Can We Use the VS 2015 Report Designer in VS 2017?

user_4017083 0
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The newest Report Viewer for Visual Studio 2017 has some bugs that prevent us from using it. We’ve downgraded to Microsoft ReportViewer Runtime 2015 for Web Forms (v 12.0.2402.15). However, the report designer in Visual Studio creates new reports in the new “2016” format, and even editing old reports upgrades them to the new format as well. The older Report Viewer doesn’t understand the new format and bombs.

The new report designer is an extension to Visual Studio, “Microsoft Rdlc Report Designer for Visual Studio,” version 14.2. We haven’t found an earlier version of the designer available as an extension.

We’ve tried installing an earlier version of SQL Set Data Tools, but the report designer was still the same. We also haven’t found a separate download for the earlier report designer.

Is there a way to add the older report designer to VS 2017? Or do we have to downgrade to VS 2015?

(A similar problem here: Change RDL version for RDLC Reports in Visual Studio 2017)

report-designer visual-studio-2017 rdlc
3 Answers

The problems in ReportViewer that made it unusable for use were partially resolved in a later version. For example, the CSS in the ReportViewer changed the styles in the rest of the surrounding web page, which was pretty horrible (now fixed). We also saw problems of the viewer's export button drop-down list positioned far from its intended location. We had to fix that with custom JavaScript on the page.

user_40170830

You can include/add any RDLC created on VS 2015 to VS 2017 by click on add existing item and select the RDLC directly from your local location and will run on your VS .Add existing item

user_114644600

From what I can tell, ReportViewer for Visual Studio 2017 which is Version 14, is for compiling in Framework 4.5. My application is depended on 4.0 and if I switch then a bunch of other libraries need to be updated as well. I would rather get the previous version of ReportViewer 12 working, as it was working for my application without issues.

With ReportViewer Designer 14 for VS2017 installed, there is an error in the design of the page, and the application deployed and running on the server does not render the Report.

So, which way to move? Up or back...and how.

user_38891880
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