Building an Invoice Application with ASP.NET and Crystal Reports - Part 1
page 1 of 9
Published: 21 Apr 2009
Abstract
In this first part of the series, Vince examines the creation of an invoice with the help of Crystal Reports by using the Adventure Works sample database. He provides detailed coverage of each step including the concept of header and detail records and one to many relationships with the help of relevant screen shots and source code. The article also demonstrates the usage of the Crystal Report Viewer and the Object Model to view the report as a PDF using ASP.NET.
by Vince Varallo
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Introduction

The free version of Crystal Reports that comes with Visual Studio allows you to create professional looking reports within your application and can polish up a line of business applications to make it look professional. This article will build an invoice for the AdventureWorks sample database that can be downloaded from http://msftdbprodsamples.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=18407 for SQL Server 2008. Download and install the SQL2008.AdventureWorks_All_Databases.x86.msi file.  The sample was written using Visual Studio 2008, but it will work with Visual Studio 2005 as well.  If you do not have SQL Server 2008 you can use SQL Server 2005, but you will need to download the 2005 AdventureWorks samples.

The goal of this article is to create an invoice that looks like the following figure.

Figure 1

This article will demonstrate how to use master\detail records, create formula fields, use variables in a report, attach to tables in a SQL Server database, use the Database Expert to create links between tables, insert groups in a report, dynamically format groups using the Section Expert, and how to create summary fields.

 

The code for this article can be downloaded from the link given at the end of this article.


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User Comments

Title: pranav   
Name: pranav
Date: 2012-11-26 1:22:05 AM
Comment:
helllo
Title: Need the Images ... Please   
Name: KM
Date: 2011-12-25 8:26:20 AM
Comment:
Hi the article doesn't load any images. Please check. Will really appreciate your help
Title: Missing Images   
Name: Johnny come lately
Date: 2011-11-22 10:22:47 AM
Comment:
Where are the pictures!! Its hard to follow without the images
Title: birendra yogi   
Name: bina
Date: 2011-02-02 8:16:21 AM
Comment:
I have used this article to create my own invoices for my business, and now back on to refresh my memory for a client's invoices
Title: This was perfect   
Name: Edward Pinto
Date: 2010-12-11 1:35:06 PM
Comment:
Thanks for the Listing 3 formula. I remember using such a formula a while back and needed it at a client site in a real hurry. this worked great esp some address line 2 or 3 were blank,

Here is my variation.

// Edward M Pinto 12/11/2010
// This formula was created to avoid the nested subreport for the shipping address.
//It evaluates each feild for null values and suppresses them if they are null

local StringVar shipTo := {@ShipAddr1} + chr(13);

if isnull({@ShipAddr2}) = false then
shipTo := shipTo + {@ShipAddr2} + chr(13);

if isnull({@ShipAddr3}) = false then
shipTo := shipTo + {@ShipAddr3} + chr(13);

if isnull({@ShipAddr4}) = false then
shipTo := shipTo + {@ShipAddr4} + chr(13);

//builds the shipping label
shipTo := shipTo + {@ShipCityStateZip}+Chr(13)+{@ShipCountry}
Title: exlent   
Name: latha
Date: 2010-11-08 6:17:00 AM
Comment:
it is useful to all
Title: Fantastic Article   
Name: Phil Smith
Date: 2010-10-25 7:05:46 AM
Comment:
I have used this article to create my own invoices for my business, and now back on to refresh my memory for a client's invoices.
Title: good practice code   
Name: vishwajeet singh
Date: 2010-09-30 6:24:39 AM
Comment:
its realy good practice code i god lots of conceptual knpwledge through this
Title: Miss   
Name: Kanchana Sinha
Date: 2010-09-23 3:08:51 AM
Comment:
Thanxs for your sample code,it is very easy to understand and it helped me to create invoice.
Title: Mr   
Name: Kumar
Date: 2010-03-19 2:53:12 AM
Comment:
Thank you for your sample code, which is really a good stuff for a beginners, and also it is very easy to understand.
Title: Mr.   
Name: Sam
Date: 2010-03-01 5:24:21 AM
Comment:
This article was of great help. Thanks a ton :)
Title: Nice Article   
Name: Rick
Date: 2009-12-01 11:21:23 AM
Comment:
The article was easy to follow and touched on thing I would not normally experiment with. Thanks for taking the time to put the article together
Title: gr8 stuff   
Name: sabata mereeotlhe
Date: 2009-11-25 7:34:42 AM
Comment:
thank you gr8 work
Title: Thank you   
Name: Tabitha
Date: 2009-11-18 10:00:57 AM
Comment:
Thank you very much!!!
Title: Thanks for doing such an awesome article!   
Name: Julius
Date: 2009-10-28 9:16:06 PM
Comment:
Very good article. Really appreciate it.
Title: Awesome tutorial!   
Name: Nivi
Date: 2009-09-13 12:22:10 AM
Comment:
Thanks for the awesome tutorial. It really helped me.
Thanks again
Title: Excellent Article   
Name: sai
Date: 2009-09-01 9:11:15 AM
Comment:
Thankyou so much for such a wonderful article on Crystal Reports.
Title: Landsailor   
Name: Pete Lyons
Date: 2009-08-31 8:34:22 PM
Comment:
Vince- What an amazing tutorial. There are many ways to skin a cat when it comes to reports delivery, but this is by far the most insightful way to tie-in .net with my crystal skills. Thanks again :)))))) ~Pete
Title: Error in Sum formula   
Name: Pavan
Date: 2009-08-25 10:28:17 AM
Comment:
I am not sure where I made mistake but I started from scratch again making sure I check the Preview after each field added to the report and it worked this time.

I have a quick question, Since we are using pull method, Do we need to use BindReport method? Why cant we just use the reportviewer.selectionformula?

Thanks for the wonderful tutorial!!
Title: Error in Sum formula   
Name: Pavan
Date: 2009-08-25 2:31:29 AM
Comment:
Hi,
Error in formula . 'Sum({SalesOrderDetail.LineTotal}, {SalesOrderHeader.SalesOrderNumber}) ' The result of selection formula must be a boolean.

Help please.
Thanks
Title: Best for beginner   
Name: murugaperumalwin
Date: 2009-08-07 8:30:36 AM
Comment:
hai Vince Varallo...

this is very useful for a people who still have't knowledge

about crystal report.

thanks
MP
Title: superb article   
Name: Raj
Date: 2009-07-30 2:27:41 AM
Comment:
very great article
Title: good article   
Name: john
Date: 2009-07-30 2:25:06 AM
Comment:
very good article.........
Title: Great Article   
Name: Caitriona
Date: 2009-06-11 8:50:55 AM
Comment:
I found this article extreemly useful. Thank you so much for sharing your talents!

Caitriona
Title: Child Nodes not allowed   
Name: Paul
Date: 2009-05-27 11:05:56 AM
Comment:
Hi,
I am getting an error like:-
Child nodes not allowed from the web.config file.
I am using ASP.NET2005 and SQL2005.
Is it because of this I got this error?
Thanks,
Paul
Title: Link for the Adventure Works database   
Name: Vince
Date: 2009-05-27 7:58:34 AM
Comment:
The page that has the download is http://msftdbprodsamples.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=18407

Click on the SQL2008.AdventureWorks All Databases.x86.msi link.
Title: Thanks so much   
Name: Paul
Date: 2009-05-26 5:23:07 AM
Comment:
Hi Vince,
It is really an excellent article.
I could not find the Adventure database in the downloads.
Where can I find it?
Thanks so much,
Paul
Title: Thanks - How about a version for VB users?   
Name: Art
Date: 2009-05-22 10:07:14 AM
Comment:
Thanks Vince!

I know some people are never satisfied ;-) but how about adding the "version b" listings for those of us who use VB?
Title: dr   
Name: kola
Date: 2009-05-11 11:12:06 AM
Comment:
good
Title: Thanks   
Name: Suresh Kumar Gundala
Date: 2009-05-08 5:04:13 AM
Comment:
Hi Vince,

Nice article. Actually i dont know anything about crystal reports. Now i got an idea.. This is a wonderful article.
Great work yaar. Thank you very much for writting such a nice article
Title: Good Article for a Quick start   
Name: Niki
Date: 2009-05-05 7:44:10 AM
Comment:
Thank you Vince, A very good article for a quick start on crystal report designing.We expect more articles from you in the same space

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