"Edit report preview" and some another features.

[bk]

Hi there,

I'm looking for  a piece of advice- any help would be appreciated!

Our Customer would like to have possibility to edit generated reports before exporting and/or storing them to the DB. Actually they would like to give users possibility to edit reports' content (not the layout itself) in preview mode. After several meeting-sessions we have split the requirements:
1. Power User should have possibility to create report template (stand-alone Report Designer is ok, but is there any component that can be integrated to the Web Site?);
2. Normal User should have possibility to generate a report instance basing on the template;
3. The generated report instance should be available as a preview inside our web site- Normal User will be able to edit the content (some of the fields), but not the layout;
4. The generated report can be saved to the DB and be edited later (optional);
5. There must be a possibility to export the generated report as a Pdf file (actually, they need secured Pdf). 

I've started with "googling", watching demo-videos, etc. and have found several potentially useful components, but I'm not sure if it's possible to stick them together to reach the goal... There are several findings:
1. There is no possibility to protect PDFs using Telerik- we will have to use something else;
2. HTML5 Report Viewer can be used for previewing (probably Editor component can be used together with the Viewer?);
3. Editable Pdfs are not the solution.

Did anybody implemented anything similar and/or does anybody have ideas how to make a trick?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Kostya.

[Nasko]

Hello Kostya,

If the users need to make slight changes to the Telerik Reporting report presentation, you can let them do so by using Report Parameters. Report parameters are used to specify the data to use in a report, connect related reports together, and vary report presentation.

If your users need to make substantial changes to the report definition, layout, data fields used, data sources, etc., the only options to let your users do so on demand is by providing the Standalone Report Designer (Windows tool) as a part of your integrated product, or by creating a custom module in your web application which generates reports on the fly based on user input.
Note that creating a tool or a custom module which will generate the entire report definition on the fly based on some user defined rules and settings is not a trivial matter. In general, the fastest way to do this is to to create the desired report layout in the Visual Studio Report Designer and use the code it automatically generated in the .Designer.cs file as a template for dynamic report generation. In this undertaking you may also find useful the Programmatic Control of Reports help articles on the topic and the Reporting API Reference.

Note that the Report Viewers cannot be used to edit the generated report. Also there isn't an option to protect the exported PDF files.

Regards,
Nasko
Telerik

 

 

[bk]

Hi Nasko,

Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply to my post- I found the answer quite helpful.

Best regards,
Kostya.