could found some small inconsistencies in the use of each of them. In the new version, we have tried to adjust them to a common style so that the developer could use the same techniques in working with components.
Less Properties
In order to simplify the use of special components, we have decided to remove some of their properties from the property panel. Now those properties are available in the editors of components. For example, in the DataBand, all the properties, except one – Data Source, of the category Data are removed. The Data Source property calls the editor of the DataBand, which is also available from the context menu or by double-clicking. What we hid in the properties panel has been integrated into the editor of the component. So we redesigned most of the components of the reporting tool. As a result, using the properties of the components has become easier.
Undo/Redo in Flash Designer
In the new version of all our software which uses the built-in Flash Designer we added the function Undo/Redo. This means that all reporting tools from Stimulsoft have now the function, which allows the user do not worry for his actions.
Undo and Redo save the full list of user actions. The developer can immediately go back by the list and undo the last action (or redo it).
This function is realized on the toolbar in the Ribbon interface.
Dependent Variables
In Flash Designer and Viewer we added one function for handling report parameters – dependent variables. In our tools report variables are used as parameters, which may be requested by the user. The report developer indicates in the data dictionary, which variables should be used as report parameters. It also indicates how these parameters are needed to be requested in the report viewer. When the report runs, the parameters are requested in the report viewer and after their completion passed to the reports. The reporting tool uses them in the data sample, filtering, or for displaying in the report.
In the new version, the report developer can link two variables in the report, making one of them dependent on the other. For example, two variables that display two lists are created in the report. The first one is a list of product categories, and the second one is the list of products. Having created the second variable dependent on the first (linking them), you can filter the list of products in the selected product category. That means that in the second list only the products that fit the selected category in the first variable will be displayed. It should be noted that this level of connection of variables can be not only one in the report, and the number of nested levels is also not limited.
Improvements in Exports
We have made the following enhancements and improvements in exports:
- exporting of reports to PowerPoint now supports hyperlinks;
- updated processing of empty RichText components when exporting to MS Word 2007.
It is worth to say about improving the export to PDF. In addition to supporting digital signature we added the property Allow Editable to the form of exports of components StiWebViewer and StiMvcViewer. Also when the property StiOptions.Export and WinFormsHighAccuracyWordWrap is enabled the hyphen is displayed correctly.
Optimization
We have optimized many processes, reduced the rendering time of the report, if the Unlimited Height property is activated.
The speed of rendering the component Cross-Tab was substantially increased on average by 20-30%.
In addition, we have optimized time for drawing charts with a large number of data and significantly speed up the processing of RichText components.
Watermark Editor
The Watermark editor has been substantially rewritten and improved. The editor has now a preview window, where you can see how it will look to create or edit a watermark. Also it is possible not only to change the color of the watermark, but also apply a fill.
By the links below you can see the full list of changes and download the latest version of the products:
Stimulsoft Reports.Ultimate
Stimulsoft Reports.Net
Stimulsoft Reports.Silverlight
Stimulsoft Reports.Web
Stimulsoft Reports.Wpf
Stimulsoft Reports.WinRT