Ken’s Quick Reference to Crystal Reports in VB.NET
This guide is now a FREE Download
Don't waste time trying to figure out how to launch and control your Crystal Reports from VB.NET. This 12 page PDF, with 6 simple code examples, not only covers the basics - it will also help you understand how Crystal is integrated with .NET. My code examples and sample projects strip out any unnecessary variables and objects to expose the core of each command. This is unlike the Crystal samples that bury each command in several extra layers.Included in this package is working source code for compiling your own simple Crystal Reports Desktop Viewer. This viewer can be customized and will let your users select a report from any directory and run the report, without installing Crystal Reports!
Note - The material does not teach you how to write Crystal Reports, and assumes that you already know the basics of VB.NET. I don't cover the other .NET languages, but since they all share the same object model, you may find that most of this material is applicable. Also note that the Visual Basic Express Edition does NOT support integration of Crystal Reports. If you are using VB5 or VB6 you should get my Quick Reference for Crystal in VB.
Topics covered:
The core components and references and how they are used.
The objects and minimum code needed to launch an existing report.
How to Connect to the server in your application before launching SQL based reports.
How to Export to the most common formats
How to pass a DataSet from the application to the report.
How to change Subreport properties
How to override and control the following settings in a report using .NET commands:
Selection Formula
Groups
Sorts
Formula Fields
Parameter prompts
Examples of formatting .NET variables so they can be passed to formulas and parameters
A list of links and other free resources.