New user

[saagaar]

Hello All,

I am (Will be) a new user of Actuate reporting.
My current client has given me 4 days to install and learn (The basics)Actuate 7.

How should I go about it,any tips for quick learning.

My previous brush with any kind of reporting tool was with Oracle Developer Reports.

Thanks in advance

 

[bcaslow]

Well, they're not asking for much, now are they! LOL! I would highly recommend calling Actuate Support for any and all assistance, if you're not going to have the 'luxury' of organized training.

 

[adarro]

I have no experience in using Oracle reports, but used Access Reports and Crystal 5-8.5 before using Actuate.
I highly recomend a training course, but if you grasp the concept of how it works, you'll wow them quickly.
I recreated a worldwide detail sales report (thousands of pages) that took a week to code in Crystal in literally 1 day with Actuate.

I would suggest installing the samples and then making a copy of them. They highlight almost all of the features and you can tweak the copy to see how one thing affects the other.

 

[wesw]

I find that incredible. Well I am guess I can do what will take me weeks in Actuate in a day with SQR. It appears to me that everything takes more time. I can hand code in SQR faster than using Crystal or Actuate. In addition, how does one document code? If I do a ton of overrides do I have to check each component individually? I see no way to search for a string like in vb, so if I want to find where I have used a variable, how do I do it? Postioning is a pain with the gui and conditional positioning requires many steps opening and overriding every component in a frame. After a few weeks somethings are easier, but with 20 different ways to accomplish the same outcome, which way is best?
Where is the information on best practices a knowledgebase etc. Public forums have very little activity compared to other groups like sqrug.

I went to a 4 day class from a certified Actuate partner and each of us in the class were ready to call it quits after 2 days and I think I got a hernia from the book.

I am inpressed with Actuate's complexity and power, not by its user-friendlyness or ease of use.

Wes