Reporting - Whats the best option.

[Paul Say]

I have a asp.net application that will need to create a document/report from
data in a database. The user will fill out a form supplying various criteria
for parameters. I would like the document/report to then be displayed on
screen as well as the option to download in PDF format.

I am just wondering which is the best reporting development tool to use
between SQL Reporting Services and Crystal Reports.

The report will have three sections/sub reports.

 

[Lucas Tam]

I have a asp.net application that will need to create a
document/report from data in a database. The user will fill out a form
supplying various criteria for parameters. I would like the
document/report to then be displayed on screen as well as the option
to download in PDF format.

I am just wondering which is the best reporting development tool to
use between SQL Reporting Services and Crystal Reports.

Do you have access to the SQL server? You need to physically load SQL
Reporting services on to the SQL server. If you're administrator is
hesitant, then you must use Crystal Reports.

Crystal has the advantage of having a standalone web viewer component.
There isn't such a component for SQL Server Reporting. If you wish to
use SQL Server Reporting on a custom webpage, then you'll need to write
a web service to retrieve and display the reports - this maybe an extra
hassle that you do not want to do.

Crystal is limited to ~21,000 per report. If you need to report on large
amounts of data, it is best to use a SQL stored procedure to
sum/calculate/format the data into a nice small dataset before passing
it onto Crystal.

Crystal also has 2 methods of supplying data to the report - PUSH and
PULL. Push is when you pass a .NET Dataset to Crystal, thereby supplying
crystal with the data. Pull is when Crystal downloads the data
internally via it's own routines. Personally I prefer using the Push
method so I can have more control over the database connections and
datasets.

It's hard to say which option is better. If you have high volume, I'll
probably go with SQL Server Reporting. If your traffic is low, Crystal
Reports is more than adequate.

 

[Paul Say]

Thanks for your feedback Lucas,
do you know where I might find a simple sample for crystal reports, sjo I
can get an Idea of what it takes to create a report for a website

Paul

 

[Lucas Tam]

do you know where I might find a simple sample for crystal reports, sjo I
can get an Idea of what it takes to create a report for a website

http://support.businessobjects.com/communityCS/TechnicalPapers/crnet_adonet
..pdf

http://support.businessobjects.com/communityCS/TechnicalPapers/rtm_reportin
goffadonetdatasets.pdf.asp

Business Object's Support site has a lot of good info.