Quick Start to Running Visual FoxPro Reports using the Mind's Eye Report Engine

All of the code on this page can be used in Visual FoxPro version 6.0 and above. To test the code with the Mind's Eye Report Engine simply highlight the code here on the web page and then cut and paste the code into the VFP Command Window. Then highlight all of the code and hit the Enter Key to execute the code in the VFP Command Window. You can also cut and paste the code into a PRG file and run the PRG file as well. Make sure that you use the SET PATH TO command to make sure that the MindsEyeReportEngine Class Library can be found. Otherwise, you must place the path into the SET CLASSLIB TO line of code for all of the examples.

 

Previewing a VFP FRX Report

It is very easy to run a Visual FoxPro FRX Report with the included Visual Class Library. The only code

SET CLASSLIB TO MindsEyeReportEngine

PUBLIC oRPT

oReportEngine = CREATEOBJECT('MindsEyeReportEngine')

* The following line of code runs the VFP Report and returns an

* Object Reference to a VFP Form hosting the Report Engine ActiveX Control

oRPT = oReportEngine.ReportFormObject('SomeReport.FRX')

oRPT.Show()

 

After running the code above, the report will be displayed inside the ActiveX control which is hosted by a Visual FoxPro Form.

 

 

Running VFP FRX Reports without a User Interface

If for example, you wish to generate PDF documents from a VFP FRX Report without a User Interface for example on a Web Server, you can use the Mind's Eye Report Engine to quickly generate reports and return them over the web or email them to users.

SET CLASSLIB TO MindsEyeReportEngine

oReportEngine = CREATEOBJECT('MindsEyeReportEngine')

PUBLIC oRPT

oRPT = oReportEngine.ReportFormObject('SomeReport.FRX')

oRPT.oReportEngine.SaveToPDF('SomeReport.PDF')  && Saves the report to a PDF document

oRPT.oReportEngine.PrintReport() && Prints to the Currently Selected Printer

oRPT.oReportEngine.PrintReport(GETPRINTER()) && Uses Printer Name from the VFP GETPRINTER() Function

 

* NOW EMAIL THE REPORT WITHOUT ANY USER INTERFACE

WITH oRPT.oReportEngine

    .EMAILMessagingType = 0 && SMTP = 0, MAPI = 1

    .EMAILSMTPHost      = 'yourSMTPhost.com'

    .EMAILRecipients    = 'someone@hotmail.com'
    .EMAILFromAddress   = 'me@hotmail.com'
    .EMAILBody          = 'This is the body text for the email message'
    .EMAIKSubject       = 'EMAIL Subject goes here!'
    .EMAILAttachmentFileName = 'My Report.PDF'
    .SendMail()   
     && NOW SEND THE EMAIL USING THE SENDMAIL METHOD
ENDWITH

oRPT = NULL

 

Report Engine Object Speed

The following example demonstrates using the Mind's Eye Report Engine without using an FRX Report. This example adds 1000 pages into the Report Engine using the NewPageByPaperSize() Method and sets the WatermarkText and WatermarkRotationAngle Properties for each of those pages. Then after it has created the 1000 pages and set the Watermark Properties, it uses the GoToPage() Method to display all of the pages in the Report Engine.

SET CLASSLIB TO MindsEyeReportPreviewForms

PUBLIC oRPT

oRPT = CREATEOBJECT('MindsEyeReportPreviewForm')

FOR i = 1 TO 999

    WITH oRPT.oReportEngine

        .WatermarkText = 'Draft Copy'

        .WatermarkRotationAngle = i

        .NewPageByPaperSize(1)

    ENDWITH

ENDFOR

oRPT.oReportEngine.WatermarkText = 'Draft Copy'

oRPT.SHOW()

* Now just for fun demonstrate that each page actually has it's own Watermark Properties

FOR i = 1 TO oRPT.oReportEngine.nTotalPages
    oRPT.oReportEngine.GotoPage(i)
ENDFOR
 

Placing Charts into the Report Engine

The Mind's Eye Report Engine has a built in Charting Engine, so that charts can be added to your reports to be printed or saved to PDF files. The following example demonstrates how to programmatically generate a Chart within the Report Engine:

SET CLASSLIB TO MindsEyeReportPreviewForms
PUBLIC oRPT
oRPT = CREATEOBJECT('mindseyereportpreviewform')
oRPT.Top = 10
oRPT.Left = 20
oRPT.Width = 600
oRPT.Height = 800
 

WITH oRPT.oReportEngine
    .AddChart('',1,1,1,6,5)

    .ChartSeriesTitle = 'Portfolio'
    .ChartSeriesColor = 16744576
    .ChartAddXYData(4.8,0,'Sep 02',16744576)

    .ChartAddXYData(4.1,0,'Dec 02',16744576)

    .ChartAddXYData(3.8,0,'Mar 03',16744576)
    .ChartAddXYData(3.4,0,'Jun 03',16744576)
    .ChartAddSeries(1,'Index 1',4194432)
    .ChartAddXYData(4.2,0,'Sep 02',4194432)
    .ChartAddXYData(3.8,0,'Dec 02',4194432)
    .ChartAddXYData(3.5,0,'Mar 03',4194432)
    .ChartAddXYData(3.1,0,'Jun 03',4194432)
    .ChartAddSeries(1,'Index 2',14089977)
    .ChartAddXYData(3.6,0,'Sep 02',14089977)
    .ChartAddXYData(3.2,0,'Dec 02',14089977)
    .ChartAddXYData(2.7,0,'Mar 03',14089977)
    .ChartAddXYData(2.5,0,'Jun 03',14089977)
    .ChartTitle = 'Portfolio VS Benchmark'
    .ChartXAxisTitle = 'Period'
    .ChartXAxisFontSize = 16
    .ChartYAxisTitle = 'Return'
    .ChartYAxisFontSize = 16
    .ChartSeriesMarksVisible = .f.
ENDWITH

oRPT.Show()
 

 

Specifying the Printer Tray for Individual Pages

Each page in the Report Engine can be pulled from a different tray automatically while printing by assigning the PAPERBIN Property to a specific bin number. The PAPERBIN values are the same as those described in the WINDOWS.H Header File. The following example demonstrates how to assign the Printer Tray for each individual page in a Report using the PAPERBIN Property. Please note that not all printers support all of the values since each printer may not have all the trays that can possibly be specified by the values below. However, you can loop through the pages in the report engine and assign the PAPERBIN property for each and every page. For example, if you wanted the first page to be printed onto Letterhead that is placed in the LOWER TRAY, then set the PAPERBIN Property to 2 for the first page in the report engine. All other PAPERBIN values will be set to 0 and will be pulled from the AUTO tray unless specified otherwise.

 

DMBIN_UPPER = 1
DMBIN_FIRST = DMBIN_UPPER
DMBIN_ONLYONE = 1
DMBIN_LOWER = 2
DMBIN_MIDDLE = 3
DMBIN_MANUAL = 4
DMBIN_ENVELOPE = 5
DMBIN_ENVMANUAL = 6
DMBIN_AUTO = 7
DMBIN_TRACTOR = 8
DMBIN_SMALLFMT = 9
DMBIN_LARGEFMT = 10
DMBIN_LARGECAPACITY = 11
DMBIN_CASSETTE = 14
DMBIN_LAST = DMBIN_CASSETTE

DMBIN_USER = 256 (Values that are 256 and above are User Defined and vary by printer)
 

SET CLASSLIB TO MindsEyeReportPreviewForms

PUBLIC oRPT

oRPT = CREATEOBJECT('MindsEyeReportPreviewForm')

WITH oRPT.oReportEngine

    .WatermarkText = 'LOWER TRAY'

    .PAPERBIN = 2    && DMBIN_LOWER

    .NewPageByPaperSize(1)

    .WatermarkText = 'DEFAULT TRAY'

    .NewPageByPaperSize(1)

    .WatermarkText = 'MANUAL FEED'

    .PAPERBIN = 4    && DMBIN_MANUAL

    .FirstPage()

ENDWITH

oRPT.SHOW()

* Now call the PrintReport Method to print the pages.

oRPT.oReportEngine.PrintReport()

 

 


Copyright © 1999-2008 Mind's Eye Inc.
Last modified: March 02, 2009