Table of Contents

User defined tables (VB.Net / netframework)

Note

This demo is available in your FlexCel installation at <FlexCel Install Folder>\samples\vb\VS2022\netframework\20.Reports\91.User Tables and also at https:​//​github.​com/​tmssoftware/​TMS-​FlexCel.​NET-​demos/​tree/​master/​vb/​VS2022/​netframework/​Modules/​20.​Reports/​91.​User Tables

Overview

User defined tables allow you to specify the datasets in the report part of the data layer. Different from Direct SQL, user tables work in a more controlled environment, where you can specifically deny or grant access to the data. User Tables also allow access not SQL databases.

Concepts

  • To use User Tables you need the following things:

    1. On the config sheet, write "User Table(parameters)" on the "Source Name" column, and something else on the "Table Name" column. What you write on the "Table Name" column is really not important, but you need to write something so FlexCel knows that the row has information. Normally you would use this column to tell FlexCel what is the name of the datatable you want to add, but this is not a requirement.

    2. On the code, you need to define a UserTable event that will actually add the tables to the report base on what you write on the "parameters" and "table name" columns.

  • On this example, we just use the parameter as the name of the table we want to load, and use the "table name" column as the name of the table we will insert on the report. We could also use the parameter string as parameter to an SQL, but when doing this, please make sure you validate the parameter string against a hashtable of possible values, to avoid SQL injections attacks.

  • Even when we do not show it here, you could pass many parameters on the "Parameters" string, using your own defined parameter separator, and process this string on the event.

  • Unrelated to user tables, on this demo we also show how you can delete the categories that have no products, using a <#delete range> tag inside a <#if(<#products.#Rowcount>0 ) = 0> tag. Important note: As FlexCel already deletes products that have no records, this will interfere with the <#Delete range> tag that will delete whole categories, and it would in fact delete one more row that what we need. So it is important that you make genericReport.DeleteEmptyRanges = false on the code before running the report.

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 System.Resources
Imports System.Globalization
Imports FlexCel.Core
Imports FlexCel.XlsAdapter
Imports FlexCel.Report
Namespace UserTables
	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(112, 136)
			Me.button1.Name = "button1"
			Me.button1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(112, 23)
			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(24, 24)
			Me.label1.Name = "label1"
			Me.label1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(288, 24)
			Me.label1.TabIndex = 2
			Me.label1.Text = "A demo on how to use user tables on a report. "
			' 
			' 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(232, 136)
			Me.btnCancel.Name = "btnCancel"
			Me.btnCancel.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(112, 23)
			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(6F, 13F)
			Me.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font
			Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(376, 166)
			Me.Controls.Add(Me.btnCancel)
			Me.Controls.Add(Me.label1)
			Me.Controls.Add(Me.button1)
			Me.Name = "mainForm"
			Me.Text = "User Tables"
			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 System.Resources
Imports System.Globalization
Imports FlexCel.Core
Imports FlexCel.XlsAdapter
Imports FlexCel.Report
Imports FlexCel.Demo.SharedData


Namespace UserTables
	''' <summary>
	''' Using tables that are defined in the template.
	''' </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 genericReport As New FlexCelReport(True)
				AddHandler genericReport.UserTable, AddressOf genericReport_UserTable
				genericReport.DeleteEmptyRanges = False

				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
					genericReport.Run(DataPath & "User Tables.template" & Path.GetExtension(saveFileDialog1.FileName), 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 genericReport_UserTable(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As UserTableEventArgs)
			Dim ds As New DataSet()

			'On this example we will just return the table with the name specified on parameters
			'but you could return whatever you wanted here.
			'As always, remember to *validate* what the user can enter on the parameters string.

			Select Case e.Parameters.ToUpper(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)
				Case "SUPPLIERS"
					SharedData.Fill(ds, "select * from suppliers", e.TableName)
				Case "CATEGORIES"
					SharedData.Fill(ds, "select * from categories", e.TableName)
				Case "PRODUCTS"
					SharedData.Fill(ds, "select * from products", e.TableName)

				Case Else
					Throw New Exception("Invalid parameter to user table: " & e.Parameters)
			End Select

			CType(sender, FlexCelReport).AddTable(ds, TDisposeMode.DisposeAfterRun)
		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 UserTables
	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