Programming Tutorials

Your first VB.NET Crystal Reports - A step by step guide

By: Issac in VB.net Tutorials on 2009-02-21  

Crystal Report is an application which can generate various reports from different data sources, we can create reports, print and preview those report using it, It is compatible with almost a developing platforms and databases,  In this article you can find useful resources for generating reports from VB.NET with Crystal Report.

We can now see how to create a sample Database and Tables and data. First we have to create a database. Give the database name as "crystaldb" 

Create a DataBase "crystaldb" 

In the crystaldb database, let us create three tables OrderMaster, OrderDetails, Product.

OrderMaster 
1. OrderMaster_id
2. OrderMaster_date
3. OrderMaster_customer
4. OrderMaster_createduser 

OrderDetails 
1. OrderDetails_id
2. OrderDetails_masterid
3. OrderDetails_productid
4. OrderDetails_qty 

Product 
1. Product_id
2. Product_name
3. Product_price

Now that you have a database you can start your first VB.NET Crystal Reports.

All Crystal Reports programming samples in these tutorials are based upon the following database (crystaldb, the one we created through the previous article).

Open Visual Studio .NET and select a new Visual Basic .NET Project.

Create a new Crystal Report for Product table from the above database crystalDB. The Product Table has three fields (Product_id, Product_name, and Product_price).

From the main menu in Visual Studio select PROJECT-->Add New Item. Then Add New Item dialogue will appear and select Crystal Reports from the dialogue box.

Accept the default settings and click OK.

Next step is to select the appropriate connection to your database. Here we are going to select OLEDB connection for SQL Server

Select OLE DB ( ADO ) from Create New Connection.

Select Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server.

Next screen is the SQL Server authentication screen. Select your Sql Server name, enter userid, password and select your Database Name. Click next, Then the screen shows OLE DB Property values, leave it as it is, and click finish.

Then you will get your Server name under OLEDB Connection from there select database name (Crystaldb) and click the tables , then you can see all your tables from your database.

From the tables list select Product table to the right side list.

Click Next Button

Select all fields from Product table to the right side list.

Click Finish Button. Then you can see the Crystal Reports designer window. You can arrange the design according your requirements. Your screen looks like the following picture.

Now the designing part is over and the next step is to call the created Crystal Reports in VB.NET through Crystal Reports Viewer control.

Select the default form (Form1.vb) you created in VB.NET and drag a button and CrystalReportViewer control to your form.

Select Form's source code view and put the code on top

Imports CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine

Put the following source code in the button click event  

Imports CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine
Public Class Form1
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, 
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim cryRpt As New ReportDocument
        cryRpt.Load("PUT CRYSTAL REPORT PATH HERE\CrystalReport1.rpt")
        CrystalReportViewer1.ReportSource = cryRpt
        CrystalReportViewer1.Refresh()
    End Sub
End Class

NOTES:

cryRpt.Load ("PUT CRYSTAL REPORT PATH HERE\CrystalReport1.rpt")

The Crystal Reports is in your project location, there you can see CrystalReport1.rpt. So give the full path name of report here.

After you run the source code you will get the report like this.

Hope this article helps you to create your first Crystal Reports.