Best way to create reports from ASP's 1

[JWMelanson]

I'm looking for help deciding the best way to create reports from an ASP. The ASP's are on an intranet site with 56k connections. Should I be looking at Crystal Reports or similar product or hand coding the reports? Any input would be helpful.

 

[Nanda]

Hi there!!

It depends what kind of report you want to create. and how complex is the report. Is there any limitation of using reporting mechanisam, client or project.

If it is fairly a simple report, you may think to give report in HTMP format itself. else, u can think of Crystal report, excel reports or may be word documents or other available reporting systems, depending upon what report is to be published.

I know it is very short and vague, but it truly depends on what type of report needs to be generated.

Good luck

 

[bahs]

I'm new to this forum.... may I expand on the original question? I'm looking for a report writer that will work with both Access and SQL Server (current and future versions) that can be used to set up a report with parameters (like dept. number) which the user of the web page supplies and then executes the report, with the actual report being generated in HTML with appropriate page breaks so the user can print using their browser. So far it appears that I'm dreaming.... if anyone knows if my dreams will come true, let me know please.

 

[mmaz]

You can do all that and more with Crystal Reports 8. CR version 8.5 just came out and I hear it's got enhanced web capabilities.

 

[bahs]

Thanks to mmaz. I'll look into it.

 

[DirtyB]

Crystal Reports 8 has great web features. If your browser is IE, then an ActiveX plugin shows the report, if the browser is Netscape, then the report shows from a Java applet. You can view them, save them, or print them from the web.

 

[newtoASP]

Anyone have any other options? seems that Crystal at $45k/processor is a little pricy...

 

[efrost2]

45K Yea right!
I use Active Reports from Data Dynamics - it is a VB addin, cost around $500. Very easy to use - create your reports project as an ActiveX dll, then call it from ASP, export to pdf, html, RTF, etc. AR has a nice object model almost all aspects of report can be built on the fly.
What ever you do do not try to use MS Word as a solution!
Hope this helps.

 

[newtoASP]

efrost2, thanks for the info. Do you know the difference between standard and pro versions?

 

[DirtyB]

I actually used to use Active reports as well. My new company insists on Crystal though. I personally liked Active Reports a lot better. They are more geared towards programmers developing reports. In my opinion, Crystal Reports is difficult for some programmers to use because a lot of things just aren't logical.

 

[efrost2]

I think the pro version has a way to stream the reports to client browser without the need to save the report to the server's HD.

 

[shaddow]

I make all my reports in VB coding... and satisfied me a lot... ________
George, M
email : shaddow11_ro@yahoo.com

 

[stofi]

It is possible to generate a .XLS file from ASP if all your Intranet users have MS Excell installed.
I make for this reason a icon at end of report showing :
Generate this report in Excell
No software or installation on server side ...

 

[shaddow]

Yeap, it is possible with
Response.ContentType = "application/msword" for Word generated file on the client side
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel" for Excel

U will find all this in your registry at .doc or .xls section
________
George, M

 

[newtoASP]

shaddow,
Thanks for the post regarding ASP reports. You said that you use VB, are you using Active Reports with VB, or are you using VB exclusively? Are you using the data report designer, or just outputing the html using response.write?
How do you save the output to file?

Thanks

 

[shaddow]

I'm using VB + Data Reports , i think that is Active Reports...
Nope, i'm not using data report designer cuz it makes me sick wend i look at the code, i prefer to write my own code... but is still a good ideea to use it if u aren't familiarized with "hard coding", it's like in VB + Data Reports.
If u need to output the original asp file to client use this

MyAsp.asp
--------------

<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%
'code here
Set fso = Server.CreateObject (&quot;Scripting.FileSystemObject&quot;)
fileName=Server.MapPath(&quot;MyAsp.asp&quot;)
Set file = fso.OpenTextFile (fileName)
varAspCode=file.ReadAll
%>
<textarea rows=12 cols=50><%=varAspCode%></textarea>

Or u need to write to file just the output of the asp? ________
George, M

 

[newtoASP]

Thanks again, shaddow. I need to write to file the result of the ASP. Have you ever used ASPTear? Is it a feasible solution?

 

[shaddow]

No i haven't use it.
If u could send me the adress i will take a look at. ________
George, M