vb.net in the 1.1 framework

[Wendy Elizabeth]

I am working with visual studio.net 1.1 version that has crystal reports 9.0
bundled into the visual studio.net 1.1 framework.
I have a Visual basic.NET windows form application running that need to
display information from various data source in crystal reports. I need to
have data obtained from excel spreadsheets, an access database, and a sql
server 2000 database.
It seems like anytime I need to change the source where the data is coming
from, I need to setup a new crystal report in the Visual Basic.NET windows
form application. Also when I setup the new crystal report, it seems like I
can only work with the report wizard to setup the new connections. I would
think I should be able to use the "blank report" feature of crystal reports
and still be able to connect and utilize whatever data source I want to.
Thus can you answer the following:
1. Is there a way to change data sources that access a specific crystal
report in the dotnet framework, without needing to setup a new crystal report
each time?
If so, can you tell me how to do this?
2. Is there a way a way in the dotnet framework where I use the "blank
report" option of crystal reports without having to access the report wizard
all the time?
If so, would you let me know how to do this?

[tomb]

Wendy Elizabeth wrote:

I am working with visual studio.net 1.1 version that has crystal reports 9.0
bundled into the visual studio.net 1.1 framework.
I have a Visual basic.NET windows form application running that need to
display information from various data source in crystal reports. I need to
have data obtained from excel spreadsheets, an access database, and a sql
server 2000 database.
It seems like anytime I need to change the source where the data is coming
from, I need to setup a new crystal report in the Visual Basic.NET windows
form application.
There are a couple of things here that matter:
Crystal Reports can only report on data that it knows about in advance,
at least as far as the structure goes. So, if the structure of the data
always changes, then you have to pre-build a report to handle that
structure.

If your data structures will be the same, then you have one or three
reports to build - one for each of the three data sources. You can
build the report based on a dataset, and then when you query your data
source, pull the data into that dataset structure and pass the dataset
to the Crystal Report.

If the structure will be the same regardless of the data source, then
you only need to design one report.

I would recommend looking at a Crystal Reports book for more details.

Tom
Also when I setup the new crystal report, it seems like I
can only work with the report wizard to setup the new connections. I would
think I should be able to use the "blank report" feature of crystal reports
and still be able to connect and utilize whatever data source I want to.
Thus can you answer the following:
1. Is there a way to change data sources that access a specific crystal
report in the dotnet framework, without needing to setup a new crystal report
each time?
If so, can you tell me how to do this?
2. Is there a way a way in the dotnet framework where I use the "blank
report" option of crystal reports without having to access the report wizard
all the time?
If so, would you let me know how to do this?