Overview ASP. NET Crystal Reports

Prior to our research on Crystal Reports, my friends and I were curious about how to add this complicated stuff to our Web application. A week later, after reading a large number of "HOWTO" documents, we successfully added some simple reports to our ASP. NET program and got some tips.

This article teaches you how to use Crystal Reports in. Net Web applications, and also helps you avoid detours during your learning process. To get the best results, you 'd better have some basic ASP. NET database access knowledge and development experience using VS. Net.

Introduction

Crystal Reports can be obtained in many ways, one of which is created using VS. Net. It provides a rich set of models so that we can operate on attributes and methods at runtime. If you are using VS. Net to develop a. Net program, you do not need to install other software because it is already embedded in VS. Net.

Advantages: VS. Net Crystal Reports have the following main advantages:
◆ Quick report development
◆ Can be exported into complex interactive charts
◆ It can be used with other controls in WebForm
◆ Dynamically export reports. Pdf ,. Doc, xls, html, rtf, and other formats

Structure: Some components form a layer-2 structure of the crystal report. The following Web applications are required:

Client: the client only needs a browser that can access the reports embedded in the aspx page.

Server: Crystal Report Engine CREngine. dll ))

It can be used to complete some tasks, such as merging data in the report file and converting the report to another format. It is precisely because of the role of the Report Engine that ASP. NET Crystal Reports can be converted into common HTML formats.

Crystal Report Designer CRDesigner. dll ))

ASP. NET Crystal Reports are created in the designer. In the designer, you can design titles, insert data, formulas, charts, subreports, and so on.

. Rpt report file

The first step in executing the report is to create the Report on the interface of the Crystal Report designer. By default, Microsoft has provided some ready-made. rpt examples.

Data Source

. The method for getting the database from the rpt file depends on your method selection. You can choose to let the Crystal Report select data without using any code or manually assemble the DataSet, and then transfer it to the report file.

Crystal Report Viewer web form Control CRWebFormViewer. dll ))

The crystal report display control is a WebForm control that can be viewed as a container for storing reports on the. aspx page. Note: In some complex operations, the Report Server and the Web server may not be on the same physical host, and the Web server sends HTTP requests to the Report Server. Crystal Reports can also be executed as WebServices.

Execution Mode

The following method can be used to retrieve data from ASP. NET Crystal Reports:

Pull Mode:

When a request is sent, the crystal report directly connects to the database based on the specified driver and then assembles the data.

Push mode:

At this time, the development table has to write code to connect data and assemble DataSet, and send it to the report. In this case, you can use the report to maximize performance by sharing connections and limiting the size of record sets.

Report Type:

The crystal report designer can directly include reports to projects and use independent report objects.

Stronugly-typed report:

When you add a report file to a project, it becomes a "strongly-typed" report. In these cases, you will have the right to directly create report objects, which will reduce some code and provide some performance.

Un-Typed report:

The reports here are not directly included in the project, so they are called 'un-typed 'reports. In this case, you have to use the "ReportDocuemt" object of the crystal report to create an instance and use the report manually.

1. Data source controls in ASP. NET
2. Introduction to the use of XML Web Services in ASP. NET
3. Web. config file of ASP. NET application
4. Overview ASP. net xml Web Services
5. Implement HTTP requests in ASP. NET