Crystal Report woes

[thirteentwenty]

Hey there gang...

I've been trying to put together some reports with Crystal Reports and all goes fine until I try to compile/package. The reports pull (or try to) the data from the test database. After much googling and muddling around with it I've gotten it to work, kind of... but after a few report views it throws an exception. Anyways, if anyone can help with that it'd be cool...

What I really come to ask is for an alternitive... what in your opinions would be a better choice of report?

 

[thirteentwenty]

OK so I've gotten most of the issues hammered out... for some reason when uninstalling the app it would un-register the CR dlls... easy fix... but there still is the issue of why its trying to get data from the wrong database... so now its a matter of figuring out how to change the datasource programmatically, I've found several articles on how to do so but they don't offer much in the way of flexibility (meaning I don't want to have to create a report viewer and the mess of code to change the database for each of the reports that I need to run).

But the question at hand, finding a suitable replacement for CR still stands... I did find this post mentioning DevExpress and Data Dynamics as alternatives... so to you VB.NET community I ask what are your opinions on these?

 

[ajeeshco]

Hi,
I had used the following code snippet for changing the database connection. Try this and hope this helps you.

ReportDocument reportDocument = new ReportDocument();
        reportDocument.Load("Path to your *.rpt file");
CrystalDecisions.Shared.ConnectionInfo connectionInfo = new CrystalDecisions.Shared.ConnectionInfo();
        connectionInfo.ServerName = " Your database server name";
        connectionInfo.DatabaseName = "Your database name";
        connectionInfo.UserID = "Your database user name";
        connectionInfo.Password = "Your database password";
        CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.Tables tables = reportDocument.Database.Tables;
        foreach (CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.Table table in tables)
        {
            CrystalDecisions.Shared.TableLogOnInfo tableLogOnInfo = table.LogOnInfo;
            tableLogOnInfo.ConnectionInfo = connectionInfo;
            table.ApplyLogOnInfo(tableLogOnInfo);
        }
        reportDocument.VerifyDatabase();

 

[thirteentwenty]

Hi,
I had used the following code snippet for changing the database connection. Try this and hope this helps you.

Hey there ajeeshco

Thanks for the reply, I noticed in your code that there is a call for the server name, the database will be on the local machine as this will be a standalone application. Would I use "localhost" or the like? In any case I'll play around with the code and post back here if I can get it to work or if I run into any major issues...

Thanks again!

 

[alim]

it is a very complex for.. you can use ado.net ->tables to design reports and
in button command type:

Dim Nrpt as New ReportObject
Nrpt.Database.Tables(0).SetDataSource(dataset) 'dataset where you fill     'datatables

 

[thirteentwenty]

Hey there ajeeshco, thanks for the point in the right direction... it took me a wee bit to get back to this project and take a look at it... but in the end your code (with some minor modifications) worked like a charm... below is what I ended up using

    Dim table As CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.Table
    Dim tableLogOnInfo
    Dim tables
    Dim conInfo As New CrystalDecisions.Shared.ConnectionInfo
    Dim rptDocument As New CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.ReportDocument

    Private Sub crv_reportViewer_viewer_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles crv_reportViewer_viewer.Load
        Dim conInfo As New CrystalDecisions.Shared.ConnectionInfo
        Dim strReportPath As String = My.Application.Info.DirectoryPath & "\" & strReportName & ".rpt"
        Try
            conInfo.IntegratedSecurity = False

            conInfo.DatabaseName = My.Application.Info.DirectoryPath & "\" & "stupidDB.mdb"
            rptDocument.Load(strReportPath)
            tables = rptDocument.Database.Tables
            For Each table In tables
                tableLogOnInfo = table.LogOnInfo
                tableLogOnInfo.ConnectionInfo = conInfo
                table.ApplyLogOnInfo(tableLogOnInfo)
            Next
            rptDocument.VerifyDatabase()
            rptDocument.ReportOptions.EnableSaveDataWithReport = False
            Me.crv_reportViewer_viewer.ReportSource = rptDocument
        Catch ex As Exception
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message & vbCrLf & ex.ToString)
        End Try

    End Sub

I guess you had dropped some C# in there so it confused me a bit... but in the end it all worked out just fine.

I wrapped it in a try/catch because initially when getting things sorted out it was throwing an innerException error, I can't recall the _exact_ nature of the message but it did have to do with the location of the mdb file. once I got everything sorted out BINGO...

Thanks again

@alim :: I'm sure your solution would have worked fine, and I would have tried to use it had I not made progress with ajeeshcos suggestion. I did find your suggestion a bit vague so I would have had more questions... In any case thanks for chiming in... its always appreciated!

 

[ajeeshco]

I guess you had dropped some C# in there so it confused me a bit... but in the end it all worked out just fine.

Sorry about that, I didn't even notice that. I'm glad that it helped.