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3rd party reporting tool for express edition of Visual Studio 2005/2008
What third party reporting tools are available for Visual Studio 2005 Express Edition? Because I noticed that the Express Edition of this application does not come with Crystal Reports. If I buy Crystal Reports 11, will it work on VS Express Edition? Are there any freeware/open source alternatives to Crystal Reports? What about Microsoft's SQL Server Reporting tool? Is that any good? If my application uses an MS Access database instead of an SQL Server database (i.e. it does not use SQL Sevrer at all), can I still use this reporting tool in my deployed applciation (which is a WinForm app - not a Web app)?
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Thanks
Éric Moreau
see http://www.gotreportviewer.com/ for info on the report viewer. and yes it is working in Windows apps.
ASKER
Thanks emoreau, but unfortunately that reporting tool does not work on the Express Edition of Visual Studio - ir requires the Standard Edition or better...
>>> What about Microsoft's SQL Server Reporting tool? Is that any good?
Yes, it's a decent tool. It isn't as advanced as Crystal Reports yet but it is a capable tool and the price is right.
>>> Are there any freeware/open source alternatives to Crystal Reports?
You can find a few .Net reporting components on the web but I haven't seen anything free that's worth using. If you want to pay for it, both Telerik and Infragistics have decent reporting components but in all honesty I don't think they're any better than what you get with SQL Reporting Services.
>>> If my application uses an MS Access database instead of an SQL Server database (i.e. it does not use SQL Sevrer at all), can I still use this reporting tool in my deployed applciation
Almost certainly. Obviously depends on the tool you choose but any I've mentioned will work on either a .Net dataset and/or and ODBC or OLEDB connection. For example, all of my reports that use SQL Reporting Services are pulling data from an Oracle 10g database...
HTH
frodoman
Yes, it's a decent tool. It isn't as advanced as Crystal Reports yet but it is a capable tool and the price is right.
>>> Are there any freeware/open source alternatives to Crystal Reports?
You can find a few .Net reporting components on the web but I haven't seen anything free that's worth using. If you want to pay for it, both Telerik and Infragistics have decent reporting components but in all honesty I don't think they're any better than what you get with SQL Reporting Services.
>>> If my application uses an MS Access database instead of an SQL Server database (i.e. it does not use SQL Sevrer at all), can I still use this reporting tool in my deployed applciation
Almost certainly. Obviously depends on the tool you choose but any I've mentioned will work on either a .Net dataset and/or and ODBC or OLEDB connection. For example, all of my reports that use SQL Reporting Services are pulling data from an Oracle 10g database...
HTH
frodoman
ASKER
Thanks for your reply frodoman. Just one question regarding Microsoft's SQL Server Reporting Tool - will it generate reports off an Access database (i.e. my app does not use an SQL Server database at all - only an MS Access database)? In your post, when you replied "almost certainly", I'm not sure if you were referirng the reporting tools you recommended or if it included Microsoft's SQL reporting tool too.
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