As in .NET I think we can't use RDLC, Crystal reports etc. Is there any other reporting tool that we can use for .NET Core ? I want to create reports that I can design by adding logos and other things and also reports that I can generate by dynamically passing parameters. Any idea? I saw some posts about Fast Report which is I think open source. what do you recommend?
2 Answers
I use FastReports in my .Net 5 application (asp.net core) and I use FastReports in my Delphi Windows Application.
FastReport has an open source version and a FastReport.Net version. I am currently using the open source version for reporting, quick codes and pdf exporting ( the open source version let's you save to PDF while the .NET version has more features for PDF.) Considering that I have been using asp.net Core since version 1, this is a great solution compared to the limited options. I dynamically create reports and pass options.
Consider decoupling the request for the report from the process of generating & loading/sending the result for access by the user.
The report request can be done by your asp .net core app by writing the request (report, parameters, export format, printer, email...) to a database or to a file in a queue folder.
The report generation can then be handled by a separate app that you write or by an existing 3rd-party tool. For Crystal Reports, here) is a list of such 3rd-party tools. Some of these already have utilities for monitoring report requests via database or folder queues.
Depending on your scenario, the output can then be printed, emailed, or exported to various file formats (pdf, html, excel, ...). Your .net core app can load these exported files for viewing by the user or simply see the request as completed.
One downside of this pattern is that the user can't interact with the report on screen using Crystal viewer features such as drill-down and on-demand subreports. However, similar functionality is offered by some of these 3rd-party tools with some export formats (pdf drill-downs, html drill-downs, excel auto-filters, pivot tables, slicers...).
Related