Question “How can I deploy the WebTier to ASP.NET?” Solution This solution has two parts. Use Delphi to build the RB WebTier into a COM object. Use ASP.NET to build a report.aspx page that calls the RB WebTier COM object. Any version of ASP.NET can be used. Download: AspDotNetWebTier.zip WebTier COM Server Use Delphi to Full Article…
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How To…Deploy to Apache
Question “How can I deploy the WebTier to Apache?” Deploying the WebTier on Apache The following is a supplement to the Server Edition Developer’s Guide, installed to …RBServer\Developer’s Guide\RBServer.pdf. This document provides a step-by-step tutorial which shows how to implement the web tier as part of an Apache Shared Module. The web tier acts as Full Article…
Homegrown IntraWeb
TECH TIP: ReportBuilder and IntraWeb Have you considered using ReportBuilder Server Edition to implement the reporting part of you web app? You could still use IntraWeb for the rest of the app. That could save many hours of development time and provide a higher performance, higher quality web reporting solution. Live Demo: www.digital-metaphors.com/RBServerLive Features: https://www.digital-metaphors.com/products/report_server/ Full Article…
Export Formats
TECH TIP: Adding WebTier Export Formats Question: “The web report viewer included with RB Server Edition includes support for exporting reports to PDF format. Is it possible to add export formats to the web report viewer?” Solution: Yes, the web report viewer can be extended to support additional formats. There is an example of adding Full Article…
Explorer Images
The web report explorer generated by the web tier should have the same high resolution images as the client application.
Execute Specified Report
TECH TIP: How can I request that the webtier execute a specified report? Question: “Without using the Web ReportExplorer, how can I request that the webtier execute a specified report?” Solution: The webtier processes requests for web content. These requests consists of The URL for the webtier (example: http://127.0.0.1/rbWebPub/report.dll) A parameter specifying the content type (example: Full Article…
Deploy to an ISP Hosted Server
We do not have any policies against installing RB Server software onto a shared machine. But there may be limitations imposed by your Internet Service Provider that influence the manner in which the report server is deployed. There are actually two applications that you create to implement a web reporting solution: WebTier This is a Full Article…
Content Providers
TECH TIP: WebTier Content Providers The WebTier architecture dispatches WebRequests to appropriate ContentProviders. ContentProviders are responsible for processing a request and generating a response. Requests sent from a web browser to the webtier must include a content parameter. For example: content=Viewer In your WebTier application you can check this by checking TrsWebRequest.ContentType (or by checking Full Article…
CGI Not supported
The WebTier cannot be used to implement a CGI application. The WebTier is designed to support ISAPI, ASP, or Apache Shared Modules. Examples are installed to RBServer\Demos\WebTier. Each example includes a ReadMe.doc. The demos also include an example of using the WebTier in a Delphi WebBroker WebDebugger application. This is recommended for debugging applications. CGI Full Article…
Using Local Interbase
TECH TIP: RB Server and Local Interbase Local Interbase is a desktop database solution and has built-in connectivtiy limitations. One such limitation is that a Window Service application cannot connect to it unless the service application has permission to interact with the desktop. Therefore if you are running a report server application within the context Full Article…
Server Error Messages
TECH TIP: Understanding Server Error Messages Exception messages prefixed with ‘Server Error’ imply that an error occurred on the server, rather than the client or web tier. When an error occurs on the Server, the exception is passed back to the client application and displayed in either an exception dialog box for a thin-client application Full Article…
Test Whether Server is Active
TECH TIP: Testing Whether the Server is Active The following code show how to test whether the server is active. This code uses the TrsClientTcpSocket component to connect to the server. The example shows the code within the context of a Button.OnClick event-handler. However, you could also code this to fire at a specified interval Full Article…
Register Server Components
TECH TIP: Registering Classes with the Server In order to minimize the overhead in reporting applications, ReportBuilder employs a unit level registration scheme (similar to component registration in Delphi.), whereby components and functionality can be added at the discretion of the developer. A report server application needs to include all of the classes required to Full Article…
RB Services AutoRestart
TECH TIP: Testing the ReportBuilder Services Auto-restart Feature If the report server application encounters an unhandled exception then it does the following: Writes the error to the log. Notifies RB Services that it has encountered a fatal exception. Halts execution. RB Services then starts a new report server application process. If you want to test Full Article…
How To…Write to the Server Log
Question “How can write custom information to the server log?” Solution Use the Server.LogWriter object to write to the server log. The LogWriter has a WriteEvent method; see the example code for details on using this method. Download: CustomSeverLogging.zip Sample Delphi code: uses rsServer, rsServerLog; {TfrmServerMain.FormCreate – example of writing to server log from the Full Article…
How To…Use ReportModuleVolume Events
Question “I am registering form based reports with my report server. How can I use ReportModuleVolume event-handlers to control processing on the server?” Solution This example defines a TmyReportModuleVolumeController class that manages the ReportModuleVolume. The ReportModuleVolume is created implicitly by the report catalog when report forms are registered.The ReportModuleVolumeController reads the report volume instance from Full Article…
How To…Thread-safe Logon Validation
Question “How can I perform thread-safe logon validation? I have defined a Server.SessionParameters for UserName and Password and am using the Server.OnValidateSessionParameters event. Solution The Server is a singleton. This example shows how use a Delphi TCriticalSection object to ensure thread safety. Download: CustomSeverLogging.zip Sample Delphi code: uses SyncObjs; {TForm1.FormCreate} procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject); begin FLock Full Article…
How To…Register Report Server
Question “How can I programmatically register my report server with ReportBuilder Services?” Solution RB Server Edition includes a windows service called ReportBuilder Services. ReportBuilder Services can host your report server. For details see RBServer\Windows Services\ReadMe.doc. This example shows how to programmatically register a report server with ReportBuilder Services. Download: RegisterReportServer.zip Sample Delphi code: uses rsWinServiceController; Full Article…
How To…Handle Exceptions
Question “How can I handle exceptions on the Server?” Solution RB Server automatically handles many common exceptions and sends an error message to the client for display. Unhandled exceptions result in a fatal exception error – the server shuts down and tries to restart itself. You can add exception handling to yoru custom code by trapping exceptions Full Article…
How To…Create a Windows Service
Question “How can I run my report server as a Windows Service?” Solution RB Server Edition includes a windows service called ReportBuilder Services. ReportBuilder Services can host your report server. For details see RBServer\Windows Services\ReadMe.doc. A second solution is to create a custom windows service. This is the approach we recommend when multiple report servers Full Article…
Filter Directories
TECH TIP: RB Server – Filtering Report Volume Directory information The RB Server custom parameters demo shows how to provide client applications with customized views of the reports available on the server. A login page is presented to the client that enables the user to specify custom session parameters. In the server application, the TrsReportVolume.OnGetDirectory Full Article…
BDE Out of Memory
TECH TIP: RB Server and the BDE Question: “Why do I get the following error when accessing my report server with several clients: ‘EDBEngineError, Insufficient memory for this operation’?” Answer: For simplicity, the RB Server demos use the BDE and paradox tables. However, in actual use, the BDE is a poor choice for multi-thread server Full Article…
Sever Edition and Enterprise
ReportBuilder Server and Enterprise Relationship ReportBuilder Server Edition currently includes a license to RB Enterprise and a license to RB Server. The Server Edition installation program installs two products: ReportBuilder 7 Enterprise – Installs to Delphi\RBuilder ReportBuilder 7 Server -Installs to Delphi\RBServer If you are upgrading from RB Enterprise, then the installation program will remove Full Article…
How To…Control Session TimeOut
Question “How can I control session time out for my report server application?” Solution The Server and the WebTier both implement session management to speed performance. Sessions time out automatically due to inactivity. The following properties can be used to control session time out: Name Description TrsServer.TimeOut Specifies the time, in seconds, that a Full Article…
Custom Parameters
TECH TIP: Overview of Custom Parameters Architecture I. SessionParameters Each time a client communicates with the server, the client must send the session id. Each time the server receives a client request, it authenticates the request. These are the possible cases: a. No session id specified or invalid session id specified Validate the session parameters Full Article…
Custom Parameter Demos
TECH TIP: RB Server and Custom Parameters The RBServer Custom Parameter demos show how to define custom session and report level parameters that can be used to implement security and other types of custom processing. The are three projects that work together. Each project includes a ReadMe.doc and commented code. RBServer\Demos\Servers\Custom Parameters RBServer\Demos\WebTier\Custom Parameters RBServer\Demos\Clients\Custom Full Article…
Concurrent Browser Connections
TECH TIP: RB Server – Concurrent Browser Connections The link to our live server is: https://www.digital-metaphors.com/RBServerLive The comments we here most often are “WOW, what a great user interface” and ‘Wow, I cannot believe the speed’. The RB Server Solution contains numerous optimizations to maximize performance. However, as a developer, you have great influence over the scalability Full Article…
Licensing
ReportBuilder Server Edition currently includes a single developer license for ReportBuilder Enterprise and a single developer license to ReportBuilder Server. Also included is a Server Deployment license for a single CPU. This enables you to install a report server solution to a single CPU machine. Additional Server Deployment licenses are US $249.00 per CPU. Thus Full Article…
Introduction
The Server Edition makes it easy to create and deploy report applications to the web. Using basic component configuration you can get a Windows service-based report server application up and running, a web application up and running, and have users previewing reports in a web browser in no time. And you can do it all Full Article…
FAQ
Do I have to change all of my reports to get them to work on the server? No. But you do have to provide thread-safe containers for the database connection components needed by your reports. That may sound scary, but it’s really no big deal. The documentation for the Server Edition will include directions for Full Article…
Architecture
ReportBuilder Services ReportBuilder Services is a Windows service designed to act as a host to a report server application. This two-piece architecture isolates a report server application in its own process, allowing it to be started and stopped from the service. By default, the service is configured to start automatically each time the server machine Full Article…
How To…ClientReport via HTTP
Question “How can I use the ClientReport and ClientReportExplorer over HTTP?” Solution 1. Setup a report server and webtier in the standard manner. 2. Configure the ClientReport.ServerConnection to connect to the WebTier over port 80. Sample Delphi code: begin myClientReport.ServerConnection.Address := 'www.digital-metaphors.com/rbWebPub/report.dll'; myClientReport.ServerConnection.Port := 80; myClientReportExplorer.Execute; end;
ClientReport Set Default AutoSearch Expression
TECH TIP: ClientReport – Default AutoSearch Expression The ClientReport.GetAutoSearchParameters method can be used to retrieve Report.AutoSearchFields[] fields from the report server. You can then assign the AutoSearchField.SearchExpression value and call the print method. As an example, add the following code to the RBServer\Demos\Clients\ClientReport example. {———————————————————-} procedure TfrmClientReport.btnPrintClick(Sender: TObject); begin {set the volume and report name} Full Article…
ClientReport Custom AutoSearch
TECH TIP: ClentReport – Custom AutoSearch There are two approaches to customizing autosearch when using the ClientReport component. Customize the built-in autosearch dialog in the same manner as applies to a standard TppReport (see RBuilder\Demos\AutoSearch\Custom AutoSearch Dialog). Use the ClientReport.OnReceiveAutoSearchFieldsEvent. This event fires when the client report receives autosearch fields from the server. In the Full Article…
RichText Explained
TECH TIP: ReportBuilder’s RichText Architecture The RichText in ReportBuilder is a wrapper around Delphi’s TRichEdit which in turn relies on Windows. There are two versions of Windows richedit – RichEd32.dll is the older one and RichEd20.dll is a newer one (RichEd32 is being phased out). Delphi by default relies on RichEd32 – the older version. Full Article…