How to use Crystal Reports without a tightly-linked DB connection?

Question

I\'m learning to use Crystal Reports (with VB 2005).

Most of what I\'ve seen so far involves slurping data directly from a database, which is fine if that\'s all you

Answer 1

Go ahead and create the stock object as described in the link you posted and create the report (StockObjectsReport) as they specify. In this simplified example I simply add a report viewer (crystalReportViewer1) to a form (Form1) and then use the following code in the Form_Load event.

stock s1 = new stock("AWRK", 1200, 28.47);
stock s2 = new stock("CTSO", 800, 128.69);
stock s3 = new stock("LTWR", 1800, 12.95);

ArrayList stockValues = new ArrayList();

stockValues.Add(s1);
stockValues.Add(s2);
stockValues.Add(s3);

ReportDocument StockObjectsReport = new StockObjectsReport();
StockObjectsReport.SetDataSource(stockValues);

crystalReportViewer1.ReportSource = StockObjectsReport;

This should populate your report with the 3 values from the stock object in a Windows Form.

EDIT: Sorry, I just realized that your question was in VB, but my example is in C#. You should get the general idea. :)

Answer 2

I'm loading the report by filename and it is working perfect:

//........

ReportDocument StockObjectsReport;

string reportPath = Server.MapPath("StockObjectsReport.rpt");

StockObjectsReport.Load(reportPath);

StockObjectsReport.SetDataSource(stockValues);

//Export PDF To Disk

string filePath = Server.MapPath("StockObjectsReport.pdf");

StockObjectsReport.ExportToDisk(ExportFormatType.PortableDocFormat, filePath);