I have started implementing Crystal Reports into my TeamTrack application. This is involving a steep learning curve since many of the things that I want to do. Crystal Reports looks much like the report generator in Microsoft Access, something that I have spent too much time working on over the years [Yeah, that is another story!].

The story so far. In VisualStudio step one is to add a ‘CRYSTAL REPORTS REPORT’ to the project on the solution explorer. This is just like you would add a new form, class or library. Simple first step. And then I believe that you just accept the defaults unless you want to change the name of the report. From what I can gather though, this only generates a blank report. But the report is not viewable. So then I need to bring up a form, and add a ‘CRYSTAL REPORTS VIEWER’ onto the form. Then things get murky.

The next two steps are to :-
* Link the viewer to the report
* Link the report to the data source.

I think I have worked out the first of these. The second requires more work. The issue here is that I need to deal with a WebService which is an XML dataset over the web. But I need to process it slightly in the middle. I may be able to do some of the processing in Crystal Reports but I do not think I can do all of it. So I need to act as a proxy. And that is where I get stuck. I know Google is the source for all knowledge in the known universe, and even more apart from that. Hey, I even use Google to search my own WWW site and Blog. But sometimes working out the correct keywords to use can be a challenge.

I have looked on the Web Site for BusinessObjects (The new name for the company that produces Crystal Reports) and found a support link. But basically I am out of my deapth there… I will see how it goes.

[Edit 2:35PM… I give up. I have no idea. I think I need to generate an XSD Dataset for the WebService, but I really have no idea. I think I will have to look at getting some professional help… ]