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Future control request

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Ben Hayat
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Ben Hayat asked on 16 Mar 2009, 02:53 PM
Hello Team;

Seeing how much [great] work has been put into Q1, I feel embarrassed to even ask for more, but due to the nature of this business, it's never enough ;-)

As SL is moving towards LoB space and giving us more opportunity to develop business application, the need for a "Native" reporting is increasing. I really hope this control is moving to the top of the list, because I can see the demand for being able to print forms and reports is right around the corner.

Would it be possible to give us an idea, what the roadmap is for SL report?
Thanks!
..Ben

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David
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answered on 16 Mar 2009, 03:06 PM
I agree we need a native Silverlight reporting control, but until Silverlight itself has printing support (maybe version 3), I think the opportunities will be limited. I suppose it's possible to create a renderer in pure silverlight, but no printing or saving to the local disk.

In the mean time, you might consider using the HtmlPlaceholder control to "host" a web report viewer in Silverlight. By setting its "sourceUrl" property to a web report, you can get a reasonable facsimile of a hosted report. Such web report viewers (like SQL Server Reporting Services or Telerik's own Reporting product) include export to PDF, and a PDF can be printed or saved on the client's machine.

I'm planning to use this approach in a project I'm working on now. Like I said, until SL3, it's probably the best you can do.

Dave
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Ben Hayat
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answered on 16 Mar 2009, 03:16 PM
Hi Dave;

Thanks for your input. When I saw the release of the HTML place holder, that was my first thought of doing server side reporting and then use the control to display it. However, this approach requires lots of housekeeping in a multiuser situation where for example many users are printing the same reports and being created on the server, you must have a solid system to store them in proper location (not to have conflict with other users reports) and then you have to mange how long that report says around and do a house cleaning. Where as when that data is brought to client and then rendered as report on the client side, it solves many of these issues.

As far as MS reporting for SL3, I hate to burst your bubble! :-)
..Ben
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David
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answered on 16 Mar 2009, 03:40 PM

Hi Ben,

All your points are valid, but they apply to server-side reports in general, and need to be addressed whenever doing them that way. In my situation, my company has already implemented their reports in SSRS over the last 3 years, and addressed these issues (mostly, I hope). My problem is just to make this existing web report solution available through a new SL2 client.

 

I haven't been paying much attention to SL3; are you saying there isn't going to be printing support in it? If so, that is dissapointing. And without it, I don't know what any SL control can do other than client-side rendering.

Of course, there is always XBAP :-).

Dave

 

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Ben Hayat
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answered on 16 Mar 2009, 04:00 PM
Hi Dave;

All your points are valid, but they apply to server-side reports in general, and need to be addressed whenever doing them that way. In my situation, my company has already implemented their reports in SSRS over the last 3 years, and addressed these issues (mostly, I hope). My problem is just to make this existing web report solution available through a new SL2 client.

Lucky you man! ;-)

I haven't been paying much attention to SL3; are you saying there isn't going to be printing support in it? If so, that is dissapointing. And without it, I don't know what any SL control can do other than client-side rendering.

You should follow the MIX announcements and keynotes!

Of course, there is always XBAP :-)


Na, na, na! :-)


..Ben
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