Free - Reporting XML data using Crystal Reports

Reporting on data sources such as: MS Access, SQL Server and Oracle, is common with Crystal Reports (CR). How about XML as data source? Well, sure, you might be wondering how to do that? Is it even possible? Well, with help of this article I’ll show you how to use the XML data source and report on it using CR.

Step 3: Add a DataSet to the project

Although, there are different ways you can get the data to CRV, I'll show you here the DataSet technique. So, let's go ahead and add a DataSet to the project. The following step is needed to have the DataSet added to the project:

Select Add->New Item->DataSet from Solution Explorer. Change the name from DataSet1 to dsCDCatalog and click the Add button. Please Cancel the TableAdapter Configuration wizard; we'll add DataTable using the DataSet Designer.

Let's add the DataTable to our newly created DataSet. DataTable is essential to load the reporting data; we'll use the information from the DataSet/DataTable while designing the report. The following step is required to have DataTable added to DataSet(dsCDCatalog):

Double-click on dsCDCatalog from Solution Explorer; it'll open the designer view. Right-click the designer surface and select Add->DataTable. Click the header and change the name to dtCDCatalog (see the Figure 4).

Figure: 4 – Add DataTable to DataSet

Let's start adding columns to DataTable(dtCDCatalog). Your designer screen should look like Figure 5. Right-click on dtEmployee and select Add->Column to start adding the columns to DataTable.

Figure: 5 – Add columns to DataTable

Repeat the action for the following columns:

• Title (String)
• Artist (String)
• Country (String)
• Company (String)
• Price (Double)
• Year (String)

As you are adding the columns, by default it is string data type. Go to the Properties windows after selecting a column to change it from String to Int32. After you are done with adding columns, it should look similar to Figure 6.

Figure: 6 – DataTable after adding needed columns

Step 4: Add a Report to the project

So far we've created the project, and added CRV and DataSet. It's time to work on the report. Following are the steps required to add Report (rptXMLData.rpt):

Select Add->New Item->Crystal Report from Solution Explorer. Change the name from CrystalReport1.rpt to rptXMLData.rpt and click the Add button to complete the action. A dialog box of Crystal Reports Gallery will appear, Select "As a Blank Report" option and click OK button to complete the process to add report.

By default, you will see the rptXMLData.rpt is open for you in designer mode and its default setting. For this example I'll make use of only Page Header and Footer. I'll reduce the height of Report Header and Footer. Typically, after all this your report designer should look similar to Figure 7.

Figure: 7 – Newly added report in design mode

To add report to project is easy one, the challenge is to fill in the empty report layout. Whether this is your first report or you are a reporting junkie like me; we must deal with the most basic building blocks of report writing; that is, the header, the detail, and the footer.

Typically, reports are designed with specific page size and layout in mind. Our report is Letter size and Portrait layout. You can explore various properties attached to the report layout by right-clicking anywhere on the open designer surface (gray area) and selecting Report and Design Properties.

It is always advisable to draw a prototype of your report on paper before you start the design process. As you can see in Figure 1, we have the report name and report date in the header section. The body section has the employee list information; the footer carries the page numbers.

Header Section

Our header section consists of five Text Object, two Line Object and one Special Field. Please drag and Drop Text Object and Line Object from Toolbox->Crystal Reports. You can drag and drop "Print Date" special field from Field Explorer->Special Fields->Print Date. You'll also notice that I've change the color and font after placing the report object on the designer surface.

Please make sure your header looks similar to Figure 8.

Figure: 8 – Report Header and Footer

Footer Section

Footer section is simple, just one special field and one LineObject. As you've done with header section, you can LineObject from Toolbox->Crystal Reports. Similarly, you can drag and drop "Page N of M" special field from Field Explorer->Special Fields->Page N of M. Please see Figure 8 and make sure the Footer look similar.