Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET

I'd like to know if anyone in this forum has experience with Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET.

Is it a good solution for enterprise reports on the web?

Any other solution that could be better?

Fernando Correia
Friday, November 14, 2003

If your backend is SQL Server, how about SQL Server Reporting Services?
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/reporting/default.asp

Pros:
-Native to SQL Server
-It's not Crystal Reports
-Free

Cons:
-Still in beta

Alternatively, ActiveReports.Net - www.datadynamics.com
I've tried both Crystal and Activereports, and strongly prefer ActiveReports.

Philo

Philo
Friday, November 14, 2003

Thanks for the advice.

Fernando Correia
Friday, November 14, 2003

My last project (7 months) was in Crystal Repprts and it's a pain in you know what.

I dont have time to get in to details but you can search JoS forums to know the horror stories.

JD
http://jdk.phpkid.org

JD
Friday, November 14, 2003

We've been very happily using ActiveReports.NET for the last year or so.

  --Josh

JWA
Friday, November 14, 2003

As recommended I searched the forum for the word "crystal", read all the posts and I did not find a single concrete "horror story" about Crystal Reports.

Maybe it is the search's fault, for not even this thread appeared on the search results.

Fernando Correia
Friday, November 14, 2003

I have used Crystal Reports for years.  Yes it has it warts and quirks (what doesn't) but definitely no "horrors".  Overall it is a fairly nice reporting engine esp. since 8.5

That said I have only heard good things about Active Reports.

DJ
Friday, November 14, 2003

The SQL Reporting looks interesting - we're playing with the Beta at the moment http://www.microsoft.com/sql/evaluation/betanominations.asp. One thing is, that it's a server-based system. You write reports using a nice designer in VS.NET, which are saved as ".rdl" XML files. You then upload them to the Report Server and can then get them to render as HTML, CSV, XML, PDF, XLS etc on a schedule (and get them emailed) -- or on demand by just crafting a URL to the server (e.g. http://server/reportserver?/MyReport&rs:Format=PDF&rs:Command=Render ), or by calling a WebService (you get a byte array back). Haven't really dug into the report designer too much, but it's intuitive enough -- I just hope we don't find it too simplistic when we dig into it more.

Duncan Smart
Friday, November 14, 2003

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