where to start

[jamie123]

I've been looking around for basic tutorials for crystal reports but can't find any good ones.

I'm using ado.net, I have an sql server express 2005 database with a table Financial. I want to create a crystal report with this Financial table, in the table it has several fields that I will be using...Date, Description, Fee, Payment, Balance, Patient Number.

Every line in the database contains a Patient Number...as well as all of the above items, I want to be able to store this Patient Number in a variable in my vb.net application and pass it to the crystal reports, this way, i can display the Date, Description, Fee, Payment, and Balance fields for each record that contains the specific Patient Number that I have specified through a variable.

I don't really know where to start, I tried playing around with crystal reports using the wizard in vs2008, but when I view the report it shows no data. I have a feeling that this isn't too complicated of a report, I think I just need to know where to start, if i haven't provided enough information please let me know and i'll provide more. Again, all I want this report to do is display the lines from the Financial table that contain a specific Patient Number. Should I even use the wizard or is it easier just to create the report from scratch and are there maybe any sample reports that I can play around with to get the feel of that are similar to mine?

Thanks!

[jggtz]

Start Here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms225276(VS.80).aspx

[jamie123]

Any other kind of tutorial that's not msdn-based?

edit: I got a copy of Crystal Reports 10 for Dummies, been reading through it, although I'm using Crystal Reports basic 2008 that comes with vs2008, it should be at least similar.

My main problem that I'm having trouble with is that after I've linked my dataset to the report, when I drag fields to the report..and hit "Main Report Preview" on the bottom, it fills the report with bogus data which I thought was because it did not load data from the dataset until the application was started. So I debugged my application and loaded the report into a crystal report viewer, and my report shows up with my headings but no data what so ever in the details section...all I did was drag the columns from the linked dataset on the left..to the details section in the report..is there something wrong or something that I'm misunderstanding?

[jamie123]

Anyone know why the data won't show up?

I followed the steps exactly in here:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms227800.aspx

added a datasource, created a new report and dragged a few columns from my dataset, and when i debug it..nothing shows up..


edit: Did some googling and found the problem, more like a problem with crystal reports than a problem of mine..but nonetheless:

I added this code to my reportviewer load event
Me.FinancialTableAdapter.Fill(Me.EyeBaseDataSet.Financial)
Dim rpt As New CrystalReport1

rpt.SetDataSource(EyeBaseDataSet)
Me.myCrystalReportViewer.ReportSource = rpt