Lesson 3: Retrieving a List of Fields for the Report Definition

Since every report definition should have a list of fields that represent the data in the report, you must generate a fields list from your query.

To generate a fields list

  • Replace the code for the GenerateFieldsList() method in your project with the following code:
Public Sub GenerateFieldsList()
   Dim command As SqlCommand
   Dim reader As SqlDataReader
   
   ' Executing a query to retrieve a fields list for the report
   command = m_connection.CreateCommand()
   m_commandText = "SELECT Person.CountryRegion.Name AS CountryName, Person.StateProvince.Name AS StateProvince " + "FROM Person.StateProvince " + "INNER JOIN Person.CountryRegion ON Person.StateProvince.CountryRegionCode = Person.CountryRegion.CountryRegionCode " + "ORDER BY Person.CountryRegion.Name"
   command.CommandText = m_commandText
   
   ' Execute and create a reader for the current command
   reader = command.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.SchemaOnly)
   
   ' For each field in the resultset, add the name to an array list
   m_fields = New ArrayList()
   Dim i As Integer
   For i = 0 To reader.FieldCount - 1
      m_fields.Add(reader.GetName(i))
   Next i
End Sub 'GenerateFieldsList
public void GenerateFieldsList()
{
   SqlCommand command;
   SqlDataReader reader;

   // Executing a query to retrieve a fields list for the report
   command = m_connection.CreateCommand();
   m_commandText = 
      "SELECT Person.CountryRegion.Name AS CountryName, Person.StateProvince.Name AS StateProvince " +
      "FROM Person.StateProvince " +
      "INNER JOIN Person.CountryRegion ON Person.StateProvince.CountryRegionCode = Person.CountryRegion.CountryRegionCode " +
      "ORDER BY Person.CountryRegion.Name";
   command.CommandText = m_commandText;
   
   // Execute and create a reader for the current command
   reader = command.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.SchemaOnly);
   
   // For each field in the resultset, add the name to an array list
   m_fields = new ArrayList();
   for (int i = 0; i <= reader.FieldCount - 1; i++)
   {
      m_fields.Add(reader.GetName(i));
   }
}