Mind's Eye Report Engine

Sale!!!
Lite Version License - $195
Upgrade Price - $247.50
PRO Version 4.0 License - $495

New Upgrade and Competitive Upgrade
Pricing Available

NEW MERE PRO Version 4.0 Control
The new MERE PRO 4.0 control has been rebuilt with a new ProgID and ClassID and can now be used with VB6. The MERE PRO 4.0 control has a smaller memory footprint and has new methods still being added for new Shape Objects (AddArc, AddPie, AddChord and more). Improvements have also been made to reduce the memory usage for rendered reports. MERE 4.0 and MERE 3.x can reside on the same machine without conflict as they have different ProgIDs and ClassIDs.

NEW VB6 DEMO! - 05/27/2008 - Download Now
Download Mind's Eye Report Engine PRO 4.0 VB6 DEMO Application
The VB6 Demo application shows some of the programmatic control that you have when using the Mind's Eye Report Engine PRO Version 4 ActiveX Component.

NEW!!! Mind's Eye Report Engine LITE (PDF Only) Version
The New LITE Version is intended for web application use and applications that don't require a Print Preview. This new control has far fewer PEMs than the Professional Version and is less expensive. It still provides you with a Royalty Free Runtime License for deployment of your applications.

Update 05/19/2008

• Posted MERE LITE Trial Download with C# and VB 6 Example Projects

Update 05/16/2008

• Enhancements have been made to the SMTP Email Support. A new property for EMAILBodyHTML can now be used to easily send HTML emails with attachments that properly display HTML. The EMAILBody property is used to set the body text for the plain text portion of the email. HTML emails now properly display the attached file as a separate attachment rather than being embedded in the HTML text.
• Corrected an issue with the SendMail() method not using the EMAILSMTPPort specified for non-standard ports.
• Corrected an issue with an OLE Error when using PRINTER FONTS with the new GDI+ MeasureString() function which does not support PRINTER FONTS and returns a length of zero.
   

Previous Updates

• Save Report Pages as Image added to Toolbar
  Save as Image now available from MERE ActiveX toolbar. Now, end users can now save report pages as Image files while previewing reports.
  
  
   
• Multi-Page TIFF Support Added
  Multi-page TIFF File Support added to both the Save as Image Dialog options and from the SaveToTIFF() Method.
   
• Report Page Preview added to Dialogs
  Page Preview of report pages was added to the Save To PDF, Print and Save as Image dialogs.

• Visual FoxPro 9 Support
  The MERE_ReportListener class is now available for use with the Mind's Eye Report Engine ActiveX control that supports running Visual FoxPro FRX Reports using Visual FoxPro 9's object-assisted report engine. Please use the latest version of the MERE ActiveX control which has additional parameters in the AddText() Method to support the new MERE ReportListener Class.
   
• Improved Text Search
  The Text Search capabilities have been improved to support Find Next and Find Previous. The new text search is now located on a toolbar for easy access.
  
  
   
• PDFStream Method
  The new PDFStream Method returns a PDF Document as a String. Therefore, PDFStream can be used to send a PDF document back to a web server without generating any files on disk. This can also be used to store a PDF Document into a Memo Field in a table.
   
• Dynamic Report Object Rendering Support in FRX Reports:
  Eliminates the need for placing Multiple Report Objects on reports and then having to use PRINT WHEN Expressions to hide or display those objects depending on which Report Object you want displayed.
  
  Now you can place One Report Object onto your report and use a Single Line Expression to modify properties at report runtime such as:
  Font Style, Object Width, Fill Color, Pen Color, etc.: (SAMPLE PDF)
  
  Simple to use. Simply place a Dynamic Property Expression Directive in the COMMENT of a Report Object in the VFP RW to be Evaluated at Render Time when using the Mind's Eye Report Engine.
  
  Example 1:
  The following Dynamic Property Expression (DPE) sets the Font Color of a Report Expression to RED when the AMT field is less than zero and to BLACK when the AMT field is greater than equal to zero:
  *:DFC:IIF(Amt<0,RGB(255,0,0),RGB(255,255,255))
  
  
  Screen Shot showing DPE in VFP RW COMMENT Field
  
  Example 2:
  The following DPE changes the Fill Color for a Report Object to a random color using the RAND() function every time the object is rendered onto a page:
  *:DFC:RAND(0)*RGB(255,255,255)
  
  Example 3:
  The following DPE can be used to change the Width of a SHAPE Object to simulate a bar graph based upon a TestScore by using a DPE that is an expression that divides a TestScore by the TotalPossible and then multiplies that ratio by the maximum number of inches you want the bar drawn onto the report. (SAMPLE PDF)
  *:DSW:(TestScore/TotalPossible)*4
  
  
  Screen Shot showing DPE in VFP RW COMMENT Field
  
   
• Enhanced Charting Support
  - Turn 3-D Effects On/Off
  - Turn Axis On/Off
  - and more...
   
• PDF Security/Encryption

• EMAILAddAttachment Method to support adding additional attachments to files sent using the SendMail Method.
• EMAILAttachmentCount Property to track the additional Files added to the EMAIl Attachment list using the EMAILAddAttachmentFile Method.
• DisplayToolbarStyle Property
• DisplayUnitOfMeasure Property (inches, cm, mm)
• Popup Menu over Toolbar allows switching Toolbar Styles, Languages, and Unit of Measure
• PrintReport Method now supports redirecting printer output to a File
• Toolbar bitmaps are now displayed with proper transparency

Windows Clipboard Support

• Copy a Report Page in the Report Preview directly to the Clipboard from the Popup Menu. This feature allows you to quickly Copy any Report Page directly into other Office Applications such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Publisher with a couple of mouse clicks.
• Paste Objects from the Clipboard onto a Report Page. This means that Word formatted text can now be added directly to a VFP Report both Interactively by drawing a Bounding Box or by calling the new AddFromClipboard() Method. Holding down the SHIFT key while drawing a bounding box will maintain Aspect Ratio on the object. Holding down the CTRL key while drawing a bounding box will size the object to fit in the bounding box. The screen shot above has Microsoft Word text at the top then 2 Microsoft Visio diagrams in the middle, a Microsoft Publisher page on the bottom left and a Microsoft Excel Chart all drawn onto a single page from the clipboard. A simple COPY was done after selecting objects in each of the applications and then a bounding box was drawn to drop in the objects. Metafile objects placed onto the report page are fully scaleable and can be zoomed to > 100,000%.
• Sample program REPORTTOWORD.PRG included in the BETA Download to demonstrate using the Clipboard to Export all of the pages in your report to a Microsoft Word document.

Save Report Pages to Bitmap, JPEG, Metafile, and PNG Images

• The ability to save a Report Page as an Enhanced Metafile, JPEG, PNG or BITMAP Image. You can even specify the maximum dimension of the Image Size in Pixels allowing for the quick and easy creation of a Thumbnail representation of a Report Page when creating JPEG, PNG and BITMAP Images.

Interactive Report Annotation

• New buttons have been added to the Toolbar which can be hidden which allows an end user to add new pages and delete pages while in the Report Preview. This will allow your end users to annotate reports as well as merge in other documents as shown in the screen shot above.

Printing Enhancements to Support Shrink To Fit and Paper Bin Assignments

• Printing reports now supports Shrink To Fit. Now printed output can automatically be resized to fit to the Printable Area of the page. This includes support for pages that are defined larger than the currently selected page size. Therefore an 11x17 can be printed onto an 8.5x11 piece of paper.
• Assign Paper Bins to each page in a report. This provides the ability to print the first page of a report to letterhead and all pages following to the default tray. The new PaperBin Property is assignable for each and every page in the report.

NEW!
PDF Output now supports Barcodes Without Requiring Any Barcode Fonts!
     (PDF Sample Document)

The Mind's Eye Report Engine ActiveX Control makes it easy create reports programmatically using Visual FoxPro, Delphi or VB using the Mind's Eye Report Engine ActiveX control. Additional support for running Visual FoxPro FRX Reports without modification is handled via a Visual FoxPro Class Library included with the Mind's Eye Report Engine Control. The Mind's Eye Report Engine makes it easy to create Charts and Barcodes in a Report. It can supports saving reports to PDF without requiring any 3rd party PDF printer drivers or tools. The Report Preview can ZOOM greater than 100,000%, and it handles PAGE X OF Y without making any extra passes on the Report. It supports Multiple Page Sizes and/or Page Orientations in a Single Report Preview which can be printed as a single print job or saved as a single PDF document. Since the Visual FoxPro FRX Reports can be ran without modification and loaded into the Report Engine using the included Visual FoxPro Class Library, you can even extend it's capabilities to add support such as Subreports and more. It's like having a desktop publishing page layout tool that you can manipulate programmatically.

The Power of this tool is that you now have a Report Object that you can manipulate at runtime and it is extremely fast.

• More Desktop Publishing like support for your reports. The next release will support adding image objects such as charts, drawings and formatted text from the Clipboard from other applications such as Office, Visio or Publisher. This can be done interactively in the Report Preview by drawing a bounding box or programmatically using the new AddFromClipboard Method. This opens the possibility for merging several different object types and items into a single Report Preview for printing or saving to PDF.
• Paper Bin assignments for each and every page. Each page can now be pulled from a different Paper Bin by setting the PaperBin Property on each page.
• Shrink To Fit printing so that all of the information on a defined page will fit onto the currently selected printer regardless of the printer's printable page area.
• Improvements to the processing and handling of Visual FoxPro FRX Reporting.
• Barcodes implemented in the PDF Documents without using any Barcode Fonts. The barcodes are drawn directly into the document as shape elements.
• Charting improvements have been made so that Multiple Data Series can now be added to a single chart.

• Royalty FREE Per Developer License
• Very FAST Save to PDF (DOES NOT REQUIRE ANY OTHER 3rd PARTY PDF SOFTWARE)
• Email Reports with the click of a button as a PDF attachment using SMTP built into the control or via MAPI if installed or you can also call the SendMail Method in code.
• Zoom from 10% to 100,000% via User Control or Programmatically
• Append Multiple Reports into a Single Report Preview Window

• Easily add Pages of different Size and/or Orientation into a Single Report Preview

• Easily specify the location and size of your Report Preview Window with Parameters

• Easily run Reports as a Top Level Form

• Easily place a Watermark on your Report Pages by simply setting the WatermarkText and Watermark RotationAngle Property. No more hacking the FRX to stretch a graphic trick required.

• AddText(), AddShape(), AddLine(), AddPicture(), AddChart(),  AddReportField() Methods

• Picture support includes BMP, JPG and GIF Images

• Turn the Toolbar On/Off via a Property

• Language localization into seven languages by simply setting the LanguageIndexID Property

• Enable, Disable or Hide various Toolbar Buttons and Components

• Print All Pages, Range of Pages and Current Page without the Report Preview closing

• Print Even and Odd Pages, Odd Pages Only or Even Pages Only

• Print Multiple Pages Per Page

• Print pages in Reverse Order for outputting to Inkjets so the pages are ordered correctly in the stack

• Print Multiple copies with or without collation without specific printer support

• Name Print Jobs by setting a Property

• No need to hide the Printing Window that shows a cryptic FRX Name

• Set the Caption of the Printing dialog box to your choosing

• Suppress the Printing dialog box

More Report Engine Information

Frequently Asked Questions about the
Report Engine/Preview Control

To Order by Phone
(MC, VISA, DISCOVER, AMEX)
Call: 636-282-2102

Downloads Page

Download HTML Help File updated 02/19/2009

Download Mind's Eye Report Engine LITE
Trial Demo
(Posted 05/19/2008)

Download Mind's Eye Report Engine Trial Demo Pro and LITE
(Posted 06/08/2008)

Mind's Eye Report Engine Test Form
(Posted 02/16/2009)

Code Samples

Add Charts to Reports