Generating a Simple Crystal Report using VS 2005 - Report Generation
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Invoking the Report Wizard
When the application is created, the CrystalReport1.rpt tab will be in the default view with the window Crystal Reports Gallery contained in it as shown. As you can see from this you have three options to choose from. For this tutorial, the first option is chosen.

Accessing the Data
When you click on the OK button, you will get to the Standard Report Creation Wizard window as shown. There are lots of locations and sources that the data can come from, including the possibility to create a new connection.

Creating a New Connection
For this tutorial a new connection will be established to get the data. When you expand the Create New Connection node you will see even more options.

Choosing an OLEDB Provider
We will be using an OLEDB provider, so click on the OLEDB (ADO) folder which shows the OLEDB Providers available in the drop-down in the right pane. We plan to get the data from the SQL 2005 Server using the SQL Native Client. Highlight the SQL Native Client. Place a check mark in the checkbox Use DataLink file. Well, you might not have a DataLink file ready to be used. However, in the next sub-section we will create a DataLink file, and when this is created, we will browse to it by clicking the ellipsis button (...) in the Ole DB Provider screen.

Next: Creating a DataLink file >>
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