Join and Union (VB.Net / netframework)
Note
This demo is available in your FlexCel installation at <FlexCel Install Folder>\samples\vb\VS2022\netframework\20.Reports\58.Join and Union and also at https://github.com/tmssoftware/TMS-FlexCel.NET-demos/tree/master/vb/VS2022/netframework/Modules/20.Reports/58.Join and Union
Overview
Sometimes you want to run unrelated reports in columns. One option is to run them as "_" ranges instead of "__" (see the Balanced Columns example). But this will break merged cells and ranges might not expand (see Joining Tables in the Report Designers guide). So other option is to "join" those unrelated tables into a single table, and run a single "__" range.
Also shown in this example is how to do a Union of Tables.
Concepts
How to join unrelated tables into a bigger table. In this example we join Categories, Products and Shippers into a single table (CSP) which we use to run the report.
How to access the fields of the joined table. If the joined tables have different column names, you can access those fields directly. For example, we write "<#CSP.CategoryName>" and this will access the column CategoryName of the Categories table in the CSP table, as none of the other joined tables has a similar column. But when we want to access CategoryId, that column is present in both Categories and Products. So we need to explicitly write the table name after CSP and before CategoryID. In this example, <#CSP.Products.CategoryId> references the column CategoryId of the table Prodcuts, and not Categories.
It might be a good idea to always prefix the table being accessed when using a joined table. In this example we write <#CSP.Shippers.CompanyName> even when CompanyName is not in the other tables and we could just write <#CSP.CompanyName>. But somehow writing the full name will make it more future proof, not breaking if we later add another table. As in this example we wanted to show both variants, we used both forms (the short one: <#CSP.CategoryName> and the long one: <#CSP.Shippers.CompanyName>) But depending on your case and if there are chances of column names being the same, you might want to just use only the long form.
How to use the "UNION" function to append the records of one table after another. In this example we do a union of Suppliers, Shippers and Customers and write the phone numbers of all of them into a single table.
For more information in balanced columns please take a look at the sections Joining Tables and Union of Tables in the Report Designers guide.
Files
AssemblyInfo.vb
Imports System.Reflection
Imports System.Runtime.CompilerServices
'
' General Information about an assembly is controlled through the following
' set of attributes. Change these attribute values to modify the information
' associated with an assembly.
'
<Assembly: AssemblyTitle("")>
<Assembly: AssemblyDescription("")>
<Assembly: AssemblyConfiguration("")>
<Assembly: AssemblyCompany("")>
<Assembly: AssemblyProduct("")>
<Assembly: AssemblyCopyright("(c) 2002 - 2014 TMS Software")>
<Assembly: AssemblyTrademark("")>
<Assembly: AssemblyCulture("")>
'
' Version information for an assembly consists of the following four values:
'
' Major Version
' Minor Version
' Build Number
' Revision
'
' You can specify all the values or you can default the Revision and Build Numbers
' by using the '*' as shown below:
<Assembly: AssemblyVersion("6.2.1.0")>
'
' In order to sign your assembly you must specify a key to use. Refer to the
' Microsoft .NET Framework documentation for more information on assembly signing.
'
' Use the attributes below to control which key is used for signing.
'
' Notes:
' (*) If no key is specified, the assembly is not signed.
' (*) KeyName refers to a key that has been installed in the Crypto Service
' Provider (CSP) on your machine. KeyFile refers to a file which contains
' a key.
' (*) If the KeyFile and the KeyName values are both specified, the
' following processing occurs:
' (1) If the KeyName can be found in the CSP, that key is used.
' (2) If the KeyName does not exist and the KeyFile does exist, the key
' in the KeyFile is installed into the CSP and used.
' (*) In order to create a KeyFile, you can use the sn.exe (Strong Name) utility.
' When specifying the KeyFile, the location of the KeyFile should be
' relative to the project output directory which is
' %Project Directory%\obj\<configuration>. For example, if your KeyFile is
' located in the project directory, you would specify the AssemblyKeyFile
' attribute as [assembly: AssemblyKeyFile("..\\..\\mykey.snk")]
' (*) Delay Signing is an advanced option - see the Microsoft .NET Framework
' documentation for more information on this.
'
<Assembly: AssemblyDelaySign(False)>
<Assembly: AssemblyKeyFile("")>
<Assembly: AssemblyKeyName("")>
Form1.Designer.vb
Imports System.Collections
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Reflection
Imports FlexCel.Core
Imports FlexCel.XlsAdapter
Imports FlexCel.Report
Imports FlexCel.Demo.SharedData
Namespace JoinandUnion
Partial Public Class mainForm
Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
Private WithEvents button1 As System.Windows.Forms.Button
Private saveFileDialog1 As System.Windows.Forms.SaveFileDialog
Private label1 As System.Windows.Forms.Label
Private WithEvents btnCancel As System.Windows.Forms.Button
''' <summary>
''' Required designer variable.
''' </summary>
Private components As System.ComponentModel.Container = Nothing
''' <summary>
''' Clean up any resources being used.
''' </summary>
Protected Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
If disposing Then
If components IsNot Nothing Then
components.Dispose()
End If
End If
MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
End Sub
#Region "Windows Form Designer generated code"
''' <summary>
''' Required method for Designer support - do not modify
''' the contents of this method with the code editor.
''' </summary>
Private Sub InitializeComponent()
Me.button1 = New System.Windows.Forms.Button()
Me.saveFileDialog1 = New System.Windows.Forms.SaveFileDialog()
Me.label1 = New System.Windows.Forms.Label()
Me.btnCancel = New System.Windows.Forms.Button()
Me.SuspendLayout()
'
' button1
'
Me.button1.Anchor = (CType((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Top Or System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Right), System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles))
Me.button1.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Green
Me.button1.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.White
Me.button1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(279, 162)
Me.button1.Margin = New System.Windows.Forms.Padding(6, 6, 6, 6)
Me.button1.Name = "button1"
Me.button1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(205, 42)
Me.button1.TabIndex = 0
Me.button1.Text = "GO!"
Me.button1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = False
' Me.button1.Click += New System.EventHandler(Me.button1_Click)
'
' saveFileDialog1
'
Me.saveFileDialog1.Filter = "Excel Files|*.xls;*.xlsx;*.xlsm|Excel 97/2003|*.xls|Excel 2007|*.xlsx;*.xlsm|All " & "files|*.*"
Me.saveFileDialog1.RestoreDirectory = True
'
' label1
'
Me.label1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(44, 44)
Me.label1.Margin = New System.Windows.Forms.Padding(6, 0, 6, 0)
Me.label1.Name = "label1"
Me.label1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(528, 44)
Me.label1.TabIndex = 2
Me.label1.Text = "A reportshowing JOIN and UNION tags."
'
' btnCancel
'
Me.btnCancel.Anchor = (CType((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Top Or System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Right), System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles))
Me.btnCancel.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb((CInt((CByte(192)))), (CInt((CByte(0)))), (CInt((CByte(0)))))
Me.btnCancel.DialogResult = System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.Cancel
Me.btnCancel.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.White
Me.btnCancel.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(499, 162)
Me.btnCancel.Margin = New System.Windows.Forms.Padding(6, 6, 6, 6)
Me.btnCancel.Name = "btnCancel"
Me.btnCancel.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(205, 42)
Me.btnCancel.TabIndex = 3
Me.btnCancel.Text = "Cancel"
Me.btnCancel.UseVisualStyleBackColor = False
' Me.btnCancel.Click += New System.EventHandler(Me.btnCancel_Click)
'
' mainForm
'
Me.AutoScaleDimensions = New System.Drawing.SizeF(11F, 24F)
Me.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font
Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(763, 246)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.btnCancel)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.label1)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.button1)
Me.Margin = New System.Windows.Forms.Padding(6, 6, 6, 6)
Me.Name = "mainForm"
Me.Text = "Join and Union"
Me.ResumeLayout(False)
End Sub
#End Region
End Class
End Namespace
Form1.vb
Imports System.Collections
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Reflection
Imports FlexCel.Core
Imports FlexCel.XlsAdapter
Imports FlexCel.Report
Imports FlexCel.Demo.SharedData
Namespace JoinandUnion
''' <summary>
''' Form-Like reports
''' </summary>
Partial Public Class mainForm
Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
Public Sub New()
InitializeComponent()
End Sub
Private Sub button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles button1.Click
AutoRun()
End Sub
Public Sub AutoRun()
Using report As FlexCelReport = SharedData.CreateReport()
Dim DataPath As String = Path.Combine(Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location), ".."), "..") & Path.DirectorySeparatorChar
If saveFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
report.Run(DataPath & "Join and Union.template.xls", saveFileDialog1.FileName)
If MessageBox.Show("Do you want to open the generated file?", "Confirm", MessageBoxButtons.YesNo) = System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.Yes Then
Process.Start(saveFileDialog1.FileName)
End If
End If
End Using
End Sub
Private Sub btnCancel_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnCancel.Click
Close()
End Sub
End Class
End Namespace
Program.vb
Namespace JoinandUnion
Friend NotInheritable Class Program
Private Sub New()
End Sub
''' <summary>
''' The main entry point for the application.
''' </summary>
<STAThread> _
Shared Sub Main()
Application.EnableVisualStyles()
Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(False)
Application.Run(New mainForm())
End Sub
End Class
End Namespace