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Bye, byte Crystal Reports

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  • N NormDroid

    I've managed to engineer out all dependancies to Crystal Reports (I hate it X| ). They've had nearly 10 years to produce a Micrsoft Style Reporting Product and still can't get it right. Well I've written my own engine, which produces output for Laser, PDF, Text, Excel., Html and RAW output to Dot Matrix Line Printers. It's written entirely in .net with a few P/Invokes and a call to GhostWriter. The reports themselves can be written in any .net lingo. I should market it, it's designed for developer by a developer. So bye, bye Crystal can't say it's been great knowing you. :rose:

    We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

    N Offline
    N Offline
    NormDroid
    wrote on last edited by
    #2

    Chris, is it possible to create a :rip: icon.

    We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

    1 Reply Last reply
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    • N NormDroid

      I've managed to engineer out all dependancies to Crystal Reports (I hate it X| ). They've had nearly 10 years to produce a Micrsoft Style Reporting Product and still can't get it right. Well I've written my own engine, which produces output for Laser, PDF, Text, Excel., Html and RAW output to Dot Matrix Line Printers. It's written entirely in .net with a few P/Invokes and a call to GhostWriter. The reports themselves can be written in any .net lingo. I should market it, it's designed for developer by a developer. So bye, bye Crystal can't say it's been great knowing you. :rose:

      We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

      M Offline
      M Offline
      Marc Clifton
      wrote on last edited by
      #3

      norm .net wrote:

      I should market it, it's designed for developer by a developer.

      If it compared favorable to DevExpress's report writer, I'd buy it! I'd like to divorce myself fro DevExpress as well--so bloated, quirky, and actually rather difficult for an average person to generate reports with, even using the wizard. But so far, it's the best tool I've seen. There's a report writer article here on Code Project, but it just didn't cut it, sad to say. Marc

      Thyme In The Country

      People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
      There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
      People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith

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      • M Marc Clifton

        norm .net wrote:

        I should market it, it's designed for developer by a developer.

        If it compared favorable to DevExpress's report writer, I'd buy it! I'd like to divorce myself fro DevExpress as well--so bloated, quirky, and actually rather difficult for an average person to generate reports with, even using the wizard. But so far, it's the best tool I've seen. There's a report writer article here on Code Project, but it just didn't cut it, sad to say. Marc

        Thyme In The Country

        People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
        There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
        People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith

        R Offline
        R Offline
        Rama Krishna Vavilala
        wrote on last edited by
        #4

        Marc Clifton wrote:

        I'd like to divorce myself fro DevExpress as well--so bloated, quirky

        Don't tell me that your decision is based on that mammoth .cs source code file?


        Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it. -Brian Kernighan

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        • M Marc Clifton

          norm .net wrote:

          I should market it, it's designed for developer by a developer.

          If it compared favorable to DevExpress's report writer, I'd buy it! I'd like to divorce myself fro DevExpress as well--so bloated, quirky, and actually rather difficult for an average person to generate reports with, even using the wizard. But so far, it's the best tool I've seen. There's a report writer article here on Code Project, but it just didn't cut it, sad to say. Marc

          Thyme In The Country

          People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
          There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
          People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith

          N Offline
          N Offline
          NormDroid
          wrote on last edited by
          #5

          I've I'd love to show you the a medium sized management report, but you'd have to mail me offline at n_._a_l_m_o_n_d_@_h_o_t_m_a_i_l_._c_o_m, I'd like to see how it compares. Eventually I'd like to create a design tool/studio to front-end the report language.

          We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

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          • R Rama Krishna Vavilala

            Marc Clifton wrote:

            I'd like to divorce myself fro DevExpress as well--so bloated, quirky

            Don't tell me that your decision is based on that mammoth .cs source code file?


            Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it. -Brian Kernighan

            M Offline
            M Offline
            Marc Clifton
            wrote on last edited by
            #6

            Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:

            Don't tell me that your decision is based on that mammoth .cs source code file?

            No, more the assemblies that have to be linked in, and the usability issues. Marc

            Thyme In The Country

            People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
            There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
            People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith

            N 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • N NormDroid

              I've I'd love to show you the a medium sized management report, but you'd have to mail me offline at n_._a_l_m_o_n_d_@_h_o_t_m_a_i_l_._c_o_m, I'd like to see how it compares. Eventually I'd like to create a design tool/studio to front-end the report language.

              We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

              M Offline
              M Offline
              Marc Clifton
              wrote on last edited by
              #7

              norm .net wrote:

              Eventually I'd like to create a design tool/studio to front-end the report language.

              Ah, that's actually the piece that is the most important. Sorry, I mistook what you were saying and thought you'd written the front-end also. Marc

              Thyme In The Country

              People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
              There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
              People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith

              N 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • M Marc Clifton

                norm .net wrote:

                Eventually I'd like to create a design tool/studio to front-end the report language.

                Ah, that's actually the piece that is the most important. Sorry, I mistook what you were saying and thought you'd written the front-end also. Marc

                Thyme In The Country

                People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
                There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
                People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith

                N Offline
                N Offline
                NormDroid
                wrote on last edited by
                #8

                Marc Clifton wrote:

                Ah, that's actually the piece that is the most important. Sorry, I mistook what you were saying and thought you'd written the front-end also.

                Not yet, but if want to see the code need to produce a medium sized report, you'd probably would'nt even need a front end for it. The reports themselves are Assembly (dlls) and invoked from the engine. e.g. Emerald.Loader.Run("MyReportAssembly", OutputType.PDF, @"c:\temp\myfile.pdf"); If you need a report to stream to multiple outputs you don't need to dup. code, the best way to show you is to mail me offline.

                We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

                1 Reply Last reply
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                • M Marc Clifton

                  Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:

                  Don't tell me that your decision is based on that mammoth .cs source code file?

                  No, more the assemblies that have to be linked in, and the usability issues. Marc

                  Thyme In The Country

                  People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
                  There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
                  People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith

                  N Offline
                  N Offline
                  NormDroid
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #9

                  Each report is an assembly and is loaded in using the plugin design pattern i.e. it must support IReport and reside in a specified directory for the engine to find it and execute it. You could even load the code file (.cs) compile then execute and do away with the assemblies altogether, essentially making the .cs files the actual scripts.

                  We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • M Marc Clifton

                    norm .net wrote:

                    I should market it, it's designed for developer by a developer.

                    If it compared favorable to DevExpress's report writer, I'd buy it! I'd like to divorce myself fro DevExpress as well--so bloated, quirky, and actually rather difficult for an average person to generate reports with, even using the wizard. But so far, it's the best tool I've seen. There's a report writer article here on Code Project, but it just didn't cut it, sad to say. Marc

                    Thyme In The Country

                    People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
                    There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
                    People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith

                    D Offline
                    D Offline
                    Duncan Edwards Jones
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #10

                    I got frustrated using Crystal etc and started to write a replacement here[^] but got distracted when it came to the visual layout side of things. Perhaps i could send you the latest code and you could take it from there?

                    '--8<------------------------ Ex Datis: Duncan Jones Merrion Computing Ltd

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                    • D Duncan Edwards Jones

                      I got frustrated using Crystal etc and started to write a replacement here[^] but got distracted when it came to the visual layout side of things. Perhaps i could send you the latest code and you could take it from there?

                      '--8<------------------------ Ex Datis: Duncan Jones Merrion Computing Ltd

                      N Offline
                      N Offline
                      NormDroid
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #11

                      Looks ok (considering it's VB ;P), but it would be better developing one from scratching consider it would have to know about the report semantics. I'd probably go for a Visual Studio form designer type app. Anyway for now I'm using it to generate our companies reports, because it's not long winded to knock a report out (5-30 minutes) I'd probaby only bother I market it or users want to write their own reports.

                      We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • N NormDroid

                        I've managed to engineer out all dependancies to Crystal Reports (I hate it X| ). They've had nearly 10 years to produce a Micrsoft Style Reporting Product and still can't get it right. Well I've written my own engine, which produces output for Laser, PDF, Text, Excel., Html and RAW output to Dot Matrix Line Printers. It's written entirely in .net with a few P/Invokes and a call to GhostWriter. The reports themselves can be written in any .net lingo. I should market it, it's designed for developer by a developer. So bye, bye Crystal can't say it's been great knowing you. :rose:

                        We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

                        R Offline
                        R Offline
                        Red Stateler
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #12

                        Has anybody tried the new Microsoft reporting stuff in VS2005? Is it any good?


                        "I make up quotes." -Vincent Reynolds

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                        0
                        • R Red Stateler

                          Has anybody tried the new Microsoft reporting stuff in VS2005? Is it any good?


                          "I make up quotes." -Vincent Reynolds

                          N Offline
                          N Offline
                          NormDroid
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #13

                          It doesn't give you the granularity to create truly bespoke reports, it's always the same with these tools, the people who create/develop them don't actual use them.

                          We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • N NormDroid

                            I've managed to engineer out all dependancies to Crystal Reports (I hate it X| ). They've had nearly 10 years to produce a Micrsoft Style Reporting Product and still can't get it right. Well I've written my own engine, which produces output for Laser, PDF, Text, Excel., Html and RAW output to Dot Matrix Line Printers. It's written entirely in .net with a few P/Invokes and a call to GhostWriter. The reports themselves can be written in any .net lingo. I should market it, it's designed for developer by a developer. So bye, bye Crystal can't say it's been great knowing you. :rose:

                            We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

                            D Offline
                            D Offline
                            Dustin Metzgar
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #14

                            It must be just a programmer thing to naturally type "byte" instead of "bye".


                            Logifusion[^] If not entertaining, write your Congressman.

                            N 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • D Dustin Metzgar

                              It must be just a programmer thing to naturally type "byte" instead of "bye".


                              Logifusion[^] If not entertaining, write your Congressman.

                              N Offline
                              N Offline
                              NormDroid
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #15

                              Freudian slip... :~

                              We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • N NormDroid

                                I've managed to engineer out all dependancies to Crystal Reports (I hate it X| ). They've had nearly 10 years to produce a Micrsoft Style Reporting Product and still can't get it right. Well I've written my own engine, which produces output for Laser, PDF, Text, Excel., Html and RAW output to Dot Matrix Line Printers. It's written entirely in .net with a few P/Invokes and a call to GhostWriter. The reports themselves can be written in any .net lingo. I should market it, it's designed for developer by a developer. So bye, bye Crystal can't say it's been great knowing you. :rose:

                                We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

                                N Offline
                                N Offline
                                Not Active
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #16

                                I was just having a conversation yesterday with a co-worker. In all the organizations we have been in, no one has been able to get Crystal running without problems.


                                only two letters away from being an asset

                                N N 2 Replies Last reply
                                0
                                • R Red Stateler

                                  Has anybody tried the new Microsoft reporting stuff in VS2005? Is it any good?


                                  "I make up quotes." -Vincent Reynolds

                                  N Offline
                                  N Offline
                                  Not Active
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #17

                                  I have used it and consider it a good tool. Though I don't use it for very complex reports. It is certainly better than Crystal.


                                  only two letters away from being an asset

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • N NormDroid

                                    I've managed to engineer out all dependancies to Crystal Reports (I hate it X| ). They've had nearly 10 years to produce a Micrsoft Style Reporting Product and still can't get it right. Well I've written my own engine, which produces output for Laser, PDF, Text, Excel., Html and RAW output to Dot Matrix Line Printers. It's written entirely in .net with a few P/Invokes and a call to GhostWriter. The reports themselves can be written in any .net lingo. I should market it, it's designed for developer by a developer. So bye, bye Crystal can't say it's been great knowing you. :rose:

                                    We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

                                    M Offline
                                    M Offline
                                    Michael A Barnhart
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #18

                                    norm .net wrote:

                                    I should market it, it's designed for developer by a developer.

                                    Looks like you have some interest. When do you plan to have it available?

                                    N 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • N Not Active

                                      I was just having a conversation yesterday with a co-worker. In all the organizations we have been in, no one has been able to get Crystal running without problems.


                                      only two letters away from being an asset

                                      N Offline
                                      N Offline
                                      netclectic
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #19

                                      I remember working for a company where we had been using crystal 7 in our app and it had been working flawlessy for ages until one client decided they wanted to upgrade their version of crystal. Basically the crystal support guy told us that the characteristic which had allowed our app to run flawlessly all this time was actually a bug in crystal which has now been fixed. Sorry, you app doesn't work any more but we won't be can't help you.

                                      undefined

                                      N 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • N Not Active

                                        I was just having a conversation yesterday with a co-worker. In all the organizations we have been in, no one has been able to get Crystal running without problems.


                                        only two letters away from being an asset

                                        N Offline
                                        N Offline
                                        NormDroid
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #20

                                        Mark Nischalke wrote:

                                        n all the organizations we have been in, no one has been able to get Crystal running without problems

                                        Same old story, CR is too black box, trying to make it for dummies.

                                        We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • N netclectic

                                          I remember working for a company where we had been using crystal 7 in our app and it had been working flawlessy for ages until one client decided they wanted to upgrade their version of crystal. Basically the crystal support guy told us that the characteristic which had allowed our app to run flawlessly all this time was actually a bug in crystal which has now been fixed. Sorry, you app doesn't work any more but we won't be can't help you.

                                          undefined

                                          N Offline
                                          N Offline
                                          NormDroid
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #21

                                          Oh yeah, that's why I wrote my own report engine, after upgrade from .net 1.1 to .net 2.0 things just stopped working, all the programs dependent on CR had to run under 1.1 until I reengineered them.

                                          We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them. Steve Jobs

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