Walkthrough: Printing a Local Report without Preview

Article
07/13/2009

This walkthrough shows how to programmatically print a report without viewing it, using the LocalReport object and the CreateStreamCallback callback function.

Prerequisites

You must have access to the sample report and data source. For more information, see Sample Data and Report for Print Walkthrough.

Perform the following steps to create a Microsoft Visual Studio Console application project.

Create a new console application project

On the File menu, point to New, and then select Project.
In the Project Types pane, choose Visual C# or Visual Basic and Windows.
In the Templates pane, choose Console Application to create a Microsoft Console application.
In the Name box, type the name of the project: PrintLocalReport.
In the Location box, enter the directory in which you want to save your project, or click Browse to navigate to it. The project opens with the Code window showing the Program code file.

Add references

From the Project menu, select Add Reference. The Add Reference dialog box will appear.
From the list box displayed on the .NET tab, select System.Drawing, System.Windows.Forms, and Microsoft.Reporting.Winforms.

Add existing files report.rdlc and data.xml

From the Project menu, select Add Existing Item. The Add Existing Item dialog box will appear.
Navigate to the folder where you saved report.rdlc and data.xml. Select both files.
Click Add. The two files appear in Solution Explorer as part of the project.

Add the code

The Program code file should already be open for editing. If it is not, double-click on the Program.cs or Module1.vb file in the Solution Explorer window.

Replace existing code in the Program file with the following code of your programming language choice.

For Visual C#, use the following code.

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Data;
using System.Text;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using System.Drawing.Printing;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Microsoft.Reporting.WinForms;

public class Demo : IDisposable
{
    private int m_currentPageIndex;
    private IList<Stream> m_streams;

    private DataTable LoadSalesData()
    {
        // Create a new DataSet and read sales data file 
        //    data.xml into the first DataTable.
        DataSet dataSet = new DataSet();
        dataSet.ReadXml(@"..\..\data.xml");
        return dataSet.Tables[0];
    }
    // Routine to provide to the report renderer, in order to
    //    save an image for each page of the report.
    private Stream CreateStream(string name,
      string fileNameExtension, Encoding encoding,
      string mimeType, bool willSeek)
    {
        Stream stream = new FileStream(@"..\..\" + name +
           "." + fileNameExtension, FileMode.Create);
        m_streams.Add(stream);
        return stream;
    }
    // Export the given report as an EMF (Enhanced Metafile) file.
    private void Export(LocalReport report)
    {
        string deviceInfo =
          "<DeviceInfo>" +
          "  <OutputFormat>EMF</OutputFormat>" +
          "  <PageWidth>8.5in</PageWidth>" +
          "  <PageHeight>11in</PageHeight>" +
          "  <MarginTop>0.25in</MarginTop>" +
          "  <MarginLeft>0.25in</MarginLeft>" +
          "  <MarginRight>0.25in</MarginRight>" +
          "  <MarginBottom>0.25in</MarginBottom>" +
          "</DeviceInfo>";
        Warning[] warnings;
        m_streams = new List<Stream>();
        report.Render("Image", deviceInfo, CreateStream,
           out warnings);
        foreach (Stream stream in m_streams)
            stream.Position = 0;
    }
    // Handler for PrintPageEvents
    private void PrintPage(object sender, PrintPageEventArgs ev)
    {
        Metafile pageImage = new
           Metafile(m_streams[m_currentPageIndex]);
        ev.Graphics.DrawImage(pageImage, ev.PageBounds);
        m_currentPageIndex++;
        ev.HasMorePages = (m_currentPageIndex < m_streams.Count);
    }

    private void Print()
    {
        const string printerName =
           "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer";
        if (m_streams == null || m_streams.Count == 0)
            return;
        PrintDocument printDoc = new PrintDocument();
        printDoc.PrinterSettings.PrinterName = printerName;
        if (!printDoc.PrinterSettings.IsValid)
        {
            string msg = String.Format(
               "Can't find printer \"{0}\".", printerName);
            MessageBox.Show(msg, "Print Error");
            return;
        }
        printDoc.PrintPage += new PrintPageEventHandler(PrintPage);
        printDoc.Print();
    }
    // Create a local report for Report.rdlc, load the data,
    //    export the report to an .emf file, and print it.
    private void Run()
    {
        LocalReport report = new LocalReport();
        report.ReportPath = @"..\..\Report.rdlc";
        report.DataSources.Add(
           new ReportDataSource("Sales", LoadSalesData()));
        Export(report);
        m_currentPageIndex = 0;
        Print();
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        if (m_streams != null)
        {
            foreach (Stream stream in m_streams)
                stream.Close();
            m_streams = null;
        }
    }

    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        using (Demo demo = new Demo())
        {
            demo.Run();
        }
    }
}

For Visual Basic, use the following code.

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Text
Imports System.Drawing.Imaging
Imports System.Drawing.Printing
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports Microsoft.Reporting.WinForms

Public Class Demo
    Implements IDisposable

    Private m_currentPageIndex As Integer
    Private m_streams As IList(Of Stream)

    Private Function LoadSalesData() As DataTable
        Dim dataSet As New DataSet()
        dataSet.ReadXml("..\..\data.xml")
        Return dataSet.Tables(0)
    End Function

    Private Function CreateStream(ByVal name As String, _
       ByVal fileNameExtension As String, _
       ByVal encoding As Encoding, ByVal mimeType As String, _
       ByVal willSeek As Boolean) As Stream
        Dim stream As Stream = _
            New FileStream("..\..\" + _
             name + "." + fileNameExtension, FileMode.Create)
        m_streams.Add(stream)
        Return stream
    End Function

    Private Sub Export(ByVal report As LocalReport)
        Dim deviceInfo As String = _
          "<DeviceInfo>" + _
          "  <OutputFormat>EMF</OutputFormat>" + _
          "  <PageWidth>8.5in</PageWidth>" + _
          "  <PageHeight>11in</PageHeight>" + _
          "  <MarginTop>0.25in</MarginTop>" + _
          "  <MarginLeft>0.25in</MarginLeft>" + _
          "  <MarginRight>0.25in</MarginRight>" + _
          "  <MarginBottom>0.25in</MarginBottom>" + _
          "</DeviceInfo>"
        Dim warnings() As Warning = Nothing
        m_streams = New List(Of Stream)()
        report.Render("Image", deviceInfo, AddressOf CreateStream, _
           warnings)

        Dim stream As Stream
        For Each stream In m_streams
            stream.Position = 0
        Next
    End Sub

    Private Sub PrintPage(ByVal sender As Object, _
    ByVal ev As PrintPageEventArgs)
        Dim pageImage As New Metafile(m_streams(m_currentPageIndex))
        ev.Graphics.DrawImage(pageImage, ev.PageBounds)

        m_currentPageIndex += 1
        ev.HasMorePages = (m_currentPageIndex < m_streams.Count)
    End Sub

    Private Sub Print()
        Const printerName As String = _
          "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer"

        If m_streams Is Nothing Or m_streams.Count = 0 Then
            Return
        End If

        Dim printDoc As New PrintDocument()
        printDoc.PrinterSettings.PrinterName = printerName
        If Not printDoc.PrinterSettings.IsValid Then
            Dim msg As String = String.Format( _
                "Can't find printer ""{0}"".", printerName)
            Console.WriteLine(msg)
            Return
        End If
        AddHandler printDoc.PrintPage, AddressOf PrintPage
        printDoc.Print()
    End Sub

    Private Sub Run()
        Dim report As LocalReport = New LocalReport()
        report.ReportPath = "..\..\Report.rdlc"
        report.DataSources.Add(New ReportDataSource("Sales", _
           LoadSalesData()))

        Export(report)

        m_currentPageIndex = 0
        Print()
    End Sub

    Public Overloads Sub Dispose() Implements IDisposable.Dispose
        If Not (m_streams Is Nothing) Then
            Dim stream As Stream
            For Each stream In m_streams
                stream.Close()
            Next
            m_streams = Nothing
        End If
    End Sub

    Public Shared Sub Main(ByVal args As String())
        Using demo As Demo = New Demo()
            demo.Run()
        End Using
    End Sub
End Class

Build and run the application

On the Build menu, click on Build Solution to build the application. As part of the build process, the report is compiled and any errors found (such as a syntax error in an expression used in the report) are added to the Task List.
Press F5 to run the application.

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Walkthrough: Printing a Local Report without Preview

Prerequisites

Create a new console application project

Add references

Add existing files report.rdlc and data.xml

Add the code

Build and run the application

See Also

Reference

Other Resources

Additional resources