Virtually all applications need to present data to users, but any work beyond basic formatting charts or conditional formatting, for example can be very complex to program manually. Crystal Reports is one of the world's leading software packages for creating interactive reports, and it provides developers with an array of tools for creating rich reports that can be published on the Web or integrated within applications. Versions of Crystal Reports have been included with Visual Studio since 1993 but the latest version, Crystal Reports .NET, is now integrated more closely than ever before with Visual Studio .NET.

This book provides a detailed guide to the functionality provided with Crystal Reports .NET and shows you how to integrate reports into your .NET applications. The examples are in VB.NET, but Crystal Reports .NET itself is largely operated by a clear language-neutral user interface in the main, allowing reports to be created and manipulated in practically every .NET language supported by Visual Studio.

What does this book cover?

Here is just a sampling of what you'll find covered in this book:

• Crystal Reports .NET overview



• Report integration for Windows and Web-based applications



• Creating XML report web services



• Working with .NET data, formulas, and logic



• The reports engine



• Distributing your application

Who is this book for?

This book is aimed mainly at readers who have some experience with Crystal Reports and want a comprehensive guide to the functionality included with Crystal Reports .NET, but it will also be valuable to programmers who are getting their first taste of Crystal Reports through the Visual Studio .NET development environment.