Chapter 3: Report Integration for Windows-Based Applications

Overview

With a bit of basic report design under our belts, it's time to look at actually integrating reports into your Windows-based applications. In the previous chapter, we looked at how to create reports using some of the features within Crystal Reports.NET.

In this chapter, we are going to look at how to integrate and view those same reports from Windows applications, and how to customize our reports at run time using the rich object models provided. We will cover:

Determining the correct object model

The CrystalDecisions.Windows.Forms namespace

Using the Crystal Windows Forms Viewer

Customizing the Windows Forms Viewer

Passing information to the Windows Forms Viewer

Throughout the chapter we will be looking at code examples to illustrate the use of various features and at the end of the chapter, you should be familiar with the majority of report integration concepts and be ready to apply them to your own application development.