RDLC Report & ReportViewer Control in C#
RDLC (Report Definition Language Client-side) is a powerful reporting tool in the Microsoft Visual Studio suite. It’s designed to create professional-looking reports embedded within your .NET applications. With RDLC, you can:
- Present Data in a Structured Manner: Display data from various sources (databases, web services, etc.) in tabular, chart, or free-form layouts.
- Customizable Formatting: Control the appearance of your reports with fonts, colors, images, headers, footers, and more.
- Flexible Deployment: Embed RDLC reports directly into your Windows Forms or ASP.NET applications.
Key Concepts
- DataSources: Represent a connection to a data source (e.g., SQL Server database, XML file) and the specific data to be used in the report (tables, views, etc.).
- Report Templates (.RDLC): Define the layout, structure, and data elements of your report.
- ReportViewer Control: A .NET control that renders and displays the RDLC report within your application.
Building a Sample Sales Report
Step-by-Step Guide
- Project Setup: Create a new Windows Forms Application project in Visual Studio.
- Add a DataSource:
- Right-click your project in Solution Explorer, go to “Add” -> “New Item…”.
- Select “Data” -> “Dataset” and provide a name (e.g., “SalesData”).
- Follow the wizard to establish a database connection and select the necessary data (e.g., product details, sales figures)
- Create the Report Template:
- Add a new RDLC report to your project (“Add” -> “New Item…” -> “Report”). Name it (e.g., “SalesReport.rdlc”).
- Report Design View:Drag a “Table” control from the Toolbox onto the report body.
- Right-click in the table’s detail row and add columns as needed.
- Drag fields from your DataSource onto the table’s detail cells to populate them.
- Add a new RDLC report to your project (“Add” -> “New Item…” -> “Report”). Name it (e.g., “SalesReport.rdlc”).
- Add Headers and Footers:
- Right-click on the gray area outside the report body and select “Add Page Header/Footer”.
- Insert images (e.g., company logo) or text boxes into the header.
- In the footer, insert text boxes and use built-in expressions for page numbers and report title (e.g., =Globals!ReportName).
- Conditional Formatting (Optional):
- Select a table cell containing data you want to highlight.
- In the Properties window, expand “Font”.
- Click the expression builder button “fx” next to font properties like color.
- Use an expression like =IIF(Fields!Price.Value >= 20, “Red”, “Black”) to change the text based on the data value.
- Embed Report into Windows Form:
- Add a ReportViewer control to your form.
- In the ReportViewer’s smart tag, select “Choose Report” and select your designed RDLC file.
- Code (Form Load Event):
C#
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.reportViewer1.LocalReport.DataSources.Clear();
this.reportViewer1.LocalReport.DataSources.Add(new ReportDataSource(“SalesData”, salesDataTable)); // Adapt to your DataSource and data object
this.reportViewer1.RefreshReport();
}
Tips and Considerations
- User Experience: Design your reports with a focus on clarity and readability.
- Complex Layouts: Explore grouping, subreports, and matrices for organizing more intricate data.
- Interactivity: Consider adding parameters and drill-down capabilities for dynamic reports.