How to create Crystal Reports featuring barcode images using SQL Stored Procedure in .NET Windows Forms

Prerequisites
- Neodynamic Barcode Professional 3.0 (or greater) for Windows Forms (WinControl)
- Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (or greater)
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
- Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (or greater) with Northwind Database sample installed
- Crystal Report for Visual Studio .NET 2005

In the following Step-By-Step Guide we're going to create a Crystal Report which features barcoding capabilities by using Barcode Professional for .NET Windows Forms and using as data source for the report a SQL Stored Procedure.

Follow these steps:
- Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Forms application naming it CrystalReportBarcodeSP
- Preparing a SQL Stored Procedure with barcoding capabilities for using it in Crystal Reports

  Suppose you already have a SQL Stored Procedure which returns all customers from Northwind Database, for example:

  ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.GetCustomers AS

  SELECT CustomerID, CompanyName, City, Country
  FROM Customers

  RETURN

  In order to support barcoding capabilities in Crystal Reports by using a SQL Stored Procedure as the data source, we'll need to modify the involved SP so it returns an additional column of type SQL Image. The purpose of such SQL Image field will be to hold the barcode image generated by Barcode Professional for each customer in the result set.
  So let's modify that hypothetical SP so it returns a result set with a SQL Image type. You must add the following SP into your local Northwind Database.

  ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.GetCustomers AS
  /*
  Local variable to initialize Barcode field
  */
  DECLARE @barcodeImage AS BINARY
  SET @barcodeImage = NULL

  /*
  Create a SQL Temp Table with the same structure as Customers Table
  and adding an additional field of type Image for barcoding
  */
  CREATE TABLE #CustomerTempTable
  (
    CustomerID NCHAR(5),
    CompanyName NVARCHAR(40),
    City NVARCHAR(15),
    Country NVARCHAR(15),
    Barcode IMAGE
  )

  /*
  Populate the temp table
  */
  INSERT INTO #CustomerTempTable
    SELECT CustomerID, CompanyName, City, Country, @barcodeImage
    FROM Customers

  /*
  Return result set with barcode column
  */
  SELECT * FROM #CustomerTempTable

  /*
  Delete temp table
  */
  DROP TABLE #CustomerTempTable

- Now add a new Crystal Report item to the project and name it CrystalReportBarcode.rpt.

  
  Adding a Crystal Report to the project

  Click Add button. Next, choose "Blank Report" in the Crystal Report Gallery dialog box.

  
  Creating a blank report

  Click OK button.

- Launch Crystal Report Database Expert by going to Crystal Reports > Database > Database Expert...

  
  Opening Crystal Reports Database Expert dialog box

  In the Database Expert dialog box, click on the [+] (Plus button) for "OLE DB (ADO)" item under "Create New Connection" element as is shown in the following figure.

  
  Adding a new connection using OLE DB Provider

  The OLE DB Provider dialog box will be opened. Please select "Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server" in the Providers list and then click Next.

  
  Choosing OLE DB Provider for SQL Server

  In the following wizard step, please provide the needed info in order to connect to Northwind Database

  
  Providing info to connect to Northwind Database

  Click Finish to close OLE DB dialog box. After that, in the Database Expert dialog box, please look for GetCustomers Stored Procedure in the left pane and add it to the Selected Tables list in the right pane as is shown in the following figure.

  
  Choosing the GetCustomers Stored Procedure as data source of the Crystal Report

  Click OK button. Now, the GetCustomers SP should be available in the Field Explorer Window as is shown in the following figure. NOTE: To display the Field Explorer press Ctrl+Alt+T

  
  The GetCustomers SP available in the Field Explorer

- Please design the report so it looks like the following figure. Just drag & drop the fields from the Field Explorer onto the report as is shown in the figure.

  
  The barcode report layout

  The most important field in our scenario is Barcode (Please DO NOT change the dimensions of such field on the report surface). Select the Barcode item on the report and right-clicking onto it select "Format Object" from the context menu to open the Format Editor dialog box. In that dialog box, please check Can Grow option and click OK button.

  
  Setting up "Can Grow" option for the Barcode item in the Format Editor dialog box

- Save the report.
- Now Create/Open a Windows Form at design time and drag & drop a CrystalReportViewer control onto it.
- After that, from the Solution Explorer, add a reference to Barcode Professional for Windows Forms assembly: Neodynamic.WinControls.Barcodeprofessional.dll
- Write the following code in the Form_Load event procedure.

  Visual Basic .NET
  Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    'Getting Customers from DB
    Dim cnn As New System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection("Data Source=neo3sql2000;Initial Catalog=Northwind;Integrated Security=True")
    Dim cmd As New System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand()
    cmd.Connection = cnn
    cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure
    cmd.CommandText = "GetCustomers"
    Dim da As New System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter(cmd)
    Dim dsCustomers As New DataSet()
    da.Fill(dsCustomers)

    'Create an instance of Barcode Professional
    Dim bcp As New Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.BarcodeProfessional()
    'Barcode settings
    bcp.Symbology = Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.Symbology.Code39
    bcp.Extended = True
    bcp.AddChecksum = False
    bcp.BarHeight = 0.4F
    bcp.QuietZoneWidth = 0

    Dim row As DataRow
    'Update Customers DataTable with barcode image
    For Each row In dsCustomers.Tables(0).Rows
        'Set the value to encode
        bcp.Code = row("CustomerID").ToString()
        'Generate the barcode image and store it into the Barcode Column
        row("Barcode") = bcp.GetBarcodeImage(System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
    Next

    'Create a report object
    'and set its data source with the DataSet
    Dim report As New CrystalReportBarcode()
    report.SetDataSource(dsCustomers.Tables(0))

    Me.CrystalReportViewer1.ReportSource = report    
  End Sub

  Visual C# .NET
  private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
  {
    //Getting Customers from DB
    System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection cnn = new System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection(@"Data Source=neo3sql2000;Initial Catalog=Northwind;Integrated Security=True");
    System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand cmd = new System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand();
    cmd.Connection = cnn;
    cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
    cmd.CommandText = "GetCustomers";
    System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter da = new System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter(cmd);
    DataSet dsCustomers = new DataSet();
    da.Fill(dsCustomers);

    //Create an instance of Barcode Professional
    Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.BarcodeProfessional bcp = new Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.BarcodeProfessional();
    //Barcode settings
    bcp.Symbology = Neodynamic.WinControls.BarcodeProfessional.Symbology.Code39;
    bcp.Extended = true;
    bcp.AddChecksum = false;
    bcp.BarHeight = 0.4f;
    bcp.QuietZoneWidth = 0;

    //Update Customers DataTable with barcode image
    foreach (DataRow row in dsCustomers.Tables[0].Rows)
    {
        //Set the value to encode
        bcp.Code = row["CustomerID"].ToString();
        //Generate the barcode image and store it into the Barcode Column
        row["Barcode"] = bcp.GetBarcodeImage(System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);
    }

    //Create a report object
    //and set its data source with the DataSet
    CrystalReportBarcode report = new CrystalReportBarcode();
    report.SetDataSource(dsCustomers.Tables[0]);

    this.crystalReportViewer1.ReportSource = report;
  }


- That's it. Run your application. You should get the barcode images displayed on the report.

  
  The Crystal Report featuring barcodes generated by Barcode Professional

  CrystalReportViewer control lets you to export the displayed report to Acrobat PDF, Microsoft Excel XLS as well as other well know document formats. In all cases the barcode images are maintained.

  
  The Crystal Repor report in Acrobat PDF format featuring barcodes generated by Barcode Professional

Links:
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More Information about Neodynamic Barcode Professional for Windows Forms


Neodynamic
.NET Components & Controls
http://www.neodynamic.com
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