Datasheet
For more information on deploying your Crystal Reports .NET application, go to Chapter 10,
“Distributing Your Application.”
ADO .NET
With the introduction of ADO .NET, data access has become much easier, and Crystal Reports .NET can
take advantage of ADO and the ADO .NET dataset. Instead of having to work out how to access various
data sources, Crystal Reports .NET can simply access the ADO .NET dataset as the source for any report
you may create.
XML Report Web Services
For sharing reports and creating tiered applications, XML Report Web Services are invaluable. Within
the Visual Studio IDE, you can create a Web Service from a report file with two clicks. From that point,
Report Web Services can be exposed to users inside and outside of your organization and can be con-
sumed using one of the new viewers included with the product. To optimize the report pages coming
over the wire, XML is used to send the report a page at a time to either the Windows or Web Report
Viewer, which makes reports viewed from Web Services quick and responsive.
Installing Crystal Reports .NET
Crystal Reports .NET ships as a component of Visual Studio .NET and can be installed from the common
Visual Studio .NET setup utility. If you are installing Visual Studio .NET for the first time, you may need
to complete the Windows Component Update shown in Figure 1-10 before you can begin. The setup
utility will look at your current configuration and determine whether you need to update any files or
applications. If required, setup will guide you through the update process.
After you have completed the component update, you can install Visual Studio .NET. The option to
install Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET can be found under the Enterprise Development Tools
options when selecting installation components. By default, when you select the Crystal Reports option,
all of the related components will be installed as well, as shown in Figure 1-11:
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