

Then in the Add New Item dialog box, select Crystal Report from the Templates list, name the report CustomersBasic.rpt, and click Open (see Figure 1). NET languages.) Once the application is created, right-click the project name in the Solution Explorer, select Add | Add New Item from the context menus. (I use Visual Basic, but the concepts are portable to all.

I'll start by creating a new application for Windows in Visual Studio.

To begin with something simple, I will create a report from the Customers table of the SQL Server Northwind database and view it in a Windows Forms application. Downloadable sample code for this article includes Windows Forms, ASP.NET Web Forms, and ASP.NET Web Services applications. Along the way you'll see some useful coding tricks for tasks such as generating Acrobat (PDF) documents from your reports, building reports on parameterized SQL Server™ stored procedures, and passing reports using the current user's database security credentials. Here, I'll step through the creation of a Windows® Forms application, add an ASP.NET Web Service, and build an ASP.NET client application. rpt format, and many other features that I'll describe in depth in this article. It features an integrated designer for creating new reports, the ability to import any existing Crystal Reports (or Visual Basic 6.0 data reports) to. NET was developed in coordination with Microsoft engineers to integrate cleanly with the. NET, Crystal Reports has once again set the standard for third-party integration with Microsoft tools. These major features and others covered here take the drudge work out of data representation in your own applications.Įvelopers using Microsoft® technologies have had a long and close relationship with Crystal Reports, dating all the way back to the introduction of Visual Basic® 1.0. It has a rich programming model and flexible options for customizing and deploying reports. NET Server Explorer, toolbox, and design environment.

It also integrates seamlessly with the Visual Studio. Crystal Reports supports ADO.NET, XML Web Services, and ASP.NET server controls and caching. NET developers that is thoroughly integrated with both the Visual Studio. NET provides a comprehensive reporting solution for. SUMMARY Crystal Reports for Visual Studio. NETĭownload the code for this article: Crystal.exe (391KB) This article assumes you're familiar with Visual Studio. Crystal Reports Add Professional Quality Reports to Your Application with Visual Studio.
