Printing and making reports in c# winform

Question

I used in Delphi QuickReport to create reports and print. What can I use to do this in .NET C#?

I added some reporting elements (Microsoft reports and Crystal reports) to my project (Winforms app), but what I saw, is that I can only insert data from a Database. What I want, is to use the values of objects created in runtime. This is because my reports actually consists of receipts and invoices.

Which is the best tool to use for my need?

Answer 1

You can use the built in reports to generate nice reports wihtout requiring a database.

Create a class for your data, in my case, I am going to create a person class:

class Person
{
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public string AddressLine1 { get; set; }
    public string AddressLine2 { get; set; }
}

• Next I am going to add a report using the report wizard (Add New Item -> Reporting -> Report Wizard).

• For the datasource, I am going to select Object and then point it to my Person class.

• Select the columns you want for your details, I am just dragging all of them into the values for simplicity.

• Walk through the rest of the wizard just selecting the defaults and you should then see your report.

• Now you can add a ReportViewer control to a form and set the report to the report you just created. This should create a PersonBindingSource on your form as well.

• Set the PersonBindingSource's data to a list in memory:

  BindingList<Person> myPeople = new BindingList<Person>();
  myPeople.Add(new Person() { FirstName = "John" , LastName = "Doe"});
  myPeople.Add(new Person() { FirstName = "Jane" , LastName = "Doe"});
  myPeople.Add(new Person() { FirstName = "Jerry" , LastName = "Smithers" });
  
  PersonBindingSource.DataSource = myPeople;
  reportViewer1.RefreshReport();
  this.reportViewer1.RefreshReport();
  

With the final report looking like this:

Answer 2

Crystal Reports will work perfectly for you. Actually you can generate reports without a database. Check out this project and it should get you started and is just like what you are trying to do.

You this helps you!