Crystal Reports - We All Love to Hate
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Yes, we all love to hate Crystal Reports, but, sometimes, we are forced to use it at our workplace. Today, one of the users reported an issue when printing reports from the Intranet; they were getting multiple copies. When I investigated, I discovered that the number of copies being printing was the square of the number of copies requested. Request 1, get one; request 2, get 4; request 3, get 9... After much searching, I found a serivce pack to address the issue... but, come on! What developer allowed THAT to slide into a commercial system??? Hopefully, the service pack doesn't break anything else... Tim
Tim Carmichael wrote:
Yes, we all love to hate Crystal Reports, but, sometimes, we are forced to use it at our workplace.
i spent 4 months on my last job preparing crystal reports and web interfaces for them. overall once i figured it all out it was okay, but yea, there are a lot of querks or things that behave in ways you would not expect at all. like the one you mentioned.
----------------------------------------------------------- Completion Deadline: two days before the day after tomorrow
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Yes, we all love to hate Crystal Reports, but, sometimes, we are forced to use it at our workplace. Today, one of the users reported an issue when printing reports from the Intranet; they were getting multiple copies. When I investigated, I discovered that the number of copies being printing was the square of the number of copies requested. Request 1, get one; request 2, get 4; request 3, get 9... After much searching, I found a serivce pack to address the issue... but, come on! What developer allowed THAT to slide into a commercial system??? Hopefully, the service pack doesn't break anything else... Tim
Tim Carmichael wrote:
After much searching, I found a serivce pack to address the issue... but, come on! What developer allowed THAT to slide into a commercial system???
To be fair, i've made similar mistakes. Test on printers that won't do multiple copies printer- or driver-side, and it can slip through. Granted, i don't make or sell commercial-quality reporting components. But, i could argue, neither does Crystal... :rolleyes:
Citizen 20.1.01
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.'
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Yes, we all love to hate Crystal Reports, but, sometimes, we are forced to use it at our workplace. Today, one of the users reported an issue when printing reports from the Intranet; they were getting multiple copies. When I investigated, I discovered that the number of copies being printing was the square of the number of copies requested. Request 1, get one; request 2, get 4; request 3, get 9... After much searching, I found a serivce pack to address the issue... but, come on! What developer allowed THAT to slide into a commercial system??? Hopefully, the service pack doesn't break anything else... Tim
Tim Carmichael wrote:
Yes, we all love to hate Crystal Reports, but, sometimes, we are forced to use it at our workplace.
I've come to the same conclusion. But then I wondered, are there really no good alternatives? So as a little question to all CPians out there, which alternatives are there for making printed reports?
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Yes, we all love to hate Crystal Reports, but, sometimes, we are forced to use it at our workplace. Today, one of the users reported an issue when printing reports from the Intranet; they were getting multiple copies. When I investigated, I discovered that the number of copies being printing was the square of the number of copies requested. Request 1, get one; request 2, get 4; request 3, get 9... After much searching, I found a serivce pack to address the issue... but, come on! What developer allowed THAT to slide into a commercial system??? Hopefully, the service pack doesn't break anything else... Tim
The worst part is, instead of releasing an immediate hot fix to an issue this potentially damaging, they batched it up into a service pack. How many offices burned through how many cases of paper before this got fixed?
Imagine that you are hired to build a bridge over a river. The width of the river increases slightly every day, except when it shrinks. Your budget does not allow for you to use concrete or steel - you can only afford timber and cut stone. Gravity changes from hour to hour, as does the viscosity of air. Your only tools are a hacksaw, a chainsaw, a rubber mallet, and a length of rope. Welcome to my world. -Me explaining my job to an engineer
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Tim Carmichael wrote:
Yes, we all love to hate Crystal Reports, but, sometimes, we are forced to use it at our workplace.
I've come to the same conclusion. But then I wondered, are there really no good alternatives? So as a little question to all CPians out there, which alternatives are there for making printed reports?
Sql reporting services. XML/XSL XtraReports ... the list goes on.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Yes, we all love to hate Crystal Reports, but, sometimes, we are forced to use it at our workplace. Today, one of the users reported an issue when printing reports from the Intranet; they were getting multiple copies. When I investigated, I discovered that the number of copies being printing was the square of the number of copies requested. Request 1, get one; request 2, get 4; request 3, get 9... After much searching, I found a serivce pack to address the issue... but, come on! What developer allowed THAT to slide into a commercial system??? Hopefully, the service pack doesn't break anything else... Tim
Tim Carmichael wrote:
Hopefully, the service pack doesn't break anything else...
Now repeat after me, go on it's therapeutic "Crystal Reports sucks. Business Objects sucks. I will not use Crystal Reports, even if it's free". Now have yourself a nice herbal tea and a massage, you've achieved inner peace.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Tim Carmichael wrote:
Hopefully, the service pack doesn't break anything else...
Now repeat after me, go on it's therapeutic "Crystal Reports sucks. Business Objects sucks. I will not use Crystal Reports, even if it's free". Now have yourself a nice herbal tea and a massage, you've achieved inner peace.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
Crystal Reports sucks
But Crystal Reports is one of the successful reports that i dealed with
Boukh wrote:
But Crystal Reports is one of the successful reports that i dealed with
Now then... that makes the whole thing completely different.
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." (DNA)
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Sql reporting services. XML/XSL XtraReports ... the list goes on.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Thanks, I'm stuck with Oracle for the foreseeable future, but I'm definately going to take a serious look at Xtrareports.
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
Crystal Reports sucks
But Crystal Reports is one of the successful reports that i dealed with
Boukh wrote:
But Crystal Reports is one of the successful reports that i dealed with
Oh well - I'll change my opinion then. Nope sorry, you've mistaken me for somebody who actually cares what reports you've produced.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Yes, we all love to hate Crystal Reports, but, sometimes, we are forced to use it at our workplace. Today, one of the users reported an issue when printing reports from the Intranet; they were getting multiple copies. When I investigated, I discovered that the number of copies being printing was the square of the number of copies requested. Request 1, get one; request 2, get 4; request 3, get 9... After much searching, I found a serivce pack to address the issue... but, come on! What developer allowed THAT to slide into a commercial system??? Hopefully, the service pack doesn't break anything else... Tim
Tim Carmichael wrote:
When I investigated, I discovered that the number of copies being printing was the square of the number of copies requested. Request 1, get one; request 2, get 4; request 3, get 9...
Perhaps it was by design - you all know that feeling when you get to a meeting and you realise you haven't printed off enough copies for all of the attendees :)
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Thanks, I'm stuck with Oracle for the foreseeable future, but I'm definately going to take a serious look at Xtrareports.
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
Crystal Reports sucks
But Crystal Reports is one of the successful reports that i dealed with
I call it lack of competition! :|
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
ell, there's always this[^] hugely expensive, overkill solution.
Well, my company doesn't have the turnover of a small nation, nor am I able to clone myself. I think I'll have a look at your previous suggestion :)
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I call it lack of competition! :|
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Tim Carmichael wrote:
Yes, we all love to hate Crystal Reports, but, sometimes, we are forced to use it at our workplace.
I've come to the same conclusion. But then I wondered, are there really no good alternatives? So as a little question to all CPians out there, which alternatives are there for making printed reports?
There's always the FlowDocument class[^] and the rest of the System.Windows.Documents[^] namespace for you to roll your own...
'--8<------------------------ Ex Datis: Duncan Jones Merrion Computing Ltd
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Boukh wrote:
competition with whom
Never mind. Feel free to chip into this conversation when you understand what's being said.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Boukh wrote:
competition with whom
Never mind. Feel free to chip into this conversation when you understand what's being said.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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steve ballmer is a god among men.
----------------------------------------------------------- Completion Deadline: two days before the day after tomorrow
modified on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 5:30 PM
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steve ballmer is a god among men.
----------------------------------------------------------- Completion Deadline: two days before the day after tomorrow
modified on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 5:30 PM