VS2008 Reports vs. Crystal Reports

I just noticed, while adding a new item to Solution Explorer, a Report item in the selection list. It seems t开发者_StackOverflowo be a reporting component when I opened it. Is this a new Add-On in Visual Studio 2008 and can it be used as a full-feature reporting component instead of Crystal Reports?

It's been available since Visual Studio 2005. Yes, it's a full reporting tool that you can use. See SQL Server Reporting Services. It takes a little getting used to and it doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of Crystal Reports but I find it much less aggravating to use than CR. You can run the reports from SQL Server Reporting Services or you can create standalone reports that can be run from within your .NET application.