Hi,

I am designing a software program that will run my computer repair shop. I am trying to find the best way to print receipts without having to go and buy a tool like Crystal Reports.


This is what I would like to do:
  1. Design the layout of my receipts using Microsoft Excel and save the excel file to the hard drive.
  2. When I press "Print" in my C# program I would like it to load up excel and open my receipt file from the hard drive.
  3. I would then like it to place data such as name, address, etc... in the correct cells so that the data lines up with my predesigned Excel file.
  4. Either press "Print" again inside Excel or have my program issue a print command to Excel to print automatically (if possible).
I would then just leave Excel running minimized on my desktop all day, to help speed up the process. This is not going to be a heavly used solution. Probably only printing 4 or 5 receipts per hour.

There may be another way of doing this but it is the only solution I could come up with that would allow me to easily print documents from my program without having to design an entire report printing class, or buy 3rd party reporting software.

Can someone please tell me if this is even possible? If it is possible where would I start? Are there any articles that describe how to do what I'm looking for? I've looked around a bit but since I don't know what to look for I'm not finding much information.

I don't wnat to include any unmanaged code in my application if possible. I'm looking for a easy solution however, I'm not sure how hard this is going to be.

- Thanks!