Chapter 27: Integrating Crystal Reports with Visual Basic


Overview

If you ve read even a bit of Part I of this book, you ve seen some of the power and flexibility of Crystal Reports. By making the vast array of corporate databases accessible with its simple, straightforward user interface, Crystal Reports has established itself as a valuable tool simply by virtue of its reporting and querying capabilities. Part II explored the myriad ways to integrate Crystal Reports with the World Wide Web. But there s a whole other side of Crystal Reports that has yet to be explored.

Because database reporting and querying is a large part of many standard business applications, you ll often need to include these features in custom applications that you create for your own use. If you develop custom applications for Microsoft Windows in any of the popular Windows development tools, you ll probably soon need some type of database reporting functionality inside the application. While you can develop your own routines to step through the database record by record to generate your own internal reporting mechanism, all the intricacies of formatting, font management, graphics, and other Windows- related printing issues can create a significant, if not impossible , coding challenge.

Crystal Reports has featured developer interfaces for virtually all of its Windows versions. Version 10 continues this tradition, with few new options over Version 9, however. Microsoft Visual Basic 6 (VB) developers, as well as other developers using a development tool compatible with Microsoft s Component Object Model, will appreciate improvements to the Report Designer Component (RDC). In Visual Basic and later Microsoft Office Developer editions, this interface allows both report design and flexible report integration to occur entirely in the VB integrated development environment (VB IDE). You ll have the option to stay entirely in the Visual Basic Integrated Development Environment to perform any report development or integration tasks .

If you re looking toward Microsoft s significantly updated Visual Studio. NET tool for Windows or Web application creation, you ll find Crystal Reports is an integral part of this new development environment as well. Much like the Report Designer Component with Visual Basic 6, Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET is fully integrated with the development environment, allowing complete report development right inside Visual Studio .NET. Finished reports can be made available in both Windows and web applications, as well as being published as web services. Crystal-based .NET web applications are discussed in Chapter 22, while Crystal-based .NET Windows applications are discussed in Chapter 28.

Furthermore, Business Objects provides flexibility when it comes to distributing your custom applications. While you are not allowed to redistribute the Crystal Reports design components (such as the Crystal Reports design program itself), your custom programs that merely manipulate and customize existing reports can be distributed without charge. You receive a royalty-free license to distribute the Crystal Report Designer Component and associated files, such as associated database and exporting .DLL files. You may purchase a single copy of Crystal Reports, develop your custom application, and distribute the run-time files with as many copies of your application as you like, at no additional charge. If you elect to use newer report creation functions or the embedded Report Designer control that is included in version 10 Advanced Developer Edition, you may redistribute your application as long as each organization you distribute to purchases their own copy of Advanced Developer Edition.

Note  

Don t forget that Crystal Reports 10 is available in four different editions. The Developer or Advanced Developer Edition will be of interest to you if you plan on using any Windows development features. To use any of the developer interfaces discussed in this section of the book, you need to purchase the Developer or Advanced Developer Edition ”the other editions don t provide necessary components for custom Windows integration.




Crystal Reports 10
Crystal Reports 10: The Complete Reference
ISBN: B005DI80VA
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 223
Authors: George Peck

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