Which is a better option: Crystal Reports OR Microsoft Reporting Services?

[azam316]

hi, it would be a great help if someone could tell me that, what would be better to use for reporting in a web application (ASP.NET); Crystal Reports OR Microsoft Reporting Services? And furthermore, if i decide to use Crystal Reports, do i have to buy a separate license for it and is it expensive? And in case of using the MS Reporting Services, would i be better off using the URL Addressability feature or RS Web Service? i know there are many questions, but i really need some help here! thanx in advance. ☺«««DTA»»»☺

[devvvy]

I don't know, what I do know is, when you have report parameters of type (DATE), you get to input parameter via text field instead of a decent calendar control/date-time picker. This is true for Crystal, for Reporting Service as well as for MS Access. Okay, perhaps Reporting Service is still pretty new/immature. But for MS Access and Crystal this is a feature that should have been added a long time ago. Another thing, "Reporting Service Web Service Library", I don't think you can pass "NULL" from client, you need to handle that from within Report using SQL. Yet another interesting bug with Reporting Service is if your machine name has an underscore in it, "drilldown" wouldn't work when report is viewed from a browser... But all in all, it seems they're alright, both Crystal and Reporting Services. Most of the basic stuff are covered, things like conditional formatting, matrix, calculated/formula fields, drilldown, ... But, I'm no expert in the subject, need to play with them more to ... well, in short, disregard my comment. Norman Fung