Get started with dotnet Report builder is very easy and quick. You can actually be up and running reports in less than 10 minutes!

This video explains all the steps you need to get going.

Here are the steps described in detail:

Step 1: Create an online account and Data Connection to get started

Even though dotnet Report Builder runs all data queries and connections locally in your environment, the API Service it uses is hosted on the cloud, and you need to start with an online account. This can easily be transferred to run on-prem on your local environment later if you decide to upgrade to the Enterprise version. Creating the online account is absolutely free and you don’t need to provide a lot of information or a credit card.

However, you do need the API keys provided in the online account to connect to the service, so head over to the signup page, and create an account and log in. You would also need to add a “Data Connection” for each database you would like to use to build reports, so add one by clicking on “Setup Database”.

Get started with top reporting & enterprise solutions

Step 2: Install the nuget package in your Visual Studio Project

The next thing to do is open up Visual Studio and either start up a new project or open an existing one, and install the dotnet Report Nuget Package. You should note that dotnet Report adds all the Controller, Views and javascript files directly in to your application.

There are 3 different versions of the nuget package:

  • The default nuget package dotnetreport is for .NET 6.
  • For MVC, you need to use and install dotnetreport.mvc.
  • Web Forms also has it’s own nuget package dotnetreport.aspx.

So install the right nuget package based on your application and which version of .Net you are using to code. The installation process is fairly similar for all versions.

Step 3: Enter your API Keys from the online portal in your web.config in MVC or appsettings.json in .net core.

The next thing after the nuget package is installed is to setup your API keys from the online portal in your application.

Add the following to your appSettings.json:

"dotNetReport": {
    "apiurl": "https://dotnetreport.com/api",
    "accountApiToken": "Your Public Account Api Token",
    "dataconnectApiToken": "Your Data Connect Api Token",
    "privateApiToken": "Your Private Account Api Token"
},

If you are using MVC or Web Forms, update the web.config:

<add key="dotNetReport.apiurl" value="https://dotnetreport.com/api" />
<add key="dotNetReport.accountApiToken" value="Your Public Account Api Token" />
<add key="dotNetReport.dataconnectApiToken" value="Your Data Connect Api Token" />
<add key="dotNetReport.privateApiToken" value="Your Private Account Api Token" />

Login to your account in https://dotnetreport.com and click on “Get Api Keys”. Locate your keys and copy and paste them in to your application settings file.

Note: You also need to add your connection string corresponding to the Data Connection you had setup.

Step 4: Get started with your Database Tables and Views to be used by dotnet Report

Next step is to build and run the project, and navigate to the /dotnetsetup route. This will bring up the administrator/developer screen that should connect to the database you provided in web.config and list all the Tables and Views in it. Your task is to select the tables, views and the columns you want dotnet Report Builder to use to let you or your end users create reports. You would also have to setup the database relations. This is a pretty easy and intuitive interface, and is meant only for developers as an initial configuration. You can always come back to it and add more tables or columns.

So check the tables you want to use, and click Save.

And that’s really pretty much it to get you started and going.

At this point, you should be create, save and Run Reports! You have to run the project and then navigate to the /dotnetreport route to navigate to the Report Builder.

There are many features to learn about and try out, so next you can read about them here in the knowledge base.

Tags: