Designing Reports at RunTime

Hello Abhisek,

This is not possible at the moment (I believe this topic has been discussed already in the Forums). The only to create a new report currently is through VS2005 design time.


All the best,
Rob
the telerik team

I'm interested in this as well.  Can you provide an updated timeframe for this feature?

Thanks,

Jim

Same here, I would really love to see an end user designer which will allow the user to build the report interface and also build the query for the report. This would be fantastic. Any plans for anything like this?

Hello Michael,

Yes we definitely would like to have the end user report designer functionality in a short term. As soon as we have a clear vision when we can be ready with this, it will appear in the product roadmap.

Best wishes,
Svetoslav
the Telerik team

Hi,

Its march 2008 already. I havent heard anything re. design a report in runtime.
The last reply from Abhisek was 13 March 2007.

Wondering whether this is happening. I am looking forward to get the update as I am urgently need it.

Thanks.

Regards,

Susanto

Hello Susanto,

We are still in a researching phase of implementing the End-user Designer. Unfortunately, I cannot provide you the exact version in which it will be implemented.
However, once we have a clear vision when we can be ready with this, it will appear in the product roadmap.

Thank you for the understanding.

All the best,

Trayko Stoilov
the Telerik team

Hi,

Hello Abhisek,

It is still in our TODO list, but we have not started working on it due to other tasks at hand that were with higher priority and we cannot engage with a date at this time. As my colleague mentioned, once we start working on it, it would be included in our Road Map.

Thank you for the patience and understanding.

Best wishes,
Steve
the Telerik team

Hi,


we are also looking for this functionality. Is there any change you will build something likes this in the near furture or can we better not wait on it?

Thanks,

Herman

Hi Herman,

We would introduce an end user designer for Telerik Reports for sure and let there be no doubt about this. As explained in previous replies, once we commit to start working on it, we would reflect that in our product map.

Sincerely yours,
Steve
the Telerik team

An end-user runtime report designer is crucial for my application needs as well.   Are the delays due to the need for a WPF/Silverlight runtime report designer?

Seperate question - Is the Telerik report designer for Visual Studio 2010, COM or WPF based?

Is it possible for me to program my own WPF/Silverlight runtime report designer that makes use of the Telerik report engine and viewer?

Also, just a commentary on my part.  As more and more LOB(Line of Business) developers start using Telerik products, the greater the need for rich, robust runtime reporting.   Our customers(end-users) want flexible, built-in reporting tools at their finger tips and if Telerik can enable developers do deliver this functionality directly into their applications, then Telerik will come much closer to delivering a one stop shop, best in class suite of controls for Line of Business developers.

Hello Dan,

We are gradually moving towards this complex and time consuming task, however the delays are not due to the need for a WPF/Silverlight runtime report designer.

We are now working on taking full control over the data management (see the Q1 2010 roadmap for more details). This will help us prepare the data the way we need it for the end-user report designer. Our exact plans will be announced in a few months.

How do you envision the end-user report designer to function? Do you see it desktop-based (WinForms, WPF) or web-based (ASP.NET, Silverlight)? Do you need an application which will allow your users to create reports from a predefined set of database fields (similar to the current designer in Visual Studio), or do you need an analytical application which to allow your users to analyze data (KPIs, trends, cubes, etc)? What is the expected outcome that your users will need to produce?

Your feedback will help us shape our decision when it comes to an end-user report designer.


Regards,
Vassil
the Telerik team

Hi Vassil

I am currently reviewing our reporting strategy and customer defined reports is one or our key goals for this quarter, i would be interested in discussing further the above runtime report designer. Our chosen platform is silverlight 4 with a SQL back end.

If you wish to contact me please email me  @ <admin>email removed for security purposes</admin>.

Regards,

Richard C

I would also be delighted to see a report designer which could be used by anyone (with a little training of course) to design their own reports. As I am the only developer for an organisation of around 300 staff, the last thing I want to have to do is to spend time creating hundreds of adhoc reports. This is the main reason for us not adopting Telerik Reporting.

Take a look at the new stand-alone designer for SSRS 2008 reports. Looks just like an Office 2007 app and is great to use.

Regards,
Jonathan

Hi Richard,

We do not have such tool yet, so I am not sure I will be able to help you.

Jonathan, Thank you for the vote - we will definitely review the SSRS designer once we start working on ours. I will update this thread once we have more definite plans for an end-user designer.


Greetings,
Vassil
the Telerik team

Just chiming in here with some features that would really help us.


We have a need as well for ad hoc reports.  Few important features.

1) Field list must be bound dynamically at runtime.  This will allow users to select the fields they are working with and attach a report to display that data properly.

1a) Changed field lists should not throw exceptions but ignore the fields.  This is important because of users who add or remove fields.  We wouldnt want the report breaking.  Maybe a collection of warnings or missing fields so we can display to the user through an automated process.

2) Preview option to work with a sample data so the user can quickly test the report output.

3) Done as a control that has all functions exposed and the ability to hook into the save, close etc.  Having a form pre-made is nice because we wouldnt have to worry about setting up all docked windows manually.

4) The ability to save the report in to a stream or string for saving into a database for later use.

5) Thread safe report generator (not viewer) so we can generate reports on our servers and email them to the subscribed parties based on a schedule they set and based on the definition they saved in item 4

6) Integrated documentation that links to your website that would give the user examples and detailed documentation on how to use the report.  The users are generally more advanced users that know how to create banded reports, but it's pointless to give them a tool w/out non-developer user type documentation that's geared towards report writers not developers.


Now some nice to haves.

+) The report generator should be able to collate multiple reports.  This could be done manually, but here's an example.
- User selects 3 different reports (all based on a common key of MyID)
- Reports are generated but an option to group together based on MyID so collation and viewing of this report data isnt painful.

+) An advanced filter function to build SQL would be a plus so users could define their own queries.  I have currently a hacked up windows forms control that I use currently but in WPF window forms host it's a little flake.

Will the soon to be release reporting road map include ad hoc reporting?  Specifically for ASP.Net implementation.  If you would like use cases we would be happly to oblige.

Cheers,

EJ Battaglia
ejb@ensolinc.com

I don't think so - I recently asked this and Telerik said that an end-user designer will not be in Q2.

- Rob

I would really like to see an end user self service (ad hoc tool) for business users to create their own reports.    I'd like to see something done in silverlight so we can integrate it into our silverlight portal.   

My wish list

1.   an easy to use interface for business users
2.   Select fields and apply basic formatting
3.   Let users build filters and also support required filters
4.   Grouping  / Totals
5.   ability to control where reports are saved and how they are accessed so users can have private reports and it can be integrated with existing forms based security
6.   ability to copy reports
7.   charting

This feature would be very important to me as well.  I still don't see it on the 2011 roadmap.  I am looking to purchase the Telerik asp.net package along with the reporting tool to integrate into my asp.net application currently in development.  I will be designing some custom reports ahead of time but it would be very convenient to allow my clients to take it a step further and design their own as well.  Please keep us posted on when this feature might be available.  I noticed in another forum thread the quote "Currently we are working on an end-user designer and we hope to be able to deliver a first version by the end of the year."  Does this still stand as true?

Thanks!

Rob

Hi Rob,

Thank you for the feedback and question.

We are working on a ad-hoc report prototype, yes. If all goes well, we will have an official end-user report designer early next year. We will keep you updated.


All the best,
Vassil Petev
the Telerik team

Thanks for the quick update.

Here is to hoping that all goes well.  I have been using Telerik components for several years now with my previous employer.  Now that I am at a new company I am hoping that I can convince management to use Telerik reporting over other options such as SQL Reporting Services or Crystal Reports.  One of the things they are examining is the cost to setup additional report designers.  The cost of having to purchase Visual Studio for each user that needs to design reports might make them choose another option unless I can give them a compelling reason to still go with Telerik.

I know you are still trying to prototype this so how it will function is still be pretty fluid but I am curious how this will work.  If I create a report using the End User Designer I am assuming that it will be possible to save the report for future use.  Will this be similar to Crystal Reports rpt files that could be copied to any machine that the reports should be consumed on?  Would it be possible to package multiple reports into a report file and manifest that could be easily deployed and consumed?  Also would it be possible to consume and add predefined sub reports / components that you can add to your report?

Also do you know when you will update the road map to reflect the Q1 release.  Currently it is listing what was planned for Q3 which is now released.

Hello,

End-user designer is a work in progress and we cannot share any concrete implementations at this time. We would certainly aim at usability as after all, this is for non technical people.

We're currently working on the Q3 service pack release and once we release (by the end of the week), we would update the RoadMap shortly.

Greetings,
Steve
the Telerik team

My 2cents.

We never expect the design tool to be "easy" for non-developers because that can lead to the system lacking features.

For us we generally have programmer or power user types creating reports.  We just need a way to serialize the report object to a database and allow the devleoper to design the report w/out having to recompile and redeploy.  Here's why.

We thousands of small carrier companies and customers brokers that use our software for their core business.  Each one requires a new logo or different layout from our standard for invoicing and bill of ladings etc...  In addition they run ad hoc reports that require custom output for daily reports etc... Currently we're having to customize the system within visual studio and then redeploy to accomodate them.  If we were able to have a developer type person design the report for storage in the database we can easily override the traditional method of compile and redeploy reducing our risk and time to deployment of a customized solution.

Never have we expected an end user attempt authoring a report without a good understanding of banded report systems.

Regards,
Ron

Hi All

I posted a query back in March 2010 and  due to the lack of this tool i decided to deveop my own reporting viewer / designer using microsoft Odata, we are just starting Beta Testing but if anyone is interested please contact me, ( richardclark@trickypos.com).
Regards

Just heads up, guys!

Feel free to try the standalone Telerik Report Designer. It was released with Q2 2012 in June, and we plan to add several features in Q3 2012 (due next month), which will even out the features in the standalone tool to the Visual Studio report designer.

Download it and give it a spin!


All the best,
Vassil Petev
the Telerik team

Can the stand-alone tool be incorporated into an existing asp.net application (i.e. as a control that can be placed on a page), so the end user doesn't have to open a separate tool?

If not, when do you anticipate offering something like that?  The original request in this post was back in March 2007.  That's just about 6 years ago.  It also seems that many people would be interested in this functionality.

While we would all love for this functionality to exist to more seamlessly integrate the designer with our applications it is not currently possible.  At the moment I believe that Telerik's focus is on creating the functionality that people need.  The standalone designer has only been available for about 7 months but has really matured in such a short time.  I am eagerly waiting for the Q1 roadmap to be released to see what they have in store for us.  With the new functionality introduced in the last release to utilize custom .Net functions it is now possible to fully leverage the power of Telerik reporting from the designer.

I believe that Telerik will likely allow us to seamlessly incorporate the designer into our applications but I don't think they are ready to do so.  I also think that part of the issue is that at this point they have continued to support .Net back to version 2.0.  They have announced that as of the Q2 2013 release support for .Net 2.0 and 3.5 will be dropped to make it easier for the product to evolve.  They mention that some of the functionality that they are working on will require the browsers to support HTML5 (specfic reference to charting engine).  It is my belief that HTML5 support will be essential to incorporating the designer into a web application. The full announcement can be read here.

I am only speculating but I don't think that Telerik is currently ready to try to create the controls that would allow us to incorporate the designer into our applications.  I think that the primary reason for this is that they are still trying to mature the product and add the required functionality.  This is much easier when you are only dealing with managing a single designer rather than multiple user controls that can be used in Winforms, WPF, Silverlight, or ASP.  I think that other reasons include technology limitations that they are working to get around while still maintaining outstanding support for the technologies that their customers are using.  I think that eventually we will have the controls to incorporate the designer into our applications but I don't think that it will be this year and I definitely don't think that it will be before Q2 2013.  Someone from Telerik might be able to provide more insight to this but they typically don't announce details until they are fairly confident they can deliver it on time.

Thanks for the reply Kevin.

All I can say is - it's been six years now.  I have no faith that Telerik will ever offer this and will be looking elsewhere for my end user requirements.

Okay, so it’s been 4 years since the last post.  I’ve seen the Standalone Report Designer, but that will not meet our customers’ needs. 

So, I’m not sure what you might call it… designing reports at Run Time, an ad-hoc report generator, or an end user report designer, but has Telerik created anything like this in the last 4 years that I’m not aware of, which will allow an end user with little training to drag/drop columns or class members from a data source on to a blank report and allow them to run, save, recall, export the report?

Telerik Reporting doesn't provide this functionality out of the box but it does provide you everything that you would need to create it.  You have an API that will allow you to create an entire report through code.  It would be up to you to create the interface allowing the user to define what they want to see on the report and then generate the report based on their input.  Once the report is created you would then be able to save the report file for future use.

Hello,

Kevin, thank you for the detailed explanation. 

I'd like to add that the Standalone Designer is an executable that can be freely distributed as a part of your solution. The generated by the tool reports are in XML format and saved in TRDX files. Based on this you can implement custom upload functionality to send the XML to the server and display it in a report viewer.
Additionally, to ease users in designing reports you can provide templates or extend the tool configuration to load external assemblies with user functions and data.

Keith, can you give us more details on the exact requirements you have?

Regards,
Yana
Telerik by Progress