Is the NeedDataSource Event Required?

[Timothy Kelley]

I'm creating a dashboard report where the data is coming from a non-standard source.

Is it necessary to use the NeedDataSource Event to bind the entire report? What if I didnt' want to use it at all..what would I loose?

In my case I need to query the source once and get the data for the entire report.
I was thinking it might be better in my case to get the data from the source and then call the NeedDataSource event for the individual items of the report(tables, lists and etc) instead of creating an object to build the entire report.

Seems like using the NeedDataSource event for the individual charts and other report items on the report would render faster because once the data has been retrieved the child report items could begin rendering at the same time.

Is there any reason I can't bypass the NeedDataSource for things like the Header for the report and just bind the items directly?

thanks,

Tim

[Steve]

Hi Timothy,

Report sections (as the name suggests) are part of the report Data Item, thus they depend on its datasource in order to show data. Only Data items can accept datasource and have a NeedDataSource event used for programmatic binding. In order for a report item to show data bound data, its parent should have a DataObject, which in case of a report section is the report. You can find more information in the following articles:

• Binding a Data item to Data
• Using the NeedDataSource event to connect data

Generally, if your datasource is going to be the same for all data items, you can easily accomplish this declaratively through the report designer by using the Bindings property. You can see this in action in the Product Catalog demo report, where the Table item is getting its data from the main report datasource.

Best wishes,
Steve
the Telerik team