RDLC or Crystal Report?

Question

 

I would like to start using the reports facility in Visual Studio 2005 but I am confused which one to use and why? RDLC or crystal Reports?

Answer 1

 

Hi,

 

When comes to reporting, Crystal Reports are the best options. They have all the facilities that you may want whilst creating reports. Almost all.

RDLC is also a good option but I guess it's not that much powerfull as Crystal Reports are..

 

But there is a catch. Please note that, RDLC files are integrated into your application, hence when you distribute your application, they will go with it --- WITHOUT ANY ISSUE. But when it comes to Crystal Reports, Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2005 is Evaluation Version. You may produce reports on your own machines, but for re-distribution purpose, you will need to buy its license.

 

So, choose your options wisely.

 

 

Answer 2

Hi,

 

  As far as I know, SQL Server Reporting Services (RDLC) is mainly designed to create reports for the web, although you can still use it in winforms. While Crystla Reports.net (the one bundled in VS) is built for winforms. The main advantage in using Crystal Reports is that you don't have to have a sql server installed to be able to create reports.

 Also, the GUI of Crystal is more advanced than that of Sql Reporting services. Making a choice between the two depends on your project. If it's a winforms project, then I would definitely go for Crystal Reports (for the ease of use),  but if it's a web project , then I would be using sql reporting services.

 

Read this document for more difference between SQL Server Reporting Services and Crystal Reports

http://www.crystalreportsbook.com/SSRSandCR_Conclusion.asp

Answer 3

Actually, SQL Server Reporting Services use RDL reports (for the web) wheras RDLC reports are what you would use in a winform.  You don't have to have SQL Server installed to be able to create RDLC reports.  You can create them right out of the VS 2005 IDE but in order to view them you will need to use a Report Viewer object and then bind the report to it. 

This is a good site for more information about Report Viewer:
http://www.gotreportviewer.com

I made the switch from Crystal to RDLC reports a couple months ago.  I was sick and tired of all the Crystal issues I was running into on a regular basis.  That being said, RDLC reports has its own set of problems but that's to be expected in any version 1 product.  Microsoft has claimed that many of the issues have been fixed in VS 2008 but I'm not planning to use that until at least 2012 (I finally got myself to move to VS2005 as my primary IDE and am still wondering if it was worth leaving 2003 for).

Here are a couple of links related to printing that I found useful:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms252091.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/mattweber/archive/2006/07/11/662369.aspx

Answer 4

Hi All,
I am using RDLC with VS 2008. I am writing here whatever I felt till time.

• Crystal Report is more powerful than RDLC report.
• There is no facility of REPORT FOOTER & REPORT HEADER in RDLC Report. Only Page Header & Page Footer are there.
• You can either use Crystal Report or RDLC in Web Forms applications (there is no boundation of WinForm application)
• In VS2008, I was unable to find DATASOURCE in the presentation layer of the application so was unable to bind RDLC. For this I created/designed reportd in Data Access Layer (as i was getting datasource there) and then copied the RDLC in Presentation Layer. It works fine.

Answer 5

VS08:  I've found that Crystal redistributable can be squirrelly.  Also, and this was big for me, the version of the Crystal redistributable I have doesn't like Windows 2000.  If anyone knows a workaround for that, I'd love to hear about it as we still have many W2k boxes on the ground.  As far as "big" on Crystal was ease of use - much more straight-forward to use than RDLC.

RDLC is a pain to print from.  Have to go through a knotted rendering nightmare to print a simple report directly to a printer; however I don't have that little issue with older OS's.

Anyway, there's a dumb-guy's view on the differences in the two.  If anyone knows of a way I can make Crystal Reports via VS08 work with Windows 2000, I'd love to hear about it! :)

- Me