Printing and Exporting

Nov 01, 2023
3 minutes to read

All controls included in the DevExpress Dashboard Suite allow users to print/export an entire dashboard or individual dashboard items.

Watch Video: DevExpress Dashboards: Printing & Exporting (YouTube)

WinForms - Print Preview

Web - Exporting to PDF

Exporting to Excel

Visual Export

The following table illustrates visual export and print operations that are available for different platforms:

Operation

Platform

Description

| | --- | --- | --- | |

Print Preview

WinForms

The Print Preview window displays a dashboard/dashboard item as it will appear when printed. This functionality is available for the WinForms Designer and Viewer.

| |

Export to PDF

WinForms, Web, WPF

When users export a dashboard to PDF, they can specify various document options such as page layout and size, title settings, etc.

| |

Export to Image

WinForms, Web, WPF

Users can specify image options such as image format and resolution.

| |

Export to Excel/CSV

WinForms, Web, WPF

Only raw data displayed within the dashboard/dashboard item is exported. Export to CSV is not supported for the entire dashboard, tab, or group. You can export only a single dashboard item.

Non-Visual Export

You can use non-visual export components to implement server-side export of a dashboard or dashboard items at runtime. Use this, for example, if you need to generate a service that exports dashboards at regular intervals and sends them by mail.

The following table lists export components that are available for different platforms:

Component	Platform
DashboardExporter	All[1]
AspNetCoreDashboardExporter	ASP.NET Core
WebDashboardExporter	ASP.NET MVC
ASPxDashboardExporter	ASP.NET Web Forms

Print/Export Specifics

If a user prints/exports an entire dashboard, the current state is preserved: the dashboard layout, the scroll position of individual dashboard items, and selections within master filter items).
When an individual dashboard item is printed, the entire item’s content is reflected in the printed document regardless of the item’s current state (for example, scroll position or selection state).
The DevExpress Dashboard does not always print/export the dashboard and its items as they appear on screen. For instance, dashboard items have no borders on the printed document, and font settings and skin/theme colors can differ.

The following topics describe the print/export capabilities that depend on the control that is used:

Post-Process Excel and PDF Files

You can post-process resulting Excel and PDF files with the help of dedicated DevExpress libraries (collectively known as DevExpress Office File API ):

PDF Document API helps you edit, merge, split, password-protect, and digitally sign PDF files.
Spreadsheet Document API helps you manage worksheets, cells, values and formulas, graphics, charts, pivot tables, and other objects.

PDF Document API and Spreadsheet Document API work in applications that target a variety of platforms (Windows Forms, WPF, ASP.NET Web Forms, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET Core, Blazor, MAUI) and operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS).

Office File API is included into the DevExpress Universal Subscription - the same subscription that includes DevExpress Dashboard.

Footnotes

WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET MVC, and ASP.NET Web Forms.