This the first release of Stimulsoft Reports.Ultimate. This product includes everything what was developed by our team for reports generation under .NET Framework. We believe that Stimulsoft Reports.Ultimate will be a good solution for our customers in work with reports.
The Table component
This new component allows increasing speed of report building. It simplifies work with some controls. When using the Table, a user does not work with separate components placed in bands but with the structure of correlated cells. Size change, formatting, data filling – all this can be easily done using the Table component.
Super ToolTips
Super Tooltips provide much more information about controls. Now there is no need for you to guess where this or that control can be used. Detailed tips describe almost each button. Super ToolTips are available both in the designer and in the viewer. We believe this feature will be useful both for advanced users and for novices.
Context Tabs
Some components which are included into our product have very many properties. And it is very difficult to work with them. We have added the Context Tabs to simplify settings of those components. On the current moment Context Tabs are available for the Chart and the Table components. Context tabs available in report designer which used WinForms technology.
Ribbon report viewer
The Ribbon UI in the report designer is used by our customers since the version 2008.2. But now we are glad to announce the Ribbon UI for the report viewer. New viewer is available both as a control and as a Tab in the Ribbon UI of the report designer. New control can be used in WinForms technology.
Find previous function in the report viewer
There was lack of the find previous function in the report viewer for our users. Now this is problem is no longer present. New button available in WinForms and in WPF technology.
Save images in assemblies sources
There was an old problem in our reporting tool when it was impossible to include big images to the report body. Now such images will be automatically placed in the report assemblies sources. To disable this property you need to use the StoreImageInResources property. This property is added to a report and is available in the report designer.
Standalone reports
In previous versions of the reporting tool it was possible to create standalone reports from code. Now this function is available from the Save As command of the report designer menu. Please, notice that standalone reports will work only if Stimulsoft Reports assemblies are installed in GAC.
Cross-source
Very complicated preliminary data processing is possible with the Cross-source. Cross-source is a cross table but the results of rendering are not shown in a report but used with other components (can be used with charts for example).
Viewer.Fx performance
In version 2009.3 completely redesigned the Viewer.Fx component. As a result of our work it became in two times faster. It takes less memory. The animation works faster, pages are shown faster, reports are loaded quicker. Now showing 1000 pages in no longer a problem.
Fonts in Viewer.Fx
Fonts showing in completely redesigned in a new version of Viewer.Fx. Now the report viewer recognizes all modes of the TextQuality property of the Text component.
Export dialogs are now in Viewer.Fx
Export dialogs for all formats are added! Now, when saving a report to any available formats, you may configure export settings.
Interactivity in Viewer.Fx
In this release we have added sorting support in the interactive mode of Viewer.Fx. Sorting works both by one column and by several columns. Sorting is set using the Interaction.SortingColumn property of a component. Now the Interaction.Hyperlink property works in Viewer.Fx. This makes you able to set hyperlinks in a report.
Viewing reports in Reports Designer.Web
Now it is possible to view a report directly from the designer tab using the Viewer.Fx component. We have added this component to the Preview tab in the report designer. Previous methods of viewing report are also available.
Functions in Reports Designer.Web
Full list of functions is added to the data dictionary of a report. All functions are structured by categories. It is necessary to drag a function from the data dictionary to the window of editor and this function will be added to a category.
The panel of compilation is added to Reports Designer.Web
The panel that shows errors of compilation is added. It is enough to double click on an error to see where the error occurred. If, in the current moment, the Code tab is disabled then it will be temporarily shown.
Work with files of reports in Reports Designer.Web
New version of the report designer can work with report files on the client side. And there is no need use special forms of ASP.NET. Everything is very simple – the Open item of the main menu opens a report from the file using dialog. The Save report as... menu item saves a report to the file using the dialog.
Compression and encryption
There are global changes in methods of data exchange between the client side and the server side of Reports Designer.Web in version 2009.3. Now all information can be encrypted and compressed. By default the encryption is disabled (the StiWebDesigner.DataEncryption property). By default compression is enabled (the StiWebDesigner.DataCompression property).
HTML tags
Now WPF part of our product completely supports the AllowHtmlTags property of the Text component. All tags which Reports.Net supports are also supported in the WPF version.
PropertyGrid
The appearance of the Property Grid of the WPF report designer is changed. We believe it will be much easier and quicker to work with it. Besides, this new version of the PropertyGrid component can work with all fields of all report components.
The following minor changes are available in this release:
The Table component
This new component allows increasing speed of report building. It simplifies work with some controls. When using the Table, a user does not work with separate components placed in bands but with the structure of correlated cells. Size change, formatting, data filling – all this can be easily done using the Table component.
Super ToolTips
Super Tooltips provide much more information about controls. Now there is no need for you to guess where this or that control can be used. Detailed tips describe almost each button. Super ToolTips are available both in the designer and in the viewer. We believe this feature will be useful both for advanced users and for novices.
Context Tabs
Some components which are included into our product have very many properties. And it is very difficult to work with them. We have added the Context Tabs to simplify settings of those components. On the current moment Context Tabs are available for the Chart and the Table components. Context tabs available in report designer which used WinForms technology.
Ribbon report viewer
The Ribbon UI in the report designer is used by our customers since the version 2008.2. But now we are glad to announce the Ribbon UI for the report viewer. New viewer is available both as a control and as a Tab in the Ribbon UI of the report designer. New control can be used in WinForms technology.
Find previous function in the report viewer
There was lack of the find previous function in the report viewer for our users. Now this is problem is no longer present. New button available in WinForms and in WPF technology.
Save images in assemblies sources
There was an old problem in our reporting tool when it was impossible to include big images to the report body. Now such images will be automatically placed in the report assemblies sources. To disable this property you need to use the StoreImageInResources property. This property is added to a report and is available in the report designer.
Standalone reports
In previous versions of the reporting tool it was possible to create standalone reports from code. Now this function is available from the Save As command of the report designer menu. Please, notice that standalone reports will work only if Stimulsoft Reports assemblies are installed in GAC.
Cross-source
Very complicated preliminary data processing is possible with the Cross-source. Cross-source is a cross table but the results of rendering are not shown in a report but used with other components (can be used with charts for example).
Viewer.Fx performance
In version 2009.3 completely redesigned the Viewer.Fx component. As a result of our work it became in two times faster. It takes less memory. The animation works faster, pages are shown faster, reports are loaded quicker. Now showing 1000 pages in no longer a problem.
Fonts in Viewer.Fx
Fonts showing in completely redesigned in a new version of Viewer.Fx. Now the report viewer recognizes all modes of the TextQuality property of the Text component.
Export dialogs are now in Viewer.Fx
Export dialogs for all formats are added! Now, when saving a report to any available formats, you may configure export settings.
Interactivity in Viewer.Fx
In this release we have added sorting support in the interactive mode of Viewer.Fx. Sorting works both by one column and by several columns. Sorting is set using the Interaction.SortingColumn property of a component. Now the Interaction.Hyperlink property works in Viewer.Fx. This makes you able to set hyperlinks in a report.
Viewing reports in Reports Designer.Web
Now it is possible to view a report directly from the designer tab using the Viewer.Fx component. We have added this component to the Preview tab in the report designer. Previous methods of viewing report are also available.
Functions in Reports Designer.Web
Full list of functions is added to the data dictionary of a report. All functions are structured by categories. It is necessary to drag a function from the data dictionary to the window of editor and this function will be added to a category.
The panel of compilation is added to Reports Designer.Web
The panel that shows errors of compilation is added. It is enough to double click on an error to see where the error occurred. If, in the current moment, the Code tab is disabled then it will be temporarily shown.
Work with files of reports in Reports Designer.Web
New version of the report designer can work with report files on the client side. And there is no need use special forms of ASP.NET. Everything is very simple – the Open item of the main menu opens a report from the file using dialog. The Save report as... menu item saves a report to the file using the dialog.
Compression and encryption
There are global changes in methods of data exchange between the client side and the server side of Reports Designer.Web in version 2009.3. Now all information can be encrypted and compressed. By default the encryption is disabled (the StiWebDesigner.DataEncryption property). By default compression is enabled (the StiWebDesigner.DataCompression property).
HTML tags
Now WPF part of our product completely supports the AllowHtmlTags property of the Text component. All tags which Reports.Net supports are also supported in the WPF version.
PropertyGrid
The appearance of the Property Grid of the WPF report designer is changed. We believe it will be much easier and quicker to work with it. Besides, this new version of the PropertyGrid component can work with all fields of all report components.
The following minor changes are available in this release:
- New BarCodeType.ShowQuietZoneIndicator property is added to the BarCode component. This property is available for the following types of barcodes: EAN8/13, UPC-A/E, and Sup2/5.
- The Informix database pack is added.
- The Globalization module now supports Tag, ToolTip, and Hyperlink properties of the text component.
- Now the export to Word2007 supports hyperlinks and bookmarks.
- Some improvements in the database schema retrieving.
- The PrintOn property of the ReportTitle Band is hidden.
- The PrintOn property of the ReportSummary Band is hidden.
- Big optimization of work with memory.
- Now Designer.Web supports the MRX format.
- A new StiWebDesignerOptions.Toolbar.ZoomMode static option.
- A new StiWebDesignerOptions.ExitButtonVisible property is added.
- A new StiWebDesignerOptions.ShowWizardOnStartUp static option.
- A new StiWebDesignerOptions.ShowWizardOnStartup option is added.
- A new StiWebDesignerOptions.UseCompleteUrl option is added.
- A new ExitUrl property is added to the StiWebDesigner component.
- Now you can load RTF files in richtext components in Designer.Web.
- Now you can load an image into the watermark in Designer.Web.
- Now Designer.Web supports the Informix database adapter.
- Now the export to Word2007 supports hyperlinks and bookmarks.
- Some improvements in database schema retrieving.
- The PrintOn property of the ReportTitle Band is hidden.
- The PrintOn property of the ReportSummary Band is hidden.
- A big optimization of work with memory.