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PDF 417 Barcodes in RDLC Reports

Generating Reports with PDF 417 2D Barcodes in Visual Studio

  • This tutorial shows how you can add QR Code barcodes to Visual Studio RDLC Reports.

Before You Begin...

  • Make sure you've got Microsoft RDLC Report Designer installed.
  • (1) To install it, go to Extensions / Manage Extensions
  • (2) Type RDLC in the search field
  • (3) Click Download
  • Proceed with installation.
Installation of Microsoft RDLC Report Designer in Visual Studio
  • Check if you have Microsoft.SqlServer.Types installed.
  • Otherwise, go to Project / Manage NuGet Packages...
  • On the NuGet window search for Microsoft.SqlServer.Types
  • Click on Install and follow the installation wizard
Installation of Microsoft SQL Server Types in Visual Studio

Step 1. Create a new Project

  • In the main Visual Studio window, select Create a new Project
  • Type Reports and select Reports Application (in our case C# project)
Create a new Reports Application Project in Visual Studio
  • Name your project
  • Select the Framework that you plan to use
  • Click on Create
Configure new project

Step 2. Bind a Data Source

  • Select the Data Source Type that you would like to use in your reports (in our case it will be Access Database )
  • click on Next
Choosing a Data Source Type for Visual Studio RDLC Project
  • Select Dataset for the database model and click Next
Choosing a Database Model for RDLC Project in Visual Studio
  • Click on New Connection...
Choosing a database Connection type with RDLC Visual Studio Project
  • On the Choose Data Source screen, select Microsoft Access Database File and click on Continue
Selecting Microsoft Access Database File as a database Connection type with RDLC Visual Studio Project
  • On the Add Connection screen click on Browse...
Setting up a database connection to use with RDLC Report
  • On the Select Microsoft Access Database File screen, browse to the folder Documents\BarCodeWiz Examples\BarCodeWiz PDF 417 Fonts\Access and select Access_Example.mdb
  • Click on Open
  • On the Add Connection screen, click OK
  • Select Tables to use in the Report
  • click on Finish
  • Click on Next on the next screen (Dataset Properties)
Select the Items table to use in your project
  • Arrange fields for the report.
  • In our case, we have placed all the fields in the Values section without summarizing.
  • Click on Next on the next screen (Choose the layout).
  • Click on Finish on the screen named Preview.
Arrange fields for your report

Step 3. Setting up the Source of the Report's Definition

  • Double - click Form1.cs in Solution Explorer
Double-click Form1.cs in Solution Explorer to enter its configuration
  • Configure Data Sources:
  • Bind your Report with Form1
  • Click on the tiny triangle just below the Close button
  • Select MyQRCodeReport.report1.rdlc
Select MyPDF417Report.report1.rdlc to bind it with your report
  • Click on Choose Data Sources
Click on Choose Data Sources
  • Expand available sources and select the one you configured earlier.
  • In our case - Items
Expand available sources and select - Items

Step 4.  Changing the Project Platform to x64

  • If you Start your Project now, you would receive an error saying there is no OLEDB driver for ACCESS files on the machine. 
  • To prevent that, we have to switch the debug to x64 processors.
32-bit OLEDB provider is missing
  • Go to Configuration Manager...
Altering configuration of the processor platform
  • (1) In Configuration Manager window, select New from the list under Platform
  • (2) In New Project Platform, select x64
  • Click OK and Close
Choosing the new processor platform for the RDLC project

Step 5. Configure Report Properties

  • Right-click on the empty area of Report1.rdlc and select Report Properties
Right-click in an empty area of your report and select Reports Properties to configure them
  • In the Report Properties window, select the References section.
  • 1) Click Add to add the assembly
  • 2) Type: BarCodeWizFonts.QrCode
  • 3) Click Add to add a class instance
  • 4) Type BarCodeWizFonts.QrCode.QrCodeFonts for the class name and MyQRCode for instance name.
Configure report's properties

Step 6. Insert a new column with data to encode

  • Right-click on the last column's header and select Insert Column - Right.
  • In the new column, click in the upper-right corner and select the column with the data you wish to encode (in our case - item_sku).
Insert a new column with data to encode

Step 7. Edit the Expression

  • Right-click on the column with the data to encode (item_name) and select Expression
To encode data, first right-click on the cell and select "Expression"
  • Edit the Expression:
  •  =Code.MyPdf417.Encode(Fields!item_sku.Value, false, 1, true, 3, 1)
  • Click OK

Step 8. Add reference to BarCodeWizFonts.Pdf417.dll

  • In Solution Explorer right-click on References
  • Select Add Reference...
Right-click on References in Solution Explorer and select Add Reference...
  • In Reference Manager click on Browse.
Click on Browse to select references
  • In the Select the files to reference window, browse to folder Program Files\BarCodeWiz\BarCodeWiz QR Code Fonts\DotNet\net20 and add the file BarCodeWizFonts.QrCode.dll
  • Click OK in the Reference Manager window.
  • Test your Report
  •  Click Start Without Debugging or press CTRL + F5
  • You should see a report similar to the screenshot
Preview the report without BarCodeWiz PDF 417 Font selected

Step 9. Set the font

  • Change the font to BCW_PDF417
  • Set point size to 4
Select BCW_PDF417 as a font and set 4 as the font point size

The Report is ready!

Click Start Without Debugging or press CTRL + F5 to preview it

Preview the created report