FireMonkey

RichardH

Any reporting plans for FireMonky?

As it stands I'm not seeing a single reporting option for FireMonkey applications. I'm trying to see what my options are for printing, even in FMX Windows 32/64 bit applications alone.

eMarc

In non-VCL applications (like Intraweb, Raudus, UniGUI, ...) we used to export reports to PDF.

?? Can we use that approach in Firemonkey applications ?

Something like :

...
uses
..., frxClass, frxExportPDF;
...
procedure TIWForm1.IWButton1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  frxReport1 : TfrxReport;
begin
  frxReport1 := TfrxReport.Create(nil);
  frxReport1.LoadFromFile('aaa.fr3');
  frxReport1.PrepareReport;
  frxPDFExport1.FileName := 'sss.pdf';
  frxPDFExport1.ShowDialog := false;
  frxReport1.Export(Self.frxPDFExport1);
  WebApplication.SendFile('sss.pdf');
  frxReport1.Free;
end;

Changing this Intraweb line :

WebApplication.SendFile('sss.pdf');

with a call to a PDF Viewer.

?? Will that work in a Firemonkey application as a workaround until you complete a FastReports port to Firemonkey ?.

Thanks.

eMarc

I have downloaded a trial of Delphi XE2, and tried this code.

It works as expected in Firemonkey HD applications when target plataform is Win32, but the same code fails to compile (missing frxClass.dcu) when target plataform is MacOS.

?? There is any way to use it in MacOS ?.

uses frxClass, frxExportPDF;

procedure TForm2.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  frxReport1 : TfrxReport;
  frxPDFExport1 : TfrxPDFExport;
begin
  frxReport1 := TfrxReport.Create(nil);
  frxPDFExport1 := TfrxPDFExport.Create(nil);
  frxReport1.LoadFromFile('c:\kk\prova.fr3');
  frxReport1.PrepareReport;
  frxPDFExport1.FileName := 'c:\kk\prova.pdf';
  frxPDFExport1.ShowDialog := false;
  frxReport1.Export(frxPDFExport1);
  // Call a PDF viewer
  frxPDFExport1.Free;
  frxReport1.Free;
end;

Thanks.

technisoft

I was at Embarcadero's Devcon seminar a few days ago.
FR is currently only available in the VCL.

FireMonkey looks fantastic in its abilities, but migrating existing to it will be laborious. Source which does not access visula components will work without any changes. Visual components will have to be recreated anew, forms, controls (using LiveBindings instead of DataSource/DataField).

The major change is that FireMonkey uses vector graphics to draw.

Let's hope that some kind of conversion utility will surface, for XE2 and eventually FR.

danielrail

technisoft wrote: »

I was at Embarcadero's Devcon seminar a few days ago.
FR is currently only available in the VCL.

FireMonkey looks fantastic in its abilities, but migrating existing to it will be laborious. Source which does not access visula components will work without any changes. Visual components will have to be recreated anew, forms, controls (using LiveBindings instead of DataSource/DataField).

The major change is that FireMonkey uses vector graphics to draw.

Let's hope that some kind of conversion utility will surface, for XE2 and eventually FR.

You might want to take a look at Mida(http://midafiremonkey.wordpress.com/). You can ask the author how it is progressing. I'm not at a stage of migrating an application to FireMonkey, so I have no immediate need for such a tool.

And, I'm hoping that FR does come out with a FireMonkey version, and hopefully, that existing reports will work with it(although for Mac support it will depend on the components used within the reports).

technisoft

Thanks for the link.

eMarc

technisoft wrote: »

I was at Embarcadero's Devcon seminar a few days ago.
FR is currently only available in the VCL.

Thanks for your observations.

technisoft wrote: »

FireMonkey looks fantastic in its abilities, but migrating existing to it will be laborious. Source which does not access visula components will work without any changes. Visual components will have to be recreated anew, forms, controls (using LiveBindings instead of DataSource/DataField).

I don't pretend to use any visual component. As you can see in the code, I want to use non-visual components to generate a PDF with the report content. Then you can show this PDF with any PDF viewer (as we do using FastReports in Web applications).

But that only works when targetting Win32 apps. It fails when targetting MacOS. It seems that FastReports code is bounded to Windows.

technisoft wrote: »

The major change is that FireMonkey uses vector graphics to draw.

Let's hope that some kind of conversion utility will surface, for XE2 and eventually FR.

Yes, I hope FastReports will be able to maintain our reports in cross-plataform FireMonkey apps. Reporting is the main lack of current Firemonkey technology.