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graz
Chief SQLTeam Crack Dealer
4149 Posts |
 Posted - 2004-05-04 : 12:33:56
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Ok guys, I need a little help. We're looking for a report writing tool. Must meet the following requirements:- Supports .NET
- Must run in a hosted environment on shared web servers and shared SQL Servers
- Must generate printable PDF documents as well as HTML reports
Ideally I'd like it to be reasonable priced. We don't have fancy reports -- basically just row and column stuff.Have any of you worked with something that fits the bill? Or even heard about a good product with those attributes?===============================================Creating tomorrow's legacy systems today.One crisis at a time. |
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MichaelP
Jedi Yak
2489 Posts |
Posted - 2004-05-04 : 14:35:25
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| Active Reports .Net by Data Dynamics.It has lots of small quriky bugs that I've read about but not run into yet. The biggest problem with it is that you can't run really large reports (100's or 1000's of pages). I've not had any problems with it thus far. I think it's great!! Cheap too! They have a realyl good forum that the developers respond in for tech support.[edit]Crystal Reports, I'd rather jump off a bridge into a pot of boiling oil than use Crystal ever again.[/edit][Edit 2]Active Reports .Net has a fully functional demo too. You can use that to write your entire reporting system, and once you are ready to deploy it, buy a key and put a magic key in a Config file. [/Edit 2]Michael<Yoda>Use the Search page you must. Find the answer you will.</Yoda> |
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gpl
Posting Yak Master
195 Posts |
Posted - 2004-05-04 : 19:19:48
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| SQL Server Reporting services should fit your billCost - nothing as it is an add-on to the SQL Server licence.The PDF rendering has a few issues currently (nothing that is insurmountable), but Microsoft assure us that these will be ironed out in the service pack to be issued this summer.We started using it at the start of the year and it seems pretty good to us.See here -> http://www.microsoft.com/sql/reporting/default.aspGraham |
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graz
Chief SQLTeam Crack Dealer
4149 Posts |
Posted - 2004-05-04 : 19:27:33
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| gpl, I'm pretty sure you can't run SQL Server Reporting Services in a hosted environment.MichaelP, that certainly looks interesting. Their help is certainly horrible though. They've got 1 or 2 really basic examples and lots of really complex examples and nothing to get from the first group to the second.===============================================Creating tomorrow's legacy systems today.One crisis at a time. |
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MichaelP
Jedi Yak
2489 Posts |
Posted - 2004-05-04 : 19:38:27
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| I can help you with AR.Net as needed. I've done some really advanced stuff with it. Yes, their help does suck, but the support on their forums is pretty good.Reporting services is a good thought too. I'm not sure about the hosted environment thing either. With AR.net, it's just copying a few files to the BIN folder. No biggie.Michael<Yoda>Use the Search page you must. Find the answer you will.</Yoda> |
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ehorn
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
1632 Posts |
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derrickleggett
Pointy Haired Yak DBA
4184 Posts |
Posted - 2004-05-04 : 21:33:29
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| Graz, I think you're right about Reporting Services. The Microsoft was pretty clear at that SIG meeting that any other machine, besides the SQL Server, with Reporting Services installed would need a seperate license. That could get REALLY expensive in a hosted environment.MeanOldDBAderrickleggett@hotmail.comWhen life gives you a lemon, fire the DBA. |
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SamC
White Water Yakist
3467 Posts |
Posted - 2004-05-14 : 11:06:17
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| Whoa? What configurations does Reporting Services support? Single server with .NET and SQL. What else?Sam |
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ehorn
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
1632 Posts |
Posted - 2004-05-14 : 11:18:13
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Hi Sam,Not sure if you have seen the deployment guide for Reporting services. It describes different configuration options.http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2000/deploy/rsdepgd.mspxquote:
Crystal Reports, I'd rather jump off a bridge into a pot of boiling oil than use Crystal ever again.
Michael, what problems have you experienced with Crystal Reports for VS.NET? We have been using Crystal Reports included in VS.NET and aren't experiencing any problems currently. I especially like that we can stream dynamically created pdf's (i.e. PDF's built in memory using System.IO.MemoryStream) or HTML. It meets our needs nicely.Bill, Are you currently evaluating any tools? Have you considered/evaluated Crystal Reports for VS.NET? |
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graz
Chief SQLTeam Crack Dealer
4149 Posts |
Posted - 2004-05-15 : 21:14:59
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| We decided to use Active Reports. It's going to give us what we need. The price is certainly right. I'd love to use MS Reporting Services but it doesn't run in a hosted environment. I've been really happy with Active Reports EXCEPT for the process of purchasing it. That was beyond horrible. It integrates very well with the .NET framework. Each report is a class that you can customize as you see fit. I tried to use the eval of Crystal that came with VS but never could get it to work. Plus I wasn't convinced I could get it to run on a shared server.===============================================Creating tomorrow's legacy systems today.One crisis at a time. |
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MichaelP
Jedi Yak
2489 Posts |
Posted - 2004-05-17 : 13:53:20
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| Crystal:I've used it for years and hated it. I tried the .Net version, and I didn't care of it. It wasn't as easy to use and deploy as AR.net, and the licensing costs were out of this world. Crystal's KB and support are almost always useless (or at least they used to be when I still used it). AR.net has a pretty good forum that the developers reside in so most problems are solved pretty quickly, or identified as bugs and put on a change list.For $400, AR.net can't be beat.Michael<Yoda>Use the Search page you must. Find the answer you will.</Yoda> |
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ehorn
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
1632 Posts |
Posted - 2004-05-17 : 14:59:30
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| Maybe we should check it out. Thanks Guys. |
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SamC
White Water Yakist
3467 Posts |
Posted - 2004-05-18 : 12:36:50
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| Is it true that SQL Reporting services, when used by a .NET application, that it's only reporting - there's no way to open a datagrid, ADD/UPDATE/EDIT a datagrid using SQL Reporting Services?Sam |
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gpl
Posting Yak Master
195 Posts |
Posted - 2004-05-18 : 18:42:43
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| SamIt is and it isntcreate a link to the page that does the edit (in the Action property)Graham |
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.NET Report Writer