In this article, you will learn how to enable or install RDLC Report Designer in Visual Studio 2017.

Visual Studio 2017 does not have RDLC Reporting Tools installed by default in the toolbox. We have to install it by downloading and installing the Extensions Microsoft RDLC Report Designer for the Visual Studio. I have already posted a few articles on,
A few people told me that they were not able to see RDLC Report options in the Visual Studio so, this article will definitely help them in order to enable RDLC Report in Visual Studio 2017.

Let’s begin!

We can install Microsoft RDLC Report for Visual Studio 2017 in two ways,
  1. Installing from "Extensions and Updates" in Visual Studio 2017. Go to Visual Studio’s Tools Menu > Extensions and Update > Select Microsoft RDLC Report Designer and Reporting Services Project for the Visual Studio.

     

    After installing, you have to restart the Visual Studio.


  2. Downloading and installing from Visual Studio MarketPlace. (Search for Microsoft RDLC Report in the search bar and you will easily find the link).


    Once the installation completes, you have to close/ restart all the instances of the Visual Studio.

Create/Open a project in Visual Studio. You will see that Report and Report Wizard is now available in the Visual Studio 2017.


Now let’s add RDLC Report Viewer in the toolbox. As I am working on a Windows form application, I need report viewer control in the toolbox so that I can Drag and Drop it easily on the forms where I want to use it.

Open NuGet Package Manager and search for Microsoft Report Viewer.


You can also run the below commands in NuGet Package Console in order to download the Report Viewer.

For WebForms use,

"Install-Package Microsoft.ReportingServices.ReportViewerControl.WebForms"

For WindowsForm use,

"Install-Package Microsoft.ReportingServices.ReportViewerControl.WinForms"

Now, right-click on the Toolbox in order to add a new tab and give it a name (Reporting Services).


Right-click on the newly added tab and click on "Choose items...".

Go to the downloaded package's location and select the Reporting Views DLL. (As I ran Winforms command in NuGet package console for the Windows Form application, I have to select WinForm DLL).


Click on Ok button.


Report Viewer control added successfully to the toolbox. 

Now, you can use the RDLC Report and Services in Visual Studio 2017 without any problem.

I hope this will help you. For more details related to using the Report Viewer in ASP.NET WebForm application, check the below Microsoft Article.