The main reason to use your own DataTable objects is in situations where you already have the object available, and want to save some time by not creating a new one. You may also want to implement security schemes or customize the object in some other way.

To use your own DataTable object, simply assign it to the RecordSet property before you render the report. For example:

To write code in Visual Basic

Private Sub CreateReport(strSelect As String, strConn As String)

  ' fill a DataSet object        
  Dim da As OleDbDataAdapter        
  da = new OleDbDataAdapter(strSelect, strConn)        
  Dim ds As DataSet = new DataSet()        
  da.Fill(ds)

  ' get the DataTable object        
  Dim dt As DataTable = ds.Tables(0)

  ' load report          
  c1r.Load("RepDef.xml", "My Report")

  ' render report          
  c1r.DataSource.Recordset = ds.Tables(0)        
  c1ppv.Document = c1r

End Sub

To write code in C#

private void CreateReport(string  strSelect, string  strConn)         
{
  
  // fill a DataSet object          
   OleDbDataAdapter da;        
  da = new OleDbDataAdapter(strSelect, strConn);        
  DataSet  DataSet ds = new DataSet();        
  da.Fill(ds);

  // get the DataTable object         
   DataTable dt = ds.Tables[0];

  // load report         
  c1r.Load("RepDef.xml", "My Report");

  // render report         
  c1r.DataSource.Recordset = ds.Tables[0];        
  c1ppv.Document = c1r;
   
}

The code above creates a DataTable object using standard ADO.NET calls, and then assigns the table to the Recordset property. Note that you could also create and populate the DataTable object on the fly, without relying on and actual database.