Hello Greg,

Setting the JSON data dynamically of a JsonDataSource is indeed possible. The JSON data can be passed by using a report parameter. You need to set the binding property of the data item that uses the JSON DataSource. For example, if you have set the JSON DataSource to the report, then you have to set the Binding property of the report. Please see the How to set the content of JsonDataSource through report parameter KB article for further information. At the end of the article, there is also a sample report implementing this approach that you may download.

I hope this fits your needs, please do not hesitate to let us know if you need additional information.

Thank you for using Telerik Reporting!

Regards,
Neli
Progress Telerik

Hi Mirzodaler,

Thank you for sharing the scenario in question.

Given the provided description, it seems that you're using the JSON data source to store some metadata within the report definition. Such feature is not yet available but I noticed you've logged a request for it here. At this point it is not in our immediate implementation plans, but I confirm the data sources collection we return from the newly introduced method will also include the "detached" data sources in case you're deserializing .trdx or .trdp report. You mentioned you're reading raw XML, so you'll be able to use the new feature and obtain references to all the data sources in the report definition.

To illustrate it with code, if you have the following TRDX report definition:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Report xmlns="http://schemas.telerik.com/reporting/2021/2.0">
  <DataSources>
    <JsonDataSource Name="jsonDataSource1">
      <Source>
        <String>e25hbWU6IkpTT04ifQ==</String>
      </Source>
    </JsonDataSource>
  </DataSources>
</Report>

you'll be able to get the JSONDataSource's data like this:

            var jsonDs = ((Telerik.Reporting.Report)new ReportXmlSerializer()
                .Deserialize("report.trdx"))
                .GetDataSources().OfType<JsonDataSource>().First();
            System.Diagnostics.Debug.Assert(string.Equals(jsonDs.Source,"{name:\"JSON\"}"));

I hope this answers your question, but if you need more information, let us know.

All best,

Ivan Hristov

Reporting Team

Hello Mirzodaler,

Thank you for your questions. Yes, indeed the Report Designers allow to create data sources without assigning them to a data item. Such data sources  do not make much sense in the report model, so they cannot be created programmatically. In reports, created using Visual Studio, these data sources will not be included in the collection, returned by the GetDataSources() method, because they're just fields in the Report class. In reports, created with Standalone  Report Designer and Web Report Designer, the data sources are instantiated at the beginning of the deserialization process and later they are not removed from that collection regardless if they are attached to data items or not. Again, having such data sources should not be regarded as a normal state of the report, but more as a intermediate stage of report designing process. It is absolutely possible that we overlook some specific scenario where such non-assigned data sources are useful, so please share more about your case so we consider it on our end.

All best,

Ivan Hristov

Reporting Team

Hi Tursunkhuja,

We did not manage to implement the feature for the R3 2021 release, but it is scheduled for implementation for our R3 2021 SP1 release, which is due in a month. Here is a brief description how we plan to approach the problem:
We'll expose a public method that returns an IEnumerable<IDataSource>. All the public data source classes like SqlDataSource, ObjectDataSource, JsonDataSource, etc. implement this interface, which will be made public. The collection will return the references to the actual IDataSource instances contained in the report and its data items, including the report parameters. The collection will be read-only, i.e. the users will not be able to remove or add items from/in it, but when iterating through the collection, it will be possible to change the properties of the data source instances, effectively modifying the report definition.

We believe this implementation will cover the most popular scenarios - for example, where all the SQL data sources in a report might need to have their connection string modified. Still, if your scenarios differ and the proposed approach won't help, please let us know.

All best,

Ivan Hristov

Reporting Team

Hello,

This feature would make dynamic data sources manipulation much easier and we are considering it for the R3 2021 release, scheduled for mid-September.

Thank you for your input.

Regards,
Milen
Progress Telerik