OpenAccessDataSource Wizard of the Report Designer

After the OpenAccessDataSource wizard appears you have to perform the following steps:

1. Choose your data connection In this step you have to specify a data connection for the OpenAccessDataSource component. Choose an existing connection from the list or click "New Connection" to create a new connection to your database. The "Connection String" text area displays a read-only information about the selected connection string.

2. Save the connection string This step appears only if you have specified a new connection string in the previous one. Choose "Yes, save the connection with the following name" to store the connection string in the application configuration file under a specific name. Type a name for the connection or use the provided default name if applicable.

   Saving the connection string in the application configuration file simplifies the process of maintaining your application if the database connection changes. In the event of a change in the database connection you can edit the connection string in the application configuration file as opposed to editing the source code and having to recompile your application.

3. Choose an object context In this step you have to specify an existing OpenAccessContext that is responsible for accessing your entity data model. The available OpenAccessContext types are organized in a hierarchical manner grouped by namespace:

   If the desired OpenAccessContext type does not appear in the list make sure the current project is built and all necessary project references are added.

4. Choose an object context member In this step you have to specify a member of the chosen OpenAccessContext that is responsible for data retrieval. You can choose either a property that returns the desired entities directly or a method that executes some business logic against the Open Access model to obtain the required data for the report.

   If the chosen member does not have any parameters, this is the last step of the wizard. However, if the specified member is a method with parameters, the next step allows you to configure those parameters.

5. Configure data source parameters Each argument of the selected method corresponds to a data source parameter. This step allows you to specify for each parameter a constant value, an expression, or create a new ReportParameter and the expression will be set automatically to it.

   The names and types of the defined parameters should match exactly the arguments of the selected method. In case this requirement is not fulfilled the OpenAccessDataSource component will not be able to resolve or call correctly the method and will raise an exception at runtime.

This is the last step of the wizard. After pressing the Finish button the wizard will configure the OpenAccessDataSource component with the specified settings and close.