.NET News

Connect Excel or CSV Files Directly to Your Reports

August 1, 2025
Use familiar file formats as native data sources in .NET 9 WPF apps to simplify reporting and speed up development.

Excel / CSV data connectivity in a .NET 9 WPF reporting controls refers to the built-in capability to directly import and use data from Microsoft Excel spreadsheets or comma-separated value files as data sources for generating reports. This allows developers to integrate reporting functionality into their desktop applications without needing intermediate data transformations or external database connections. It simplifies the development workflow by supporting widely used formats, ensures compatibility with existing business data, and reduces the need for additional parsing or data handling logic. The result is faster report generation and easier access to commonly used data formats.

Several .NET 9 WPF reporting controls offer Excel / CSV data connectivity including:

  • ActiveReports.NET by MESCIUS allows you to bind .NET 9 WPF reports directly to Excel or CSV files without external parsing hassle for data‑driven layouts.
  • DevExpress Reporting lets you connect reports to Excel or CSV sources at design or runtime using their ExcelDataSource wizard.
  • Telerik Reporting enables you to use Excel or CSV files as native data sources in WPF reports, supporting seamless integration and rendering.
  • List & Label Professional Reporting Edition by combit facilitates loading report data directly from Excel or CSV files via file‑based data sources without requiring external transformation logic.

For an in-depth analysis of features and price, visit our comparison of .NET 9 WPF reporting controls.

Compare .NET 9 WPF Reporting Controls

Refine UI Design with Smarter RibbonBar Tools

August 1, 2025
Spread.NET 18.2 enhances RibbonBar layout and icon clarity to improve design precision and adaptability in WinForms applications.

Spread.NET by MESCIUS is a powerful tool for building Excel-like applications in your .NET projects. It lets you create interactive spreadsheets, grids, dashboards, and even forms within WinForms, ASP.NET, and WPF applications. With its rich feature set, including a robust calculation engine, formula support, and Excel compatibility, Spread.NET empowers developers to build data analysis tools, budgeting apps, scientific dashboards, and more, all within the familiar .NET environment.

The Spread.NET 18.2 update refines the RibbonBar in WinForms to improve the efficiency and clarity of UI design during development. With expanded icon visibility, developers can more easily access and identify commands, reducing visual ambiguity and speeding up layout tasks. The addition of new layout options for the collapsed state offers greater control over how the RibbonBar adapts to different form sizes, enabling more responsive and space-efficient interface designs. These improvements help streamline the design-time experience, allowing developers to build cleaner, more functional applications with less manual configuration.

To see a full list of what's new in v18.2, see our release notes.

Spread.NET is licensed per developer and is available as a Perpetual License with a 12 month support and maintenance subscription. We can supply any Spread.NET license including new licenses, maintenance renewals, and upgrade licenses. See our Spread.NET licensing page for full details.

For more information, visit our Spread.NET product page.

Generate Report Data with Built-In AI Tools

August 1, 2025
Stimulsoft Dashboards.WIN adds AI-powered data generation with Stimul AI, for faster report design using natural language prompts.

Stimulsoft Dashboards.WIN is a versatile suite of tools for crafting interactive data visualizations for web and desktop applications. It empowers developers to embed intuitive dashboards across various platforms, using platform-specific components or a centralized cloud designer. With data analysis elements, customization options, and pre-built templates, Stimulsoft Dashboards helps you transform complex data into clear, actionable insights for any audience.

The latest Stimulsoft Dashboards.WIN update introduces AI-powered data generation, enabling developers to quickly create realistic sample datasets using natural language prompts directly within the report designer. This improves the prototyping process by removing the need for manual data setup or external demo files, allowing for faster iteration, testing, and visualization of report layouts.

Stimulsoft Dashboards.WIN is licensed per developer and is available as a perpetual license with 1 year support and maintenance. See our Stimulsoft Dashboards.WIN licensing page for full details.

Stimulsoft Dashboards.WIN is available individually or as part of Stimulsoft Ultimate.

Redact Documents Programmatically with Python

August 1, 2025
GroupDocs.Redaction for Python via .NET lets developers remove or mask confidential content across PDFs, Word files, images, and more.

GroupDocs.Redaction for Python via .NET is a powerful, cross-platform API designed to enable Python developers to remove sensitive or confidential information from documents by leveraging the GroupDocs.Redaction engine built on .NET. It provides a unified interface for redacting text, metadata, annotations, images, spreadsheets, and even scanned content using optical character recognition (OCR) across more than 50 file types, including PDFs, Microsoft Office formats, OpenDocument formats, and common images.

By integrating GroupDocs.Redaction for Python via .NET, organizations benefit from a comprehensive and format-agnostic solution for sanitizing documents in Python-based workflows. It supports precise control through exact phrase, regex, metadata, annotation, and image-area redactions, plus filters for defining page ranges and regions. OCR integration allows secure redaction of scanned and image-based documents. Users can export redacted files either in their original format for further editing or as rasterized PDFs to prevent text extraction. The API is well-suited for automating compliance-related tasks in legal, healthcare, finance, or government systems. It also simplifies bulk processing with redaction policies, protects sensitive metadata, and ensures redaction consistency across diverse file types, all without requiring additional software dependencies.

GroupDocs.Redaction for Python via .NET is offered as Developer Small Business, Developer OEM, Site Small Business, and Site OEM licenses catering to a range of business needs. Licenses are perpetual, and include 1 year of support and maintenance. Subscription renewals are also available. See our GroupDocs.Redaction for Python via .NET licensing page for full details.

GroupDocs.Redaction for Python via .NET is available individually or as part of the following products:

Display Reports with Full Browser Flexibility

July 30, 2025
JavaScript report viewers deliver customizable, interactive reporting from .NET apps with fullscreen support, zoom control and flexible view modes.

A JavaScript report viewer in a .NET reporting component is a client-side web interface that allows users to view, navigate, and interact with reports generated by a .NET-based reporting engine. It enables embedding of reports into web applications built with JavaScript frameworks such as Angular, React, or Vue, while relying on the .NET backend to handle report generation and data processing. This setup allows developers to deliver responsive, interactive report viewing experiences within modern browser environments, without requiring full-page reloads or complex server-side rendering.

Several .NET reporting controls feature a JavaScript report viewer including:

  • ActiveReports.NET provides a lightweight JavaScript viewer for embedding RDL and Page Reports in web apps with zoom, navigation, and export support.
  • DevExpress Reports (Multi-Platform) facilitates cross-platform report viewing in JavaScript apps, enabling full interactivity and mobile responsiveness.
  • Telerik Reporting allows you to display rich, drill-down-enabled reports in JavaScript apps, supporting seamless integration, parameter handling, and export functionality.
  • List & Label Enterprise Reporting Edition lets you embed interactive reports in web apps, with responsive JavaScript viewers and export-ready, user-driven controls.

For an in-depth analysis of features and price, visit our comparison of .NET reporting controls.

Compare .NET Reporting Controls