Generating and printing reports

[bminaeff]

Hey all,

I know typically this site is best used when some piece of existing code is not working properly and you can correct it, but I have more of a conceptual problem I guess.

I have a requirement to add some additional functionality to an existing system where we will generate a report and print it out automatically. So far I have this :

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        PrintDocument1.PrinterSettings.Copies = 1
        PrintDocument1.Print()
    End Sub
    Private Sub PrintDocument1_PrintPage(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs) Handles PrintDocument1.PrintPage
        e.Graphics.DrawString(TextBox1.Text, TextBox1.Font, Brushes.Blue, 100, 100)
    End Sub

This works fine for printing out a single line on a piece of paper, but formatting a report is a different story. So my question is, whats the best way to generate a report and use this or some similar method to automatically print the report? Is it easiest to use CrystalReports or some XML file or what has worked well for you guys in the past?

Thanks
-Bill M.

 

[RiverGuy]

Crystal Reports is a good choice as it comes bundled with .Net and does an excellent job of allowing you to format documents precisely.

 

[PRPhx]

Do agoogle search for this pdf. It'll show you what must be done to include a crystal report in your app. (It's a LARGE pdf - 591 pages)

vs2005_walkthroughs.pdf