Thursday, April 15, 2010

ReportViewer Control in Visual Studio 2008

ReportViewer Control in Visual Studio 2008

Introduction

ReportViewer is a freely redistributable control that enables embedding reports in applications developed using the .NET Framework. Reports are designed with drag-and-drop simplicity using Report Designer included in Visual Studio 2008 (Standard editon and above.)


The ReportViewer control offers the following benefits:

  • Processes data efficiently. The reporting engine built into ReportViewer can perform operations such as filtering, sorting, grouping and aggregation.
  • Supports a variety of ways in which to present data. You can present data as lists, tables, charts and matrices (also known as crosstabs.)
  • Adds visual appeal. You can specify fonts, colors, border styles, background images etc to make your report visually appealing.
  • Enables interactivity in reports. You can have collapsible sections, document map, bookmarks, interactive sorting etc in your report.
  • Supports conditional formatting. You can embed expressions in the report to change display style dynamically based on data values.
  • Supports printing and print preview.
  • Supports export to Excel, Word and PDF formats. (Word export in Visual Studio 2010 and up.)

The control can process and render reports independently using a built-in engine ('local mode') or it can display reports that are processed and rendered on a Report Server ('remote mode').

There is a WinForms and a WebForms version of the control.

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