Visual Basic&database, crystal reports help required

crystal reports help required

Author	Message
Richa #1 / 4	crystal reports help required Hello, I am doing a report for work to identify different approaches to the companies reporting. I have prototyped a solution using Crystal reports. There are other possible solutions such as Crystal Info, or MS Access. The solution I am steering towards is VB and Crystal via stored procedures. I have a few problems, one is that it is rumoured that Crystal retrieves all data onto the client side before doing any grouping. It is claimed that a Crystal solution will give us network problems. The other problem I have had is: when I built the prototype I had to build Crystal Reports on stored procedures which are in a sybase database. The crystal reports program does not seem to pick up the parameters of all of our stored procedures at the time of building them. Does anyone know why this would be; I have seen this happen when pressing the 'SQL/ODBC Query' button or the 'Sybase' button Does anyone know of any information on how the solution I am proposing might affect PC memory? Are there any potential problems which I should know about? Is anyone using the product 'Crystal Info'? What is it like? TIA, Richard.
Tue, 26 Oct 1999 03:00:00 GMT

Craig Banke #2 / 4	crystal reports help required Depends on the client o/s. Steer away from CRW & win 3.X - I've seen connectivity problems pop up due to win 3.x's limited ability to connect to a SQL Server. NT and 95 - CRX will do just fine. See other comments below. Quote: > Hello, > I am doing a report for work to identify different approaches to the > companies reporting. I have prototyped a solution using Crystal > reports. There are other possible solutions such as Crystal Info, or > MS Access. The solution I am steering towards is VB and Crystal via > stored procedures. > I have a few problems, one is that it is rumoured that Crystal > retrieves all data onto the client side before doing any grouping. It > is claimed that a Crystal solution will give us network problems. This is true with stored procedures (that is - all of the result set is returned and then grouped) - you will have to alter the parms before you use the report in order to prevent this from happening. In otherwords, you will not have the ability to simply use compiled crystal reports or crystal info without {filter} your network (assuming this is a factor). Simply write a vb wrapper around a report that will change sp parms to minimize records returned and your reports should run quickly and not {filter} your network. Quote: > The other problem I have had is: when I built the prototype I had to > build crystal reports on stored procedures which are in a sybase > database. The crystal reports program does not seem to pick up the > parameters of all of our stored procedures at the time of building > them. Does anyone know why this would be; I have seen this happen when > pressing the 'SQL/ODBC Query' button or the 'Sybase' button > Does anyone know of any information on how the solution I am proposing > might affect PC memory? As long as you stay within the minimum requirements for the version you use you will be ok. Quote: > Are there any potential problems which I should know about? Not many - just that the stored proc method allows those who haven't used crystal very much to get accurate results. If you can - stay away from the record selection formulas as I have experienced problems with date parameters. There are quite a few gotchas but I can't recall them now. Quote: > Is anyone using the product 'Crystal Info'? What is it like? Its OK - but confusing to set up and use. Should not be set up for the inexperienced. Quote: > TIA, > Richard. Hope that helps..cheers Craig
Wed, 27 Oct 1999 03:00:00 GMT

Craig Banke #3 / 4	crystal reports help required I beg to differ....comments below Quote: > The Crystal product is bad, I hate it and we use our Crystal discs as > coasters (upside down so we don't have to be reminded of the pain we went > through the first and last time we used it). Kind of a harsh generalization, eh? The software does have its problems but can yield excellent results if you know its limitations. Quote: >Its slow, it will do all the > grouping on the client side, That is not true - read your docs. I think "Use Indexes for speed" option controls whether or not it does grouping on client or server. Quote: >it has huge overhead in memory when printing, It does - but if you limit the records from the server - you won't experience anything bad. Quote: > in the earlier version we came across all sorts of constraints when trying > to link to multiple databases over the network. I've had no problems doing that.... Quote: > Avoid using it. > If you want to use VB, your best bet is to create the reports in Access, > Excel and carryout OLE from VB to these products. > For a distributive reporting system you could go out and purchase Formula 1 > for example, the company also has a really cool charting program but its > name slips my mind. This is a spreadsheeting tool, but it prints really > fast, and allows a very wide range of layouts and supports all the formulas > found in Excel. The only draw back is you will have to do more coding (but > then hey nothing good comes from being idle) Well there are always alternative...
Wed, 27 Oct 1999 03:00:00 GMT

Client Excele #4 / 4	crystal reports help required The Crystal product is bad, I hate it and we use our Crystal discs as coasters (upside down so we don't have to be reminded of the pain we went through the first and last time we used it). Its slow, it will do all the grouping on the client side, it has huge overhead in memory when printing, in the earlier version we came across all sorts of constraints when trying to link to multiple databases over the network. Avoid using it. If you want to use VB, your best bet is to create the reports in Access, Excel and carryout OLE from VB to these products. For a distributive reporting system you could go out and purchase Formula 1 for example, the company also has a really cool charting program but its name slips my mind. This is a spreadsheeting tool, but it prints really fast, and allows a very wide range of layouts and supports all the formulas found in Excel. The only draw back is you will have to do more coding (but then hey nothing good comes from being idle) Quote: >Hello, >I am doing a report for work to identify different approaches to the >companies reporting. I have prototyped a solution using Crystal >reports. There are other possible solutions such as Crystal Info, or >MS Access. The solution I am steering towards is VB and Crystal via >stored procedures. >I have a few problems, one is that it is rumoured that Crystal >retrieves all data onto the client side before doing any grouping. It >is claimed that a Crystal solution will give us network problems. >The other problem I have had is: when I built the prototype I had to >build crystal reports on stored procedures which are in a sybase >database. The crystal reports program does not seem to pick up the >parameters of all of our stored procedures at the time of building >them. Does anyone know why this would be; I have seen this happen when >pressing the 'SQL/ODBC Query' button or the 'Sybase' button >Does anyone know of any information on how the solution I am proposing >might affect PC memory? >Are there any potential problems which I should know about? >Is anyone using the product 'Crystal Info'? What is it like? >TIA, >Richard.
Wed, 27 Oct 1999 03:00:00 GMT

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