DevExpress Reporting in ASP.NET Zero (ASP.NET Core & Angular version)

ASP.NET Zero, with its modular and extensible architecture, provides a solid foundation for developing robust web applications. By combining the capabilities of DevExpress Reporting with ASP.NET Zero, you can effortlessly create and customize visually appealing reports that meet your business requirements.

Server Side

1. Download DevExpress Reporting.
2. Open your ASP.NET Zero project.
3. Import DevExpress.AspNetCore.Reporting package to [YOURAPPNAME].Web.Host project.
4. Then go to Startup.cs and add these code parts:

public IServiceProvider ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    //...
    services.AddDevExpressControls(); //add this line
}

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env, ILoggerFactory loggerFactory)
{
    //...
    app.UseDevExpressControls(); //add this line
}

5. Now, you can create a sample report to test if it all works. Go to [YOURAPPNAME].Web.Host and create a folder named Reports.
6. Right click on the Reports folder then click Add -> New Item, then select DevExpress Report item.
7. Select Blank report in the opening wizard, and create new empty report named SampleReport.

(Design your report as you wish)

Custom Controllers

DevExpress Reporting has some abstract Controller definitions which we must implement. You can create Controllers below in your *.Web.Host project.

[ApiExplorerSettings(IgnoreApi = true)]
public class CustomWebDocumentViewerController : WebDocumentViewerController, ITransientDependency
{
    public CustomWebDocumentViewerController(IWebDocumentViewerMvcControllerService controllerService) : base(controllerService)
    {
    }
}

[ApiExplorerSettings(IgnoreApi = true)]
public class CustomReportDesignerController : ReportDesignerController, ITransientDependency
{
    public CustomReportDesignerController(IReportDesignerMvcControllerService controllerService) : base(controllerService)
    {
    }
}

[ApiExplorerSettings(IgnoreApi = true)]
public class CustomQueryBuilderController : QueryBuilderController, ITransientDependency
{
    public CustomQueryBuilderController(IQueryBuilderMvcControllerService controllerService) : base(controllerService)
    {
    }
}

Reports Factory

Create a factory class which provides reports by name ReportsFactory

ReportsFactory.cs

public static class ReportsFactory
{
    public static Dictionary<string, Func<XtraReport>> Reports = new Dictionary<string, Func<XtraReport>>()
    {
        ["SampleReport"] = () => new SampleReport()
    };
}

Custom Report Storage Extension

Create a class named CustomReportStorageWebExtension as seen below

CustomReportStorageWebExtension.cs

public class CustomReportStorageWebExtension : DevExpress.XtraReports.Web.Extensions.ReportStorageWebExtension
{
    readonly string ReportDirectory;
    const string FileExtension = ".repx";
    public CustomReportStorageWebExtension(IWebHostEnvironment env)
    {
        ReportDirectory = Path.Combine(env.ContentRootPath, "Reports");
        if (!Directory.Exists(ReportDirectory))
        {
            Directory.CreateDirectory(ReportDirectory);
        }
    }

    private bool IsWithinReportsFolder(string url, string folder)
    {
        var rootDirectory = new DirectoryInfo(folder);
        var fileInfo = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(folder, url));
        return fileInfo.Directory.FullName.ToLower().StartsWith(rootDirectory.FullName.ToLower());
    }

    public override bool CanSetData(string url)
    {
        // Determines whether or not it is possible to store a report by a given URL. 
        // For instance, make the CanSetData method return false for reports that should be read-only in your storage. 
        // This method is called only for valid URLs (i.e., if the IsValidUrl method returned true) before the SetData method is called.

        return true;
    }

    public override bool IsValidUrl(string url)
    {
        // Determines whether or not the URL passed to the current Report Storage is valid. 
        // For instance, implement your own logic to prohibit URLs that contain white spaces or some other special characters. 
        // This method is called before the CanSetData and GetData methods.

        return Path.GetFileName(url) == url;
    }

    public override byte[] GetData(string url)
    {
        // Returns report layout data stored in a Report Storage using the specified URL. 
        // This method is called only for valid URLs after the IsValidUrl method is called.
        try
        {
            if (Directory.EnumerateFiles(ReportDirectory).Select(Path.GetFileName).Contains(url))
            {
                return File.ReadAllBytes(Path.Combine(ReportDirectory, url + FileExtension));
            }
            if (ReportsFactory.Reports.ContainsKey(url))
            {
                using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
                {
                    ReportsFactory.Reports[url]().SaveLayoutToXml(ms);
                    return ms.ToArray();
                }
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            throw new DevExpress.XtraReports.Web.ClientControls.FaultException("Could not get report data.", ex);
        }
        throw new DevExpress.XtraReports.Web.ClientControls.FaultException(string.Format("Could not find report '{0}'.", url));
    }

    public override Dictionary<string, string> GetUrls()
    {
        // Returns a dictionary of the existing report URLs and display names. 
        // This method is called when running the Report Designer, 
        // before the Open Report and Save Report dialogs are shown and after a new report is saved to a storage.

        return Directory.GetFiles(ReportDirectory, "*" + FileExtension)
            .Select(Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension)
            .Union(ReportsFactory.Reports.Select(x => x.Key))
            .ToDictionary<string, string>(x => x);
    }

    public override void SetData(XtraReport report, string url)
    {
        // Stores the specified report to a Report Storage using the specified URL. 
        // This method is called only after the IsValidUrl and CanSetData methods are called.
        if (!IsWithinReportsFolder(url, ReportDirectory))
            throw new DevExpress.XtraReports.Web.ClientControls.FaultException("Invalid report name.");
        report.SaveLayoutToXml(Path.Combine(ReportDirectory, url + FileExtension));
    }

    public override string SetNewData(XtraReport report, string defaultUrl)
    {
        // Stores the specified report using a new URL. 
        // The IsValidUrl and CanSetData methods are never called before this method. 
        // You can validate and correct the specified URL directly in the SetNewData method implementation 
        // and return the resulting URL used to save a report in your storage.
        SetData(report, defaultUrl);
        return defaultUrl;
    }
}

Add CustomReportStorageWebExtension to dependency injection

public IServiceProvider ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    services.AddDevExpressControls();
    services.AddScoped<ReportStorageWebExtension, CustomReportStorageWebExtension>();//add this line

Client Side

1. Go to package.json and add following dependencies. (It is located in angular project) We have used the version 23.1.6 which is the latest version when this document is created. You can use the latest version.

dependencies: [
    "devextreme": "^23.1.6",
    "devextreme-angular": "^23.1.6",    
    "@devexpress/analytics-core": "^23.1.6",
    "devexpress-reporting-angular": "^23.1.6"
]

Note: Version of the nuget and npm packages should match

2. Create a folder named sample-report under src\app\admin folder and then create a new component named sample-report as shown below.

sample-report.component.html

<div [@routerTransition]>
    <div class="content d-flex flex-column flex-column-fluid">
        <sub-header [title]="'SampleReport' | localize">
        </sub-header>

        <div [class]="containerClass">
            <div class="card card-custom">
                <div class="card-body">
                    <dx-report-viewer [reportUrl]="reportUrl" height="400px">
                        <dxrv-request-options [invokeAction]="invokeAction" [host]="hostUrl"></dxrv-request-options>
                    </dx-report-viewer>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

sample-report.component.ts

import {Component, Injector, OnInit, ViewEncapsulation} from '@angular/core';
import {AppComponentBase} from "@shared/common/app-component-base";
import {appModuleAnimation} from "@shared/animations/routerTransition";

@Component({
    selector: 'app-sample-report',
    encapsulation: ViewEncapsulation.None,
    templateUrl: './sample-report.component.html',
    styleUrls: ['./sample-report.component.css',
        '../../../../node_modules/devextreme/dist/css/dx.common.css',
        '../../../../node_modules/devextreme/dist/css/dx.light.css',
        '../../../../node_modules/@devexpress/analytics-core/dist/css/dx-analytics.common.css',
        '../../../../node_modules/@devexpress/analytics-core/dist/css/dx-analytics.light.css',
        '../../../../node_modules/devexpress-reporting/dist/css/dx-webdocumentviewer.css'
    ],
    animations: [appModuleAnimation()]
})
export class SampleReportComponent extends AppComponentBase implements OnInit {

    title = 'DXReportViewerSample';
    reportUrl = 'SampleReport';
    hostUrl = 'https://localhost:44301/';
    invokeAction = 'DXXRDV';

    constructor(
        injector: Injector
    ) {
        super(injector);
    }

    ngOnInit(): void {
    }
}

3. Create sample-report module

   import {NgModule} from '@angular/core';
   import {SampleReportRoutingModule} from './sample-report-routing.module';
   import {SampleReportComponent} from './sample-report.component';
   import {AppSharedModule} from "@app/shared/app-shared.module";
   import {AdminSharedModule} from "@app/admin/shared/admin-shared.module";
   import {DxReportViewerModule} from "@node_modules/devexpress-reporting-angular";
   
   
   @NgModule({
       declarations: [SampleReportComponent],
       imports: [
           AppSharedModule,
           AdminSharedModule,
           SampleReportRoutingModule,
           DxReportViewerModule
       ],
       exports:[DxReportViewerModule]
   })
   export class SampleReportModule {
   }
   

4. Create sample-report-routing.module.ts routing module

   import {NgModule} from '@angular/core';
   import {RouterModule, Routes} from '@angular/router';
   import {SampleReportComponent} from './sample-report.component';
   
   const routes: Routes = [{
       path: '',
       component: SampleReportComponent,
       pathMatch: 'full'
   }];
   
   @NgModule({
       imports: [RouterModule.forChild(routes)],
       exports: [RouterModule]
   })
   export class SampleReportRoutingModule {
   }
   

5. Add sample report route to admin-routing.module.ts

   {
   	path: 'sample-report',
   	loadChildren: () => import('./sample-report/sample-report.module').then(m => m.SampleReportModule)
   }
   

You can also add sample-report to navigation menu or you can manually visit http://localhost:4200/app/admin/sample-report