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Save and Load Report Files (RDF)
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ActiveReports 6 > ActiveReports User Guide > How To > Save and Load Report Files (RDF)

Glossary Item Box

ActiveReports allows reports to be saved into their own standard format called an RDF file (Report Document Format). In this format, the data is static. The saved report displays the data that is retrieved when you run the report. Once a report has been saved to an RDF file, it can be loaded into the viewer control.

To save a report as a static RDF file

  1. Double-click the title bar of the Windows Form to create a Form Load event.
  2. Add the following code to run and save the report.

ShowTo save the report to RDF format in Visual Basic.NET

Visual Basic.NET code. Paste INSIDE the Form load event. Copy Code
Dim rpt As New rptYourReportName()
rpt.Run()
rpt.Document.Save(Application.StartupPath + "\\NewRDF.RDF")

ShowTo save the report to RDF format in C#

C# code. Paste INSIDE the Form load event. Copy Code
ActiveReport1 rpt = new ActiveReport1();
rpt.Run();
rpt.Document.Save(Application.StartupPath + \\NewRDF.RDF);

To load a saved RDF file into the ActiveReports viewer

The Windows Form Viewer can display RDF files made with any version of ActiveReports, including COM versions. The FlashViewer viewer type of the WebViewer (Professional Edition) may be able to display RDF files made with previous versions, but this is not guaranteed for every RDF.

  1. Double-click the title bar of the Windows Form to create a Form Load event.
  2. Add the following code to load the saved report.

ShowTo load an RDF file in Visual Basic.NET

Visual Basic.NET code. Paste INSIDE the Form load event. Copy Code
Viewer1.Document.Load(Application.StartupPath + \\NewRDF.RDF)

ShowTo load an RDF file in C#

C# code. Paste INSIDE the Form load event. Copy Code
viewer1.Document.Load(Application.StartupPath + \\NewRDF.RDF);

To save or load report files to a memory stream

  1. Double-click the title bar of the Windows Form to create an event-handling method for the Form_Load event.
  2. Add code to the handler to save the report to a memory stream and load the memory stream into the ActiveReports viewer.

The following examples show what the code for the method looks like.

ShowTo write the code in Visual Basic.NET

Visual Basic.NET code. Paste INSIDE the Form Load event. Copy Code
Dim strm As New System.IO.MemoryStream()
Dim rpt As New rptMemoryStream()
rpt.Run()
rpt.Document.Save(strm)
Dim theBytes(strm.Length) As Byte
strm.Read(theBytes, 0, Int(strm.Length))
strm.Position = 0
Viewer1.Document.Load(strm)

ShowTo write the code in C#

C# code. Paste INSIDE the Form Load event. Copy Code
System.IO.MemoryStream strm = new System.IO.MemoryStream();
rptMemoryStream rpt = new rptMemoryStream();
rpt.Run();
rpt.Document.Save(strm);
byte[] theBytes = new byte[strm.Length];
strm.Read(theBytes, 0, (int)strm.Length);
strm.Position =0;
viewer1.Document.Load(strm);

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