XtraPrinting Library

The XtraPrinting Library is our 100% C# data rendering and visualization system, built specifically for Visual Studio .NET and designed to bring your User Interface to the printed page.

When you start using the XtraPrinting Library, you will be able to print the contents of advanced visual controls such as the XtraGrid and XtraTreeList with ease - without any hassle and offer your end-users a nearly unlimited series of "reports" without actually having to create a single one using a traditional report writer.

Like all Developer Express technologies for Visual Studio .NET, the XtraPrinting Library helps you put control back into the hands of your end-users via a runtime interface that is easy to use, with an astounding level of flexibility.

When you combine the XtraPrinting Library with the XtraGrid, XtraPivotGrid, XtraScheduler or other Developer Express suites, you get the threefold benefit of eliminating the tedium associated with creating traditional banded reports, greatly reducing deve

No longer will you have to create and re-create reports because of simple changes to your database or requests by users to group/sort data by new columns.

No longer will you have to pull your hair out when a user requests a new report that was not in the original spec. By combining the XtraPrinting Library with the XtraGrid and/or XtraScheduler controls, your end-users can arrange data in any manner they see fit, and then print the contents of the control exactly as it appears on-screen.

The resulting document created by the XtraPrinting Library can be exported to various formats directly from the preview window. The XtraPrinting library supports exporting to PDF, HTML (plus MHT), TXT (plus CSV), XLS, RTF, Image (BMP, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, PNG, EMF) formats - all the formats you could possibly need!

Here are some key features of "XtraPrinting Library":

￭ Windows Forms Controls - With the XtraPrinting Library you're able to automatically preview and print standard DataGrid, TreeView, ListView and RichTextBox controls. The XtraPrinting library contains printing links specifically designed to support advanced printing of these standard Windows Forms Controls. ￭ Developer Express Controls - Most of the Developer Express controls (such as the XtraGrid, XtraPivotGrid, XtraTreeList, XtraVerticalGrid, XtraScheduler, XtraCharts, XtraLayoutControl) can be printed with the XtraPrinting Library. If you have the library installed on your machine, you're able to print all of these controls with just a single line of code. ￭ Any Other Controls - The Flexible API which is provided with the library lets you implement your own printing (called custom printing links) for any other Windows Forms controls. This means that you're able to preview, print and export any of your custom controls in a Windows Forms application.

￭ A Large Set of Export Formats Supported - A document can be exported in various formats with the XtraPrinting Library. Exporting to PDF, HTML (plus MHT), TXT (plus CSV), XLS, RTF, and various Image (BMP, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, PNG, EMF) formats are all supported � basically, all the formats you could possibly need. ￭ Send via E-Mail - If your end-users want to be able not only to export the created document, but also to send it via e-mail, they can do this directly in the print preview window. They just click the appropriate button on the toolbar, select the file format, fill in the e-mail details - and that's it!

￭ Banded Document Structure - A document created with the XtraPrinting Library has a banded structure, and consists of a number of sections of different types. Besides allowing you to insert detail data, it allows you to insert groups, report page headers and footers, and even insert data into page margins. ￭ Brick as an Atom Element - Every element in a document has a Brick as its base. There are a number of different brick types in the XtraPrinting Library, and when you need to implement a custom printing procedure, you can always find a brick type to suit your needs. ￭ Multiple Events for a Brick - Bricks in XtraPrinting provide a lot of events allowing you to tackle many different tasks. For instance, you can handle an end-user's click in the Preview to open another document's preview when implementing a master-detail report hierarchy. ￭ Ability to Create Custom Brick Types - If, in some rare cases, the current types of the XtraPrinting bricks don't suit your needs, you can easily create custom ones by inheriting from any of the existing bricks. ￭ Page Numbers and Summaries - XtraPrinting provides a number of methods to insert page numbers in a document. You can also insert page summaries which will be recalculated every time a page's layout is changed. ￭ Print and Preview - You can either print your reports directly on a particular printer, or first preview them in a preview window, and then export them, or send them to any printer you want.

￭ Preview Form and Preview Control - Previewing a report is really easy in XtraPrinting. You only need to write a single line of code to invoke the enhanced preview window and display a document in it. You're also able to show a report's preview in any custom form using the PrintControl which is shipped with the XtraPrinting library. ￭ Customize the Preview - If you're not satisfied with the look and feel of the standard preview window, or you want to hide certain toolbar buttons, or add your own commands to it; you're able to customize the preview window as you need. ￭ Full Skins Support - For applications that require a unique visual presentation, the XtraPrinting Library (and all other Developer Express WinForms visual controls) fully support Skins. With eight built-in skins, and the ability to create your own unique skins, XtraPrinting allows you to design the 'perfect' look and feel. By using Skins you can introduce the XP look and feel experience into applications that are not running under the XP Operating System. ￭ Control Scale and Zoom - Using the Preview window provided with XtraPrinting it's really easy to set the desired scale and zoom level for a previewed document. An end-user can just click the toolbar button and choose the desired value from a drop-down list, or enter a custom value. ￭ Page Setup Dialog - Specifying a printer, selecting which pages are printed, and any other printing options - can all be done directly in the Preview window. An end-user can set report parameters via the Page Setup dialog window, which can be invoked via the corresponding toolbar button. ￭ Customizable Margins in Preview - It's also possible to modify a report's characteristics while in preview mode. For instance, an end-user can change the value of any margin directly in the Preview window, and the document will immediately be recreated. ￭ Facing and Continuous Page Layout - A document can be previewed in two modes - facing and continuous. When the Facing layout is active, the pages are arranged side-by-side. In Continuous mode, the pages are arranged as a continuous vertical column. ￭ Multiple Pages Layout - Displays a fixed number of report pages on screen regardless of the window size. ￭ Watermark and Background Color - Specify a color to fill pages within the Color Selection dialog, or add text or an image watermark.

Requirements:

￭ .NET framework

Limitations:

￭ The demo has limited practical functionality as its main function is to be a tutorial.

Note: XtraPrinting Library is part of the DXperience unified installer.