Implement a Common Master-Detail Report Scenario

In this step-by-step tutorial, we will improve the basic report created in the previous tutorial Embedding the Web Report Designer in .NET 8 and Creating Your First Report by adding a common business requirement to click a data series to show more details in a child report.

First, we will create a second report to display the detailed data.
Then, we will learn how to add a SharedDataSource component to share a data source between reports.
Next, we will add and configure a PieChart to the detailed report.
Finally, we will learn how to add a Drillthrough/Navigate To Report Action to the master report Column Chart.
At the end, we will have a master report able to navigate to a child report with detailed data for the selected Product Category.

Creating a Child Report

Our first goal is to create a new report within the Web Report Designer. It will serve as a child report for displaying the detailed data for the selected category from the main report we created previously:

Go to the main toolbar Menu and select New Report. The Create Report dialog opens:
1. Let's name the report SalesBySubcategory.
2. Let it be a TRDP report as the main one.
3. Enter the same Location that is the Demo subfolder.
4. Click Save to apply the settings.
We'll remove the Page Header and Footer sections again.
We can add the same Report Header as in the main report. We will copy it from the latter:
1. Search for the report header in the Search box and add it to the child report.
2. If necessary, increase its Height.
3. Go to the main report and select PictureBox and TextBox from its Report Header.
4. Open the Context menu by clicking on the ellipses (...) beside the selected items in the Explorer tab of the Menu. Select Copy to copy the items.
5. Return to the child report, select the Report Header, and invoke its Context menu to Paste the selected items.
6. Adjust the pasted items' positions, if necessary.
Next, we'll add a Report Parameter that will receive the Category from the parent report.

We will use the parameter to filter the data from the WebServiceDataSource.
1. Search for the report parameter in the Search box.
2. Select + to open the Add New Item dialog that lets you add a new parameter to the collection.
3. Let's name the parameter Category and use the same for the Text property. The latter represents the label in the parameter's editor.
4. We'll add the default Value Bikes as we know this category exists.
5. Mark the parameter as Visible in the user interface.
6. Click Save to preserve the new parameter settings.
Let's update the report title to display the selected category available in the new Report Parameter:
1. Select the TextBox in the Report Header.
2. Click on the ellipses (...) beside its Value property in the Property editor. This opens the Edit Value dialog.
3. Select the Report Parameters from the list on the left.
4. Double-click on the Category Value from the middle list.
5. Update the Expression by concatenating a string at the end to become = Parameters.Category.Value + "Sales by Subcategory".
6. Save and Preview the child report. The report should display the default category in the Report Header.
Configure the child report to reuse the DataSource from the main report:
1. Convert the WebServiceDataSource from the main report to a SharedDataSource:
  1. Navigate to the main report.
  2. Select its WebServiceDataSource from the Explorer tab of the Menu.
  3. Invoke the Context menu by clicking on the ellipses (...) and selecting Save As Shared Data Source.
  4. In the opened Create Shared Data Source dialog, name the component productSalesData and check the Replace data source in report to let both reports use the SharedDataSource that is stored in the Assets manager.
  5. Click Save and ensure the webServiceDataSource1 has been moved from Inline Data Sources to Shared Data Sources.
2. Navigate back to the child report.
  1. Open the context menu of the Shared Data Sources and select Add Existing Shared Data Source.
  2. In the popped-up Browse For Folder dialog, select Shared Data Sources on the left and choose the productSalesData.sdsx file, which is our shared data source that we just saved from the main report.
  3. Click Save and ensure the productSalesData1 component appears under the Shared Data Sources of the child report.
Let's use the SharedDataSource to create our Pie Chart:
1. Search for pie to bring up the Configure Pie Chart pane on the right side of the web report designer.
2. Select the Data Source.
3. Drag the ProductSubcategory field to the Series box. This way, we will create the Pie Chart slices from the Product SubCategories.
4. Drag the LineTotal into the Values box. The aggregate function Sum is automatically applied to the field, so the Values of each Pie slice will be the sum of LineTotal.
5. Click Create and you should see a Pie Chart that contains all the data from the DataSource.
6. Since we want to see only the data for a specific category, we need to add a rule to filter the data based on the value of our report parameter.
  1. Search for filters and add a new filter to the Graph.
  2. Add as an Expression =Fields.ProductCategory.
  3. Select Equal as Operator.
  4. For Value, enter the value of the report parameter = Parameters.Category.Value.
  5. You should see an immediate update for the Bikes category since this is the parameter's default value.
7. Format the Pie Chart:
  1. Hide the Title.
  2. Update the series by adding DataPointLabelConnectors:
    - Check the DataPointLabelConnectorStyle > Visible property.
    - Set DataPointLabelOffset to 5mm.
    - For DataPointLabelAlignment, use OutsideColumn from the dropdown.
    - Click Save.
8. The live preview should display the updated Pie Chart in the Design view of the Web Report Designer.
Connect the main and the child report with the Drillthrough Action:
1. Navigate to the main report.
2. Search for category group in the Search box and select the productCategoryGroup1.
3. In the Edit Item dialog, go to Action and select Navigate to report from the dropdown.
4. Set the Report source Type to UriReportSource.
5. Open the Assets manager from the icon next to Uri and select the SalesBySubcategory.trdp report from the Demo folder.
6. Add a new Parameter to the Parameters collection of the Report source with Name corresponding to the child report's parameter, i.e., Category, and Value being the value of the current product category field, i.e., =Fields.ProductCategory.
7. Click Save to preserve the configuration.
Test how the reports interact:
1. Navigate from the main report to the child report by clicking on a particular Product Category column in the Column Chart.
2. Navigate back to the main report from the child report through the Viewer's Toolbar button Navigate back in history.