Report writers for VB.NET

[Trimtrom]

Hello

I am learning VB.NET and was toying with the idea of embellishing my
database program with Crystal Reports to provide some data reporting
facilities.

I was put off by the cost of Crystal, however, and was wondering if
there were any free or very low cost report writers that would work
with VB.NET. I want to run the reports from within VB, extracting the
data either from Access or SQL Server.

If anyone knows of any such report writers, I would be very grateful to
hear from them.

Many thanks,

Trimtrom

 

[CMM]

Visual Studio 2005 also has a built-in Report Viewer control. I haven't used
it yet, but it looks neat.

SQL Server has a reporting engine that is very very good.
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/technologies/reporting/default.mspx
There is a learning curve but once you get past it, it is extremely robust.
The caveat is that it is "server based"... they need to run off of IIS. You
can "integrate" them in your app by dropping the Web Browser control on your
forms and pointing it to the reporting services web service on your LAN. I'm
not sure if SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services improves on this "server"
paradigm. I hope it does.

Visual Studio (both 2003 and 2005) also comes with Crystal Reports built-in.
I'm not sure if it comes with all versions. Research it. I personally hate
Crystal Reports.

If you're using Access files you can use Access' built-in reports and
display them via .NET using COM automation (something like
Application.OpenReport(...)). I've always thought Access reports are
overlooked and underestimated... they're very good and super easy to use.
For basic reporting functionality they can't be beat.

 

[Oenone]

Visual Studio 2005 also has a built-in Report Viewer control. I
haven't used it yet, but it looks neat.

It is very neat.

It's essentially the engine from SQL Server Reporting Services, all running
locally in your code rather than as a service. You can design reports using
very flexible controls (tables, cross-tab matrix controls, graphs and
charts) and then simply provide each dataset to the report as a DataTable.
It can then render the report as an Excel spreadsheet, PDF file or TIFF
image.

It's quick, easy to use and very powerful.

 

[Guest]

Hello All,

I tried the report viewer control on a form connecting to an SQL 2000
Datbase. It works fine on the system where it was developed. After publishing
this project, I copied this project to another system to install this
application.

But installation fails and a message says ADODB 7.0.0 must be referenced in
the Global Assemblies....etc.

There is no way to select ADODB 7.0.0 in VB.NET 2005. Can someone tell me
how to publish this application and successfully install it in another
computer?

Thanks,
B.S.Girish