The Image report item displays an image that you embed in the report, add to the project, store in a database, or access through a URL. You can choose the image source from the property grid after you place the Image report item on the report.
Embedded Images
To embed an image in your report, from the Report menu select Embedded Images. Click under the Image column to reveal an ellipsis button (...) and select an image file from your local files. The Name and Mime Type columns are filled in automatically and the image file's data is stored in the report definition. The benefit of this is that there is no separate image file to locate or to keep track of when you move the report between projects. The drawback is that the larger the file size of the image you embed, the more inflated your report file size becomes.
To use an embedded image in an Image report item, set the Source property to Embedded. The Value property will then populate with the list of embedded images.
Project Images
If you have an image that you will use in multiple reports, for example a logo, it makes sense to store it as a project image. This not only allows you to quickly locate the correct image for addition to new reports in the project, but also makes it easier when you change to an updated logo, as you will not need to search through every report to replace embedded images. Yet another benefit is that the images are distributed with your application. To store the image in your Visual Basic project, right-click the project in the solution explorer and select Add > Add Existing Item and navigate to the image.
To use a project image in an Image report item, set the Source property to External. The Value property will then populate with the list of project images.
Database Images
Product catalogues are probably the most common scenario in which images stored in a database are used in reports. Images in a database cannot be used in Page Headers and Page Footers, because you cannot use a value expression which refers to a field in these sections. You can use images stored in a database in data regions to repeat for every row of data. For more information about using data regions to repeat data, see Using Data Regions.
To use a database image in an Image report item, set the Source property to Database. You can select the field containing the image in the Value property.
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Note: Microsoft Access database images are generally stored as OLE objects and cannot be read by the Image report item. |
Web Images
You can also use any image to which you can navigate via a URL. The benefit of this is that images stored in this way add nothing to the file size of the project or of the report, but the drawback is that if the web based image is moved, it will no longer show up in your report. To use this type of image, supply the URL.
To use a web image in an Image report item, set the Source property to External. You can supply the URL of the image in the Value property.