Web Reporting Options Using SQL Data
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I have been using SQL for reporting and data storage for the last 2 years. I work at a call center and we have 2 major clients and from time to time we get small clients for small projects. I have developed Access reporting databases that get loaded nightly from SQL. These are great because of the wide variety of reports I have to produce. But, it would help if we could do a web based report. We have Crystal Reports DEveloper 8.5, plus have access to Visual Basic 6 and all the Office products. Which product should we use for web reports? Do we need Crystal Enterprise? Any help is appreciated.
-Scott
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SQL has minimal support built in, take a look at web tasks, might well do what you need. If the reports are fairly simple you can just write a function that will generate a table from a recordset, put together simple asp pages that give the user a few options to affect the query. Crystal uses a java applet that the client has to download (or at least it used to) which is often a headache due to security policies that clients often have in place, but sometimes it (or something similar) will let you produce a more complex report with less effort, especially if you need charting.
Andy
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SQL Server Reporting Services, which is currently in beta, would be an ideal solution for your web-based reports. Assuming you are on SQL Server 2000, you would need to upgrade to Visual Studio .NET, but otherwise you would be working with the technology that is already familiar to you.
As Andy wrote, Crystal is not the ideal solution for web reports and Crystal was recently acquired by Business Objects so their entire product may be changing to integrate with BO. That's two strikes in my book.
Take a look at the SQL Server Reporting Services demo:
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Thank you both for your suggestions. Yes we are on SQL 2000 and I don't see us upgrading for a while (cheap company). They bought the Crystal package last year because our SQL consultant suggested it. I argued against it because I am the only one here capable of doing reporting and I have done loads of Access reports that are not easily transferable to Crystal. I also argued that me learning SQL would help me find a better job and make replacing me harder, but they didn't think that was funny. And, of course, after I set up all the fancy reports the client decided they wanted Excel. Someday I hope to drag them into the 21st century.
-Scott
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I'd suggest holding the phone till you evaluate SQL Reporting Services. Beta2 looks impressive. The range of output and delivery options is great, and you can roll you own. It's a bit unclear on the setup and licensing for Internet based reporting, but hey its a beta.
It even has functionality to import Access reports. I haven't got any Access reports myself, but I'm itching to try it out and see what the imported reports look like.
Hope this helps
Phill Carter
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Colt 45 - the original point and click interface
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Colt 45 - the original point and click interface
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