Create a custom report in EPiServer Report Center

This article was migrated from an older iteration of our website, and it could deviate in design and functionality.


This post explains how to create a custom report for the EPiServer Report Center, an often forgotten but powerful tool for editors and administrators.

Estimated read time : 7 minutes

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Preparations

Add a reference in your project to the EPiServer.UI assembly:

EPiServer.UI assembly reference

Add a web form for the report

Let’s create a new web form which will present our report. Note that we cannot use “Web Form using Master Page” as we cannot select the EPiServer UI master page in this dialog. More on this in a bit.

Adding a new web form dialog

First, we remove all markup from the web form, leaving only the <% Page … %> directive at the top.

For now we just add a dummy text to the markup:

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeBehind="PagesPerPageTypeReport.aspx.cs" Inherits="Upsales.Website.Templates.UI.Reports.PagesPerPageTypeReport" %>

<asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderID="FullRegion" Runat="Server">
<p>We'll present our report here.</p>
</asp:Content>

Don’t mind the warning about the region FullRegion not existing, that’s because we’ll set the master page programmatically at runtime.

Set the master page programmatically

Next, let’s edit the code-behind for our new web form. First, we’ll ensure it inherits the SystemPageBase class (part of the EPiServer.UI namespace):

public partial class PagesPerPageTypeReport : SystemPageBase
{
}

Next, we override the OnPreInit event to set the master page to EPiServer’s UI master page:

public partial class PagesPerPageTypeReport : SystemPageBase
{
    protected override void OnPreInit(EventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnPreInit(e);
 
        // Use EPiServer UI master page
        MasterPageFile = ResolveUrlFromUI("MasterPages/EPiServerUI.master");
    }
}

Add a GuiPlugIn attribute

In order for the report to show up in the Report Center we have to add a GuiPlugIn attribute and set the Area property to PlugInArea.ReportMenu:

[GuiPlugIn(
Area=PlugInArea.ReportMenu,
DisplayName="Pages by Page Type",
Description="Lists pages of a specific page type",
Category="Custom Reports",
Url="~/Templates/UI/Reports/PagesPerPageTypeReport.aspx")]
public partial class PagesPerPageTypeReport : SystemPageBase
{
protected override void OnPreInit(EventArgs e)
{
base.OnPreInit(e);

// Use EPiServer UI master page
MasterPageFile = ResolveUrlFromUI("MasterPages/EPiServerUI.master");
}
}

Verify that the new report exists in Report Center

Now, if we login to EPiServer and click Reports

Reports link

…we can see our newly created report. Note that the Category property we set for the GuiPlugIn attribute has created a new reports group called “Custom Reports”:

New report in Report Center

However, so far the report doesn’t do much to woo us:

image

Add markup for the report

Let’s add a DropDownList for selecting a page type and a ToolButton for listing found pages using a GridView control.

We borrow some native EPiServer CSS classes to make our report look a little more like the built-in reports:

<asp:content ContentPlaceHolderID="FullRegion" runat="Server">
<div class="epi-contentContainer epi-padding epi-contentArea">
<h1 class="EP-prefix">
List pages of a specific type
</h1>
<asp:DropDownList ID="PageTypeSelector" runat="server" />
<EPiServerUI:ToolButton Text="List pages" OnClick="RefreshButton_Click" ID="RefreshButton" runat="server" />
<div class="epi-marginVertical-small">
<asp:GridView ID="PageList" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False" CssClass="epi-padding">
<Columns>
<asp:HyperLinkField HeaderText="Name" DataNavigateUrlFields="LinkUrl" DataTextField="PageName" />
<asp:BoundField HeaderText="Published" DataField="StartPublish" />

</Columns>
</asp:GridView>
</div>
</div>
</asp:content>

Add business logic for the report

Let’s edit the report’s code-behind file again. We populate the dropdown for selecting a page type in the page’s Load event:

protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
{
base.OnLoad(e);

if (!IsPostBack)
{
// Populate page type dropdown
PageTypeSelector.DataSource = PageType.List()
.OrderBy(t => t.Name)
.Select(t => t.Name);

PageTypeSelector.DataBind();
}
}

When the “List pages” button is clicked we want the page list to be refreshed, displaying pages of the selected page type:

protected void RefreshButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Find pages of the specified type
var pages = DataFactory.Instance.FindPagesWithCriteria(
PageReference.RootPage,
new PropertyCriteriaCollection
{
new PropertyCriteria
{
Name = "PageTypeName",
Value = PageTypeSelector.SelectedItem.Text,
Condition = CompareCondition.Equal,
Type = PropertyDataType.String
}
});

// List found pages
PageList.DataSource = pages;
PageList.DataBind();
}

Test the new report

Now, if we a select a page type in our report and click the “List pages” button we’ll see the result. Although we only have one start page on the site, this will give you an idea of how it works. :)

Report for listing pages of a specific page type