You can add self-service ad hoc reporting to an ASP.NET Core app by embedding a reporting product with an end-user report designer and viewer, then connecting it to a deliberately limited reporting data model. The product supplies authoring and rendering tools; your team remains responsible for integration, report storage, identity, and access to reports and data.
What self-service reporting adds—and what it does not
A report designer lets permitted users create or edit reports; a viewer lets them preview, print, and export reports. These are distinct capabilities, so check that the product supports both if users need to build reports and consume them in the same application. DevExpress, for example, documents separate ASP.NET Core report designer and document viewer controls: designer documentation and viewer documentation.
Embedding a product can spare your team from building report-authoring and rendering features from scratch. It does not decide which users may create reports, which fields they may see, or which records they may query. Those boundaries belong in your application and reporting data-access design.
Compare embedded reporting options by fit
Official documentation establishes ASP.NET Core reporting integrations from Telerik, DevExpress, and Bold Reports. It does not establish a universal winner or provide enough comparable licensing information to rank total cost.
Recommended Free Tools
#1 Best Overall
| Product | Documented capabilities | Questions to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Progress Telerik Reporting | ASP.NET Core integration, a Web Report Designer, a Report Designer REST service path, viewers, and export features. The web designer is a client-side jQuery widget that depends on the REST service; the documentation describes an implementation in the Telerik services package. See ASP.NET Core integration documentation and the feature documentation. | Does the service and designer model suit your hosting and deployment? Confirm package versions, service configuration, report storage, supported report formats, and required exports for the release you will use. |
| DevExpress Reporting | ASP.NET Core report designer and document viewer; users can create or edit reports and preview, print, or export them. See the ASP.NET Core reporting documentation. | Does the designer suit your users’ workflow? Verify prerequisites, supported platforms, data access, and export capabilities for your chosen version. |
| Bold Reports | Browser-based ASP.NET Core designer for RDL reports, with drag-and-drop authoring, parameters, and documented SQL Server, Oracle, OLE DB, and ODBC providers. See ASP.NET Core Report Designer documentation. | Is RDL suitable for your team and portability needs? Do the listed providers and authoring controls match your data layer and users? |
Evaluate the candidates against the same requirements rather than comparing feature-page headlines:
- Framework and deployment: Confirm compatibility with your ASP.NET Core version, hosting model, and deployment environment.
- Authoring workflow: Check whether the browser-based designer supports the intended end users, or whether report creation will remain developer-led.
- Definitions and data sources: Establish the report-definition format, portability needs, supported providers, and how reports will connect to your application’s data.
- Consumption: Verify preview, printing, and each required export format in the product version you plan to deploy.
- Security and operations: Account for identity integration, row- and tenant-level access, report storage, and any service components the product requires.
- Commercial terms: Compare licensing and total cost directly with vendors; the documentation cited above does not establish comparable pricing.
Design the reporting data surface before embedding the designer
Do not expose unrestricted application tables or arbitrary database access simply to make report building flexible. First decide who may author reports, which fields they can discover, and which records each user may query. Then provide a curated reporting surface—such as approved views, datasets, or another controlled access layer—that exposes only the information and operations appropriate to those roles.
This is an architectural recommendation, not a reporting-specific prescription from Microsoft’s authorization documentation. Microsoft’s guidance explains how to apply authorization to endpoints and resources; your team must translate its own business rules into the reporting data layer. See Introduction to authorization in ASP.NET Core.
Integrate the designer and viewer using versioned product guidance
Follow the selected vendor’s ASP.NET Core instructions for the specific product release you intend to deploy. The integration is product-specific, so do not assume that a designer, viewer, report format, or service configuration transfers unchanged between vendors or versions.
For Telerik, the documented web designer is a client-side jQuery widget that calls a Report Designer REST service. The ASP.NET Core documentation describes a service implementation in the Telerik services package. Confirm the exact package, service setup, report storage approach, and deployment requirements against your selected release in the Telerik ASP.NET Core integration documentation.
Authorize every report operation and the data behind it
Authentication establishes who signed in; authorization determines what that person may do. Do not assume that signing users into the app automatically protects every reporting endpoint. Microsoft notes that endpoints without authorization metadata do not automatically require authorization unless the application configures a fallback policy. See Microsoft’s authorization overview.
Rank #4
- Full version, permanent License of Avid Pro Tools. Includes 1-Year of software updates and upgrades.
- Compose, record, edit, and mix high-quality music or sound for picture-on a Mac or PC-using Avid Pro Tools, the industry-standard audio production platform.
- Avid Pro Tools comes packed with over 60 amazing virtual instruments, effects, and sound processing plug-ins, so you can sound your best. Get the sounds of natural sounding spaces and classic stompbox effects.
- Software can be activated and used with iLok Cloud. iLok Key not included and not required.
Apply the application’s rules to the full report lifecycle: listing, opening, saving, editing, execution, and export. Use authorization policies for rules that apply broadly and resource-based authorization when access depends on the particular report or data resource. Microsoft documents policy-based authorization and resource-based authorization.
Protecting a report definition alone is not sufficient if its queries can return rows or columns the user is not permitted to see. Enforce tenant and row-level rules in the data access path used for report execution, and avoid relying on a hidden UI control as the security boundary.
Outdated Drivers Are Slowing You Down
One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchPC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Best Value
Validate the design with realistic users and reports
Before release, check the complete workflow with representative roles and tenants. Include sensitive columns, report parameters, large result sets, and exports in the validation. Verify that users cannot list, open, alter, execute, or export reports beyond their permissions, and that a report cannot bypass data restrictions through a different parameter or execution path.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
