C# reports

Question

I come from a UNIX background where most reports are spooled to a dot-matrix printer using pre-printed stationery. I am currently writing my first Windows Forms C# application and need to write reports which will be sent to a laser printer and which require the formatting to be done programmatically as there will be no pre-printed stationery. I am referring to reports such as statements and invoices which require numerous tables and images etc. My question is which is the best way to write such reports? Should I use a report writer such as Crystal Reports? Can I use a Microsoft Word Picture as a background and populate text boxes within the picture, or XML and stylesheets? I really have no idea which route to pursue and would really appreciate some advise. Much thanks

Mahesh Chand · Answer

There are some sample code on Crystal Report in the Crystal Reports section of C# Corner.

Dennis · Answer

Thankyou very much for your reply. Would it be possible for you to send me me some sample code?

Adam Erstelle · Answer

I would say it would all depend what you are most comfortable with. Crystal Reports is a powerful tool but does your reports really need all the options Crystal Reports has to offer. There may be extra things that would need to be deployed with Crystal Reports I'm not too sure. You could create a custom object which would have your picture as a background and lables for where the text would go then just populate the data and print the object (Custom code would have to be written to create a new image based on what a screenshot would look of the final object then print the new image) You could also use XML and stylesheets. Again its what you would be confortable using.