Start the crystal report designer by selecting �Report Designer.� from the √dd-Ins� pull-down menu in Visual Basic. This crystal report file can then be accessed by a Visual Basic application by using the crystal report control. Instead, an application called the Crystal Report Designer must be used to open the Access database (other database formats can also be handled), set the tables and fields the report will use, graphically design the layout of the report, and then save this report into a separate crystal report file. Although an Access database can contain built in reports Visual Basic is not able to access them. Preview or print a Crystal Report from a Visual Basic application.Īfter creating a front-end to an Access 97 database in Week 12, it is likely that most applications of any complexity will need to use one or more reports to summarise or print the data. How to create a Crystal Report based on an Access database. Understand what Crystal Reports are and when to use them.

The objective of this tutorial is to learn how to create and use from Visual Basic a Crystal Report: