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Loading Crystal Report reports which use Stored Proc in C#

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19 Apr 20052 min read 285K   4.9K   54   56
An article on how to load Crystal Report reports using C#.

Introduction

This article focuses on loading Crystal Report reports in C#. The Crystal Report report created here uses a SQL Server stored procedure which takes two parameters and it uses DSN with SQL Server authentication.

Background

When I started working on Crystal Reports, mainly I was wondering about these problems:

  1. How to set parameters of stored procedure from C# code using Crystal's APIs.
  2. How to avoid popup window which comes when we use DSN with SQL Server authentication.
  3. How to avoid these errors:
    • Missing prompting unit
    • The parameter is incorrect

This article gives a solution to all of the above issues and also gives a few notes to avoid unpredictable results.

Using the code

The attached code here loads the "SalseReport.rpt" file. The steps to run the attached application are:

  1. Create database say "testDB" in SQL Server and execute the script "SalseData_Table_SP.sql" in the SQL Server Query Analyser which will create a stored procedure "Sel_SalesData" and a table "SalesData" for you.
  2. Import the sample data to the table "salseData" from file "SalesData_Data.txt" (data is comma separated).
  3. Create a DSN named "TestDB_DSN" with SQL Server authentication. Give valid user name and password.
  4. Open "frmSalseData.cs" file and update the below line with your logon information, in the function "btnPreview_Click".
    C#
    //The parameters are in the order 
    //- UserName, Password, DSN Name, DatabaseName, Case Sensitive
    reportDocument.SetDatabaseLogon("pchitriv", "Windows2000", 
                               "TestDB_DSN", "testDB", false);
  5. In case you have created a DSN with some other name than "TestDB_DSN", then open the "SalseReport.rpt" file from the Reports directory and set the DataSource location to point to the correct DSN and "Sel_SalseData" stored procedure again.
  6. The code to load the report looks like this:
    C#
    private void btnPreview_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) 
    {
        //Instantiate variables
        ReportDocument reportDocument = new ReportDocument();
        ParameterField paramField = new ParameterField();
        ParameterFields paramFields = new ParameterFields();
        ParameterDiscreteValue paramDiscreteValue = new ParameterDiscreteValue();
    
        //Set instances for input parameter 1 -  @vDepartment
        paramField.Name = "@vDepartment";
        //Below variable can be set to any data 
        //present in SalseData table, Department column
        paramDiscreteValue.Value = "South";
        paramField.CurrentValues.Add(paramDiscreteValue);
        //Add the paramField to paramFields
        paramFields.Add(paramField); 
    
        //Set instances for input parameter 2 -  @iSalseYear
        //*Remember to reconstruct the paramDiscreteValue and paramField objects
        paramField = new ParameterField();
        paramField.Name = "@iSalesYear";
        paramDiscreteValue = new ParameterDiscreteValue();
        paramDiscreteValue.Value = "2004";
        paramField.CurrentValues.Add(paramDiscreteValue);
    
        //Add the paramField to paramFields
        paramFields.Add(paramField); 
    
        crystalReportViewer1.ParameterFieldInfo = paramFields;
    
        reportDocument.Load(@"..\..\..\Reports\SalseReport.rpt");
    
        //set the database loggon information. 
        //**Note that the third parameter is the DSN name 
        //  and not the Database or System name
        reportDocument.SetDatabaseLogon("pchitriv", "Windows2000", 
                                   "TestDB_DSN", "testDB", false);
      
        //Load the report by setting the report source
        crystalReportViewer1.ReportSource = reportDocument;
    }

Points of Interest

  1. Error - Missing prompting unit:

    I got this error when I was not creating a new “ParameterField" object for each of the input parameters.

  2. Error - The parameter is incorrect:

    I got this error when I used paramField.Name = "vDepartment"; instead of paramField.Name = "@vDepartment";. This is because in the report, the parameter field name in the Field Explorer is @vDepartment. So remember to use the exact name in the C# code as that is used in the report (for parameter/input fields).

  3. Note:

    Remember to uncheck the option “Save data with Report” under Crystal Reports File menu. Checking this option gives unpredictable results when you call a report in a C# form.

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here


Written By
Web Developer
India India
He likes traveling a lot, especially long drives. He occasionally plays guitar, fascinated to watch WWE and likes spending time with his family and friends.

About the work, Pankaj is playing with the MS technologies since last couple of years. He designed and architected quiet a few applications and products which specially includes load balancing, DB clustering and also known to various architectural patterns and application blocks.



Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralRe: Crystal that comes with Visual Studio Pin
Aubyone23-Nov-05 18:50
Aubyone23-Nov-05 18:50 
GeneralDeploy Crystal Reports Pin
unitecsoft10-Jun-05 13:02
unitecsoft10-Jun-05 13:02 
GeneralRe: Deploy Crystal Reports Pin
Rowland Shaw17-Jan-06 5:40
Rowland Shaw17-Jan-06 5:40 
Generalhorrible example Pin
SalizarMarxx13-May-05 15:26
SalizarMarxx13-May-05 15:26 
GeneralRe: horrible example Pin
Pankaj A. Chitriv14-May-05 12:22
Pankaj A. Chitriv14-May-05 12:22 
GeneralRe: horrible example Pin
Kris_B22-Aug-05 10:20
Kris_B22-Aug-05 10:20 
Generalsub reports Pin
Xodiak13-May-05 10:37
Xodiak13-May-05 10:37 
GeneralRe: sub reports Pin
Pankaj A. Chitriv14-May-05 12:26
Pankaj A. Chitriv14-May-05 12:26 
Hi,
I wrote this article only for beginners to start with simple reports.

There could be much complicated things like subreports, calulated fields, form fields, report export/email etc which I'm not considering at this point of time.

Thanks,

Pankaj


Pankaj A. Chitriv
Tech Lead

Generalparameter Pin
boruu10-May-05 0:30
boruu10-May-05 0:30 
GeneralCan't running your code Pin
ntha822-May-05 6:47
ntha822-May-05 6:47 
GeneralRe: Can't running your code Pin
Pankaj A. Chitriv14-May-05 12:21
Pankaj A. Chitriv14-May-05 12:21 
GeneralParameterFieldName not support Pin
Dhilip Raju2-Jan-06 22:53
Dhilip Raju2-Jan-06 22:53 

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