How to register SqlDataSource data providers without driver installation

AUTHOR: Todor Arabadzhiev

DATE POSTED: October 13, 2017

Problem

Register .Net Framework data provider for Telerik Reports without installing its driver.

Solution

Telerik Reporting allows fetching data from a variety of data sources (details in this help article). The SqlDataSource component would list and work with any ADO.NET provider that is correctly registered on the device.

The usual way of registering .Net Framework data providers is through installing the corresponding driver. Installation would typically add the required information about the data provider in the machine.config file, and store the necessary assemblies in the Global Assembly Cache (GAC). More information on registering .Net Framework data providers could be found in this MSDN article.

If installation and global registration of additional ADO.NET providers are not desired but is required for data feeding Telerik Reports, you could follow the steps below.

As an example, we would configure Npgsql - a .Net Framework Data Provider for Postgresql Server (version 3.2.1.0) to be used in the Standalone designer.

1. Store the required assemblies in (a subfolder of) the Standalone designer application hosting folder ((appFolder) in the example). We have used the bin subfolder, and therefore configured accordingly the section <probing privatePath=”bin”>. Alternatively, the assemblies could be stored side by side with the designer (.exe file). In this case the <probing> section could be omitted, and the corresponding paths (in the href attribure of the <codeBase> element) in the configuration file should be updated.
2. Register the Data provider assembly (Npgsql) and all its external dependencies (Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Abstractions, Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions, Microsoft.Extensions.Logging, System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation, System.Threading.Tasks.Extensions) in Standalone designer .config (i.e. Telerik.ReportDesigner.exe.config) section <runtime> <assemblyBinding>. The metadata should be provided in the <assemblyIdentity> and <codeBase> tags of the <dependentAssembly> section as shown in the example:
   <runtime>

     <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">

        ..................

       <probing privatePath="bin"/>

        

       <dependentAssembly>

         <assemblyIdentity name="Npgsql" culture="neutral"publicKeyToken="5d8b90d52f46fda7"/>

         <codeBase version="3.2.1.0" href="FILE://(appFolder)/bin/Npgsql.dll"/>

       </dependentAssembly>

       <dependentAssembly>

         <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Abstractions"culture="neutral" publicKeyToken="adb9793829ddae60" />

         <codeBase version="1.1.0.0"href="FILE://(appFolder)/bin/Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Abstractions.dll"/>

       </dependentAssembly>

       <dependentAssembly>

         <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions"culture="neutral" publicKeyToken="adb9793829ddae60" />

         <codeBase version="1.1.0.0"href="FILE://(appFolder)/bin/Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions.dll"/>

       </dependentAssembly>

       <dependentAssembly>

         <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Extensions.Logging" culture="neutral"publicKeyToken="adb9793829ddae60"/>

         <codeBase version="1.1.0.0"href="FILE://(appFolder)/bin/Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.dll"/>

       </dependentAssembly>

       <dependentAssembly>

         <assemblyIdentity name="System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation"culture="neutral" publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a"/>

         <codeBase version="4.0.1.0"href="FILE://(appFolder)/bin/System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation.dll"/>

       </dependentAssembly>

       <dependentAssembly>

         <assemblyIdentity name="System.Threading.Tasks.Extensions" culture="neutral"publicKeyToken="cc7b13ffcd2ddd51" />

         <codeBase version="4.1.0.0"href="FILE://(appFolder)/bin/System.Threading.Tasks.Extensions.dll"/>

       </dependentAssembly>

       ..................

     </assemblyBinding>

   </runtime>
   The list of dependencies might be different if you use a different version of Npgsql data provider.
3. Register the data provider (Npgsql) in the Standalone designer .config (i.e. Telerik.ReportDesigner.exe.config) section <system.data> <DbProviderFactories>
   <system.data>

   .................. 

       <DbProviderFactories>

         <add name="Npgsql Data Provider"

              invariant="Npgsql"

              description=".Net Framework Data Provider for Postgresql Server"

              type="Npgsql.NpgsqlFactory, Npgsql, Version=3.2.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=5d8b90d52f46fda7" />

   ..................

       </DbProviderFactories>

     </system.data>

   With this set up the Standalone designer should successfully find the data provider and grant access to the information stored in the corresponding databases.

   Registering new data providers in the VS Telerik Report designer would require the same configuration code to be added to the VS .config file (i.e. devenv.exe.config) that could be found in (VS_installation_folder)/Common7/IDE, which would become also the (appFolder).