Reporting has been one of the major requirements of customers using web applications. This is more critical for applications which have huge data built over years and years of application usage. Reports provide a quick and convenient way of getting the summary of various trends of application data. Visual elements such as Charts and Gauges provided by the reporting tools further enhance the visualization to greater extent.
For years people have been using tools like RDLC and crystal reports to generate reports with .NET. These tools have provided a great support for report design, development, testing and deployment with .NET applications. However with Microsoft moving towards cross-platform development and promoting .NET core, there seems to be minimal support for reporting. With RDLC and crystal reports being too Windows Forms dependent, they cannot be used with .NET core. As a result, there is no out of the box support for reporting in .NET core.This is creating a major issue for .NET developers who want to implement reporting in .NET core applications.
As there is no out of the box support, developers have no option but to go for third party tools available in the market. In fact there are a number of third party tools available which can be integrated with .NET core.
Following are some of the more popular tools which can be integrated with .NET Core applications.
1. DevExpress
DevExpress is a Microsoft partner and a leading report generation tool provider. It has been supporting report development in various technologies like ASP.NET and Windows Forms and with the introduction of .NET core, report generation in .NET core is also supported. It provides a great way for creating visual appealing and interactive reports with .NET core frame work. It also allows report export in several popular formats. It has a huge knowledge base with useful documentation on various report controls and supported features and good a support team.
2. Stimulsoft
Stimulsoft Reports provides impressive set of reporting components for various platforms including .NET Framework and .NET Core. The tool has the powerful report engine, easy-to-use to use designer and viewer, a large number of report export formats. Components provide a full cycle of report design on the desktop and in a web browser.
3. Telerik
Telerik tools span all .NET and JavaScript technologies including .NET Core, deliver reports with a broad array of styling and customization and can cut development time considerably. It has a good documentation on various report controls and supported features.
4. jsreport
jsreport is an open source reporting platform where reports are designed using popular JavaScript templating engines.It allows integration with .NET core. jsreport includes web based designer which can be used to design reports and it allows report export in various formats.
While there is no out of the box support for report development in .NET Core, there are various third party tools available which can be integrated. The choice will depend on your requirements and a thorough evaluation of the tool/features supported. As .NET core is still evolving, so are the tools which allow integration with .NET core. So, some of the features supported by the tools which may work in other technologies or .NET standard may not work with .Net core, so, one needs to be very careful while choosing the right tool for his project.