What's New 2024 Q1

Export to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on Linux

With the previous release, we launched a SkiaSharp-based graphic library for Linux which supported web preview and PDF document generation. With this release, the new engine also covers the listed in the title rendering extensions, enabling developers or business users to deploy their .NET 7+ web app with embedded reporting on a Linux server and export reports in PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats.

Linux Report Engine Now Supports Remote WPF & WinForms Report Viewers

The WPF and WinForms Report Viewer controls enable embedding reporting functionality into your Windows desktop applications. By implementing a remote report generation engine, the displayed reports can have a single unified source allowing easier maintenance and distribution. With the latest release, the Linux flavor of our report engine can also generate report preview assets for both WPF and WinForms Report Viewers to cover the described scenario utilizing this alternative server operating system.

First-Class Integration of Web Report Designer and Viewer

The integration between the Web Report Designer and Viewer introduces a user-friendly feature that streamlines the report modification process. With the ability to switch effortlessly from preview mode to design view in a single click, users gain more flexibility to refine and adjust report definitions on the fly. This enhanced functionality not only accelerates the report creation workflow but also empowers users to make real-time adjustments for a more interactive and iterative approach to report development.

Support for .NET 8 Оfficial

As the next step in our efforts to deliver reliable support for Microsoft’s newest frameworks, and following the evolution of .NET, Telerik Reporting libraries now features compatibility with .NET 8 Official. Additionally, the Standalone Report Designer for .NET (SRD.NET) now targets .NET 8 as well. This enables users to extended it with custom data sources, user functions, and aggregates that also leverage the latest features of .NET 8.

UI/UX Enhancements in Web Report Designer

With the evolution of the embeddable Web Report Designer component we have added a large set of UI/UX features enhancing the end-user experience:

• Tables Column reordering enables easy rearrangement of the columns of the Table item from the design surface. The command is exposed in the context menu for the corresponding column’s handle.
• Properties Area layout got improved making the properties nesting crystal-clear to the eye, and allowing for an easier navigation to a particular property.
• Each property in the Properties Area now shows a tooltip when hovered over to assist when performing tasks like styling an item or setting up conditional formatting. Additionally, a tooltip with the value of each property gets displayed on hover if the value does not fit in the available area.
• The behavior of the Expression builder dialog has been improved by preferring embedded expression generation when appropriate. This helps particularly when working with HtmlTextBox.
• The value of the HtmlTextBox item can now be edited using a WYSIWYG editor allowing easy rich text input.
• Improved Bindings Editor populates the available binding paths in Web Report Designer.

Improved Error Handling When Previewing Reports

With this update, selected errors that may arise while processing a report will bubble to the report viewer controls. Such errors include connectivity issues to a WebServiceDataSource for example. This direct feedback mechanism facilitates a quicker and more precise resolution of issues, allowing developers (and report authors in general) to address and fix reported errors with enhanced efficiency, ultimately leading to a smoother and more responsive reporting experience.

Office Open XML Export Formats Now Depend on the New Open XML SDK

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint export formats now depend on the latest Open XML SDK version 3.0.1 developed by Microsoft. This new version of the library comes with significant API changes, so all customers who use it together with Telerik Reporting  will have time to migrate. We introduced this updated dependency as a separate, dedicated NuGet packet named Telerik.Reporting.OpenXmlRendering3.

FIPS-Compatible Image Handling

All image assets resolved from the report generation engine get cached for optimized performance when reused. This logic is now reimplemented to meet the FIPS security regulation requirements. With that, the whole report generation engine becomes FIPS-compliant to meet your regulation needs. Keep in mind that the old binary Excel format (.xls) cannot be FIPS compliant by its specification. If needed you can disable it so it won't be invoked.

New VS Code Extension to Jumpstart Your Reporting-Enabled Angular App

This new extension helps you to integrate the client-side Report Viewer component into your application in a more visual manner. Its initial version automates the embedding of the dedicated Angular Report Viewer (Native) into your Angular 17 application. The visual wizard prompts for the essential viewer properties to display a report: report service address and Report name. Additionally, it provides prompts for multiple Angular-specific attributes related to the organization of the code in your project. This streamlines the adoption of the reporting technology and boosts your productivity.