ReportBase¶

ReportBase is the abstract implementation of IReport and the single content-orchestration point for the Reporting framework: it drives the report lifecycle (build → render → print/distribute/save), resolves the default printer and security platform for rendering, and captures non-throwing failures into Errors. It is MustInherit; concrete reports in consuming libraries subclass it and override Create to build their xPression data document. No concrete subclass exists in this repository's built projects — the only sample is in a test project excluded from the solution.*

Purpose¶

Implement the render/print/distribute/save orchestration defined by IReport, delegating actual rendering and transport to an internally held clsPrint instance
Cache a rendered report so repeated calls avoid another xPression round trip unless the caller requests an overwrite (BR-PRT-007)
Enforce that render/distribute only proceed once the report's data document and package are both present (BR-PRT-008)
Select the rendering printer from the caller's security principal, choosing the Web or Windows platform based on EnvironmentServiceBase.IsWeb (BR-PRT-009)
Record render/distribute exceptions as ErrorDetail entries instead of throwing (BR-PRT-010)

Context¶

Namespace: SAIF.Services.Printing.Reporting
Assembly/package: SAIF.Services.Printing (embedded library, project reference)

Public members¶

Member	Signature	Purpose
`XpressoEnvironments`	`Public Enum XpressoEnvironments {Production, Test, NotSpecified}` (nested)	Declares xPression environment tokens
`XpressoEnvironment`	`Public Property As XpressoEnvironments`	Settable but not read by any logic in this library — has no observed effect on rendering**
`New()`	`Public Sub New()`	Resolves the ambient `AppGlobal.EnvironmentService` and delegates to the parameterised constructor
`New(envSvc)`	`Public Sub New(envSvc As EnvironmentServiceBase)`	Initialises the report with the supplied environment service
`Errors`	`ReadOnly Property Errors As List(Of ErrorDetail)` (`IReport` implementation)	Accumulated render/distribute failures (BR-PRT-010)
`xPrint`	`ReadOnly Property xPrint As clsPrint` (`IReport` implementation)	The `clsPrint` instance this report renders/prints/distributes through; constructed with `clsPrint`'s parameterless constructor, so the report's own injected environment service is not propagated to it*
`DestinationFileName`	`Property DestinationFileName As String` (`IReport` implementation)	File path used by `Save`
`OutputProfile`	`Property OutputProfile As String` (`IReport` implementation)	Output profile applied on render; defaulted via `SetDefaultProfile`/`SetDraftProfile`
`ReportPackage`	`Property ReportPackage As String` (`IReport` implementation)	xPression package name required for render/distribute (BR-PRT-008)
`ReportFile`	`Property ReportFile As Byte()` (`IReport` implementation)	Cached rendered bytes populated by `Render`
`ReportXml`	`Property ReportXml As XDesignXDocument` (`IReport` implementation)	The data document produced by the subclass's `Create` override
`Create`	`Overridable Function Create(overwrite As Boolean) As XDesignXDocument`	Clears `Errors` and returns the subclass-built data document; the only member concrete report subclasses are expected to override
`Render`	`Function Render(overwrite As Boolean) As Boolean`	Skips re-rendering when a report file exists and `overwrite` is `False` (BR-PRT-007); otherwise calls `Create`, checks the data-document/package precondition (BR-PRT-008), resolves the default printer and security platform (BR-PRT-009), serializes with `ToXpression`, and calls `xPrint.previewDocument`; failures populate `Errors` and return `False` (BR-PRT-010)
`Print`	`Function Print(printer As String, overwrite As Boolean) As Boolean`	Renders when needed (OP-06 caching), sets `xPrint.Printer` to the caller-supplied printer, and calls `xPrint.printPDF`
`Distribute`	`Function Distribute(overwrite As Boolean) As Boolean`	Calls `Create` when needed, checks the precondition (BR-PRT-008), and calls `xPrint.distributeDocument` with the raw `XDocument.ToString` output rather than `ToXpression`, unlike `Render`*; failures populate `Errors` and return `False`
`Save`	`Function Save(overwrite As Boolean) As Boolean`	Renders when the destination file does not exist or `overwrite` is set and a destination name is present, writes `ReportFile` to a new `FileStream`, and returns whether the destination file now exists (BR-PRT-014)
`SetDefaultProfile`	`Sub SetDefaultProfile()`	Sets `OutputProfile` to the private constant `PDF` (BR-PRT-015)
`SetDraftProfile`	`Sub SetDraftProfile()`	Sets `OutputProfile` to the private constant `PDF_Draft_Watermark` (BR-PRT-015)

Behavioral notes¶

Render chooses clsSecurityPrincipal.Platform.Web when EnvironmentServiceBase.IsWeb is true and .Windows otherwise, then takes GetDefaultPrinter() from that principal as the printer used for the underlying clsPrint call (BR-PRT-009).
Distribute checks m_reportFile to decide whether to re-build, but calls Create (not Render) — so a distribute-only flow never populates ReportFile via the render path.*
xPrint is constructed with clsPrint's parameterless constructor regardless of which environment service ReportBase itself received, so the two could resolve different environment services within one report lifecycle.*

Constraints and usage notes¶

Subclasses should override only Create; the remaining lifecycle members are not designed to be overridden.
Callers that need render results without the "already rendered" cache skip must pass overwrite = True.

Note: Statements marked with * were inferred from code structure, naming conventions, or contextual evidence where direct confirmation was not available in source artifacts. Statements marked with ** could not be confirmed; treat as unknown until verified.

Sources¶

SAIF.Services.Printing/Reporting/ReportBase.vb