What’s New in Bold Reports 5.1

We are thrilled to present Bold Reports 5.1, our latest release, which delivers a wide range of new features and improvements! Our dedicated team has carefully designed the enhancements and upgrades to elevate your reporting experience. Read this blog to discover the innovative features and outstanding support that Bold Reports 5.1 has to offer.

Let’s take a brief look at the major highlights of the Report Viewer, Report Designer, and Report Server in this release.

Report Viewer

Bar chart backgrounds for sparklines

We have introduced an innovative feature that allows you to render interlaced bar charts as backgrounds for your sparklines. By enabling the interlaced property and specifying the color and interval type, you can now create more informative sparklines that display both the data points and their associated bar chart in the background. This enhancement provides a visually appealing way to visualize data trends and variations.

Sparklines with Bar Chart Background

Puppeteer for data export

Previously, Bold Reports utilized the WebBrowser control for exporting data visualizations to PDF, Word, Excel, and CSV formats. However, WebBrowser is incompatible with .NET Core environments. To address this limitation, we have implemented an alternative exporting method that uses an external browser called Puppeteer. We now offer support for a Puppeteer Chromium-based headless browser for exporting data visualization elements, applicable to the Report Writer library and compatible with ASP.NET Core 2.1 and higher versions. This solution enables users in .NET Core environments to easily export data visualization reports in various formats, ensuring a more seamless experience.

Auto page navigation

We have introduced the auto scroll navigation feature to enhance your report browsing experience. With this functionality, you can effortlessly navigate to the previous or next page using the scroll bar. As you scroll down and reach the end of a page, this feature automatically takes you to the next page. Conversely, when you scroll up and reach the top of a page, you will be taken to the previous page. This convenient enhancement simplifies report page navigation.

Customizable start day for date parameter in reports

To provide users with a more personalized date picker experience, we have implemented an option to set the first day of the week as a custom property in the date picker report parameter. This enhancement allows users to start the weeks in the calendar from any day, instead of being limited to Sunday. This added flexibility caters to individual preferences and makes it easier to work with date parameters in your reports.

Customized First Day of the Week in Date Picker

Report performance information display

We have added an option to display report execution performance information in a dialog. This dialog provides a summary of the time taken for various aspects of report processing, making it easier to assess performance and identify bottlenecks. The dialog box contains the following information:

. Report processing time: This section displays the time taken for parsing, evaluating, laying out, and rendering the report.

. Dataset processing time: This section shows the total number of records read from the database and the processing time taken for each dataset.

You can hide these performance metrics using the Hide Toolbar Items option if you don’t want to show it to the end user.

Report Performance Metrics Dialog

Fixed header in matrix report items

We are excited to announce that Bold Reports now supports maintaining header visibility for both rows and columns while scrolling through paginated reports. This enhancement enables users to easily keep track of the rows and columns they’re viewing.

This functionality is particularly useful for longer reports or reports with a large amount of data, as it eliminates the need to constantly refer back to the beginning of the report to view important information. This update significantly improves the user experience when working with complex paginated reports.

Scrolling with Fixed Headers in a Matrix Report Item.

Adjusting table cell heights in Word documents

We are excited to introduce a new feature that enables users to adjust the cell height of tables in Word documents by using the RowHeightType custom property. With this property, users can easily set the height type as Atleast or Exactly to meet their specific formatting needs. This improves text alignment and enhances the readability of the document.

With the ability to customize cell heights in Word tables, users can achieve a more professional look in their reports and documents. This feature is especially useful when working with large or complex tables, as it simplifies the process of formatting cells for optimal readability.

Print page size support for exported documents

Bold Reports now supports print page sizes for exported documents. With this enhancement, any modifications made to print page sizes in the user interface are applied to the exported document. We have implemented the UsePrintSizes API under the export setup, which reflects the preferred page settings for exporting documents in formats such as PDF and Word.

This feature is particularly useful when exporting documents that require specific page dimensions for printing or when users need to maintain consistency between the printed and electronic versions of their documents. With this support, users can ensure that their documents are ready for printing or any other intended uses.

Print page sizes for exports

Report Designer

API for encrypting and decrypting sensitive data

We have implemented a new API that enables encryption and decryption of sensitive database information transmitted during post-designer actions. This API allows integration with any third-party cryptography library, empowering users to encrypt and decrypt their data at the application level.

Data limit options for widget previews

We’ve added a new configuration option for tablix, map, and chart widgets that enables users to limit the amount of preview data displayed during design. This feature aims to prevent issues arising from previewing large data volumes, ensuring a smoother user experience.

Tablix Preview Configuration Options

Map and Chart Preview Configuration Options

Report Server

Azure Active Directory B2C Single Sign-On

We have incorporated support for Azure Active Directory B2C Single Sign-On (SSO). This enhancement enables seamless integration with your existing Azure AD B2C infrastructure, providing a streamlined and secure authentication process for users. By leveraging Azure AD B2C SSO, organizations can efficiently manage user identities and access while ensuring robust security and compliance.

Enhanced security with two-factor authentication

We have introduced two-factor authentication support for the login process, adding an extra layer of security to user accounts. This enhanced security measure provides robust protection against unauthorized access. When enabled, each login will require a verification code sent to your phone, ensuring that only authorized users can access the account.

Two-Factor Authentication

License management in air-gapped environments

We now provide REST API support for managing licenses in air-gapped environments, ensuring secure and efficient access control. By enabling retrieval and updating of licenses through the API, users can maintain compliance and system security even in isolated networks. This approach simplifies license management and promotes adherence to industry best practices, reducing the risk of unauthorized access or potential security breaches.

Viewer service for performance optimization

We’ve added a dedicated viewer service that is designed to enhance report rendering performance and memory handling in Report Server. By utilizing a separate service for processing and displaying reports, the workload is distributed more efficiently, resulting in faster response times and improved memory management. This optimization leads to better overall system performance and a more streamlined user experience when accessing and interacting with reports.

.NET 6 upgrade for on-premises Report Server

Our upgraded on-premises Report Server, built on .NET 6, now offers cross-platform support for Linux and seamless integration with containers. This enhancement allows users to leverage the flexibility and cost savings of deploying on diverse platforms while ensuring optimal performance. With this upgrade, clients can efficiently manage their reporting system in a variety of environments, increasing scalability and reducing infrastructure costs.

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Conclusion

We are excited to share these updates in Bold Reports 5.1 with you. We hope that you find these updates useful. Please check them out and share your feedback with us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. If you have any queries, please leave a comment below. To stay up to date with our reporting solutions, please continue to follow Syncfusion and Bold Reports.