I am creating a windows application.
I am now concentrating on the Reporting Module of my Application.
I have two ideas to do this task.
Either through Crystal Reports or using the Windows Forms and placing the Data Grid View.
Can any one suggest me which option should I choose?
Also the report should be able to Export in the Excel and PDF format and even it should be Printable.
I heard from others that Crystal Reports gives some problem at the time of Deployment.
Please suggest me. I am very much confused.
Thanks in advance!
Visual Studio 2005 and later comes with Microsoft Reporting tools that are so nice and, for me, better than Crystal Reports.
Update: You can install the Microsoft Report Viewer Redistributable 2005 or 2008.
Yes, I would advise not to use Crystal Reports (or Crusty Reports as they have unfortunately become known as in my department). We have had a whole load of problems from reports being corrupted and requiring recreating to simply being clunky and slow.
As our applications are being upgraded we are moving over to MS Report Viewer, which is far better. You can export to Excel from the report viewer.
Use SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). It gives you all the same functionality as Crystal Reports and will let you do your exports into whatever format you like (pdf, csv, txt, xls, etc.) right out of the box. You may run into some problems when trying to export to xls/csv when you are using embedded tables in your reports but microsoft is supposedly fixing this in the next release.
Try generating your reports in XML. Later you can decide/change which tool/technology you want to use, without doing much modifications. :-)
You should check out DevExpress Reporting controls, they rock, and are very easy to use. They also allow you to print to various formats like PDF, they also come with an end-user designer.
DevExpress Page
I second the Microsoft Reporting tools. I am using them extensively in my WinForm App and so far so good.
You can specify whether they processed remotely or locally before deployment.
Here is a link to get you started --> http://www.packtpub.com/article/creating-report-with-visual-studio-2008
I suggest you Reporting Services (buid with sql server).
you can develop with VS and publish your reports to Report Server.
Recently abandoned Crystal Reports myself
because of the large number of bugs and crashes
in favor of FastReports. They even have a converter that restored my old reports that were built on Crystal
Related
I have been given the task of taking Crystal Reports developed with the standalone version of SAP Crystal Reports (2013 SP 2 version 14.1.2.1121) and figuring out a way to deploy them without use of Crystal Reports Server. The data connection is already stored in the report so all I have to do is load the rpt file, pass in a parameter, and display the results.
I thought I could accomplish this in an asp.net application. I am using the following code to export straight to pdf so I don't have to deal with Visual Studio's crystal report viewer:
report.Load(Server.MapPath("CrystalReport1.rpt"));
report.SetParameterValue("Quarter End Date", parmDate);
report.ExportToHttpResponse(ExportFormatType.PortableDocFormat, Response, false, "Report1");
This method works fine for all reports expect for two that contain a chart type of 'Date axis line chart'. When I run these reports through my web app the data fields match up exactly with the original report, but the charts are displaying wrong.
I have included two images below. The top is the proper rendering and the bottom is the rendering when running the report through my code.
I also tried to recreate the report from scratch in Visual Studio and, although the chart data was a little better, it was still off:
As I stated earlier, the report was given to me already completed. The question was could I could figure out a way to allow users to run it on demand supplying their own parameter from a browser without having to buy Crystal Report Server or some other tool.
There is another report that has a pie chart and it looks fine. Does anything have an idea of why this might be occurring?
Thank you.
Ultimately we had to downgrade the version these reports were created with to Crystal Reports 11.5. After that the charts rendered correctly.
How can I create reports (like well-formatted pdf files) and analytical graphs with C#/.NET?
Are there native libraries for this purpose?
I use finaquant's table function library for table operations. I need to integrate some additional functionality to generate reports and send them to proper addresses by email.
You can use rdlc or crystal reports for that. You can create well-formatted and complex reports with these reporting frameworks. By default it gives you functionality to export the data to excel, pdf and word. You can also use report viewer to view the data on a web page.
See below link for the tutorial on rdlc reports:
http://weblogs.asp.net/rajbk/archive/2010/05/09/creating-an-asp-net-report-using-visual-studio-2010-part-1.aspx
There are a lot of reporting tools on the market. As Adarsh said you could try a free crystal reports, but if you need a higher level of customization and flexibility, there is a very good reporting tool List and Label which offers a .NET Api as well.
If you don't want to program it yourself and you have access to the database, then you can use some third party reporting engines like DBxtra which lets you email the reports automatically on an scheduled basis.
I work on some project that is migrating from vb6 to web (asp.net). I need to print some kind of report - A table from database and number of simple headers with date and time. In vb it was implemented using vsPrinter object. Is there any Class in C# that is similar to this Class in vb6 in its functionality? If there in no such thing in .net, what is the easiest way to do this?
Thanx for assistance!
Remember you are moving to the web so you don't have access to the hardware printer controls. You only have access to what the browser gives you. If you are not doing anything fancy with this you can do one of two things.
Since this is an ASP.NET webpage, simply create a new browser or popup and render your report as html. The user can them choose print from the browser print dialog or you can launch it with some generated javascript.
Use the Microsoft Report and Report Viewer controls is you need more formal report layout. These are available from your toolbox under the category Reporting.
I think the easiest way would be by using any reporting tool, one of the powerfull tools is Crystal reports, just google it an you will find alot of useful tutorial such as:
Creating Crystal Reports using C# with Datasets.
Crystal reports in ASP.NET
You can also find alot of useful threads about it here in SO under Crystal Reports tag, like:
How to use Crystal Reports with ASP.NET?
C# Crystal Reports Tutorial on asp.net?
I have created one Windows Forms application with C# and MySQL (using MySQL Connector). Now I need to create some reports from data in my MySQL database, and print it out.
I've tried Crystal Reports, Visual Studio 2010 reports and so on, but all seem complicated to use with my entity dataset.
I'm using LINQ to get queries. Is there any way I can create reports like HTML format and simply print them through the application? Someone asked me to send my data as RTF and straight without saving or printing it, but I cannot find a good tutorial for creating RTF like that.
ReportViewer is a freely redistributable control that enables embedding reports in applications developed using the .NET Framework. Reports are designed with drag-and-drop simplicity using Report Designer included in Visual Studio 2010. The ReportViewer site will give you all the necessary details. It may be a bit complicated, but it will do what you want. Reporting is a little difficult to understand anyway for a novice user.
I hope you want something like below.
i am presently working on a project to generate invoice reports in visual studio 2010.
I am confused whether to use crystal reports or reporting services(rdlc) to generate reports.
The reports are required to be generated for a manufacturing unit(print, save all options are necessary).
Which one is better to use as per my needs?
If you're printing invoices, I would consider using Crystal Reports first. It will allow for easier formatting and viewing within a Windows app.
If you know Reporting Services REALLY WELL, you can accomplish what you're wanting to do, but if you're new to both, I believe you'll be happier in the end using Crystal Reports. You will get better, easier results with less effort.
Your question is open for debate, so this is only an opinion.
I would go with the local reporting services (RDLC) and only use the full blown report server when necessary. You have a viewer for RDLC with options to print and save in various formats and you can easily stream the reports to PDF.
The version of Crystal that comes "stock" with VS is limited and the full versions are a bit pricey for my taste. I have been able to do everything I have needed with reporting services.
Please take a look at Windward Reports. It will save you a lot of time compared to Crystal or SSRS. And you can do more with it.
The unique difference is with Windward you design the reports in Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. So it's a very powerful easy to use design tool you already know. And because Word/Excel/PPT are free-form, you can do most anything for your final report.
I'm going to disagree with everyone (so far). I am not familiar with Windward Reports, so I won't comment on that, but I am familiar with Crystal Reports in VS2005. It is clunky, difficult to use and comes with more headaches. I learned Crystal Reports using an Enterprise version (which is very expensive) and having to work with this stripped down version is a nightmare.
I have completed a couple of different reports using Reporting Services and Stored Procedures and it is a walk in the park compared to doing the same thing using Crystal. Even if you don't know Reporting Services all that well, I'm sure you'll be fine. When I was stuck, I was able to find answers here on Stack Overflow. Any one of the Step by Step books are helpful as well.