Subreport and XLS Data

rbuser

Delphi 2010
We upgraded Report Builder from 12.02 to 14.08

After the upgrade our subreport detail band data/components are no
longer being exported when printing to XLS Data file.

I can go into the subreport File/PrintToFileSetup and add the components
but this presents several issues:
1. Once I explicitly add the subreport detail band controls to the
Selected Controls List I then also have to add the detail band
components on the main report.
2. The components are exported in the order they appear in the
Selected Controls List, which is in creation order by default. Need a
way to sort in order of left position as was the previous default.
3. We have hundreds of reports (over 600) containing multiple
subreports. To do this manually (including sorting the controls
properly) would take weeks.

Is there any way to revert to the previous default behavior of printing
the subreport detail controls (in left position order) without manually
modifying every report template?

nardmoseley

Branden,

Export to XLSData works the same as in prior versions.

1. The default behavior is that text elements in the main report's detail
band are exported in left to right position order. Subreport elements are
not exported.

2. The File | Print To File Setup dialog can optionally be used to specify
the elements to export and the order in which they will appear. (Once you
specify the which elements to export, then those are the only ones that will
be exported whether that is for the main report, subreport, etc. So if you
want some main report elements and some subreport elements, then you need to
use Print to File Setup dialog for each report/childreport).

I just compared the code for TppFileDevice.GetDrawTextCommandsForDataExport
(ppFileDev.pas) for RB 12, RB 14, RB15. You can do the same for your
installation. The code has changed only slightly - bug fixes and to support
a minor enhancement in RB 15 we added a IncludeSingleHeader,
IncludeSingleFooter feature.



-
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Nard, compare the code to your heart's content and then tell the
hundreds of users on our system that nothing has changed...

I can run an executable compiled before we upgraded and the subreport
data is exported to XLS data file just fine. We have been users of
Report Builder for 12 years now...THIS IS A SERIOUS INQUIRY!!!! DO NOT
JUST BLOW US
OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nardmoseley

Branden,

I re-read my post and no malicious intended. I was expecting the
conversation to continue, thought maybe you would do some more checking on
your end, thought maybe you had been using a third party XLS export in the
past.

I installed RB 12.05 and created a simple example - a customer/orders report
using the DBDemos data. I exported to XLSData and only the main report's
detail elements are exported. I next installed RB 12.02 and performed the
same test. It works as you describe, the subreport detail elements are
included. I checked the bug fix history and on Sept 15, 2010 a bug fix was
made so that only the main report detail elements are exported. In the
Annoucements newsgroups the RB 12.03 release notes contain the line item

- TXT/XLSData. By default only export detail elements for the main
report.

Unfortunately here we are 3 years later with your users expecting the
XLSData export to work in a manner that was never intended. For now I
recommend modifying the source code. In a future version I'll try to add an
option to XLSSettings.

To modify the source code, open ppFilDev.pas and find the method
GetDrawTextCommandsForDataExport. In that method change the following
if....then

// RB 12.03 and beyond
if (lDrawText.BandType in lDefaultBands) and ((lDrawText.ReportSaveNo mod
1000) = 0) then
lDefaultList.AddObject(lDrawText.Order, lDrawText);


// RB 12.02
if (lDrawText.BandType in lDefaultBands) then
lDefaultList.AddObject(lDrawText.Order, lDrawText);



-
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Nard, thank you for the reply! That "fix" (bug fix reversion) worked
great. I figured it would probably be a one-liner but was a bit freaked
out by your brief response. I apologize for my aggressive response. I
had upper management breathing down my neck to get their financials back
online and the concept of having to manually adjust every report was not
going to sit well with them. Thank you for taking a closer look and
getting to the root of the issue.

It is humorous that the functionality we have come to depend on the past
few years was realistically a bug in the code...