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Lesson 4: Update the Report Definition Programmatically

Now that the report definition has been loaded from the report server and you have a reference to it using the report field, you need to update the report definition. For this example, you will update the Description property for the report.

To update the report definition

  • Replace the code for the UpdateReportDefinition() method in the Program.cs file (Module1.vb for Visual Basic) with the following code:

    private void UpdateReportDefinition()
{
    System.Console.WriteLine("Updating Report Definition");

    // Create a list of the Items Choices for the Report. The 
    // ItemsChoiceType37 enum represents all the properties
    // available in the report and the ItemsElementName 
    // represents the properties that exist in the current 
    // instance of the report.
    List<ItemsChoiceType37> _reportItems = 
        new List<ItemsChoiceType37>(_report.ItemsElementName);

    // Locate the index for the Description property
    int index = _reportItems.IndexOf(
        ItemsChoiceType37.Description);

    System.Console.WriteLine("- Old Description: " + 
                             _report.Items[index]);

    // Update the Description for the Report
    _report.Items[index] = "New Report Description";

    System.Console.WriteLine("- New Description: " + 
                             _report.Items[index]);
}

    Private Sub UpdateReportDefinition()

    System.Console.WriteLine("Updating Report Definition")

    'Create a list of the Items Choices for the Report. The 
    'ItemsChoiceType37 enum represents all the properties
    'available in the report and the ItemsElementName 
    'represents the properties that exist in the current 
    'instance of the report.
    Dim reportItems As List(Of ItemsChoiceType37) = _
        New List(Of ItemsChoiceType37)(m_report.ItemsElementName)

    'Locate the index for the Description property
    Dim index As Integer = _
        reportItems.IndexOf(ItemsChoiceType37.Description)

    System.Console.WriteLine("- Old Description: " & _
                             m_report.Items(index))

    'Update the Description for the Report
    m_report.Items(index) = "New Report Description"

    System.Console.WriteLine("- New Description: " & _
                             m_report.Items(index))

End Sub

Next Lesson

In the next lesson, you will save the updated report definition back to the report server. See Lesson 5: Publish the Report Definition to the Report Server.