Adding RDLC report in Visual Studio 2017: A Comprehensive Guide

Are you perplexed about adding RDLC (Report Definition Language Client-Side) report to your project in Visual Studio 2017? No need to worry, this article is here to burst through the confusion and guide you step by step.

Prerequisites:

Before we get started, make sure to have the following prerequisites:

1. Visual Studio 2017 installed on your local machine.
2. SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) installed with Visual Studio 2017.

Step 1: Create a new project or open an existing project in Visual Studio 2017

Launch Visual Studio 2017 and open an existing project or create a new one by selecting File > New > Project from the menu bar. Choose the project type that suits best for your requirement.

Step 2: Add a new RDLC file to the project

To add a new RDLC file to the project, right-click on the project from the Solution Explorer and select Add > New Item. From the Add New Item dialog box, select Report from the Visual C# > Reporting category. Enter a name for your new RDLC file and click the Add button.

Step 3: Design the RDLC report

The report designer window will open once you have added the RDLC file. Here, you can design the report as per your requirements. You can add tables, charts, images, and data from your database to the report. To add a dataset to the report, right-click on the report and select Dataset Properties. Enter a name for the dataset and select the data source from the drop-down menu or write your own query to fetch data from the database. After designing the report, save the RDLC file.

Step 4: Add a report viewer control to the form

In order to display the report, you need to add a report viewer control to the form in your project. To do so, open the Toolbox window by selecting View > Toolbox from the menu bar. Expand the Reporting category and drag the ReportViewer control to the form.

Step 5: Bind the report to the report viewer control

Bind the RDLC report to the report viewer control by right-clicking on the report viewer control and selecting ReportViewer Tasks > Choose Report. In the Choose Report dialog box, select the RDLC report file that you have created and click the OK button.

Step 6: Run the report

To run the RDLC report, click the Start button in Visual Studio 2017 or press F5. The report viewer control will display the report as per the design that you have created.

Conclusion:

RDLC reports are a powerful way to display data to users in an application. Follow the simple steps outlined in this article to easily add RDLC reports to your project and display them to users. Professional-looking reports that deliver insights and value to your users can be created by using the right design and data source.