Hi,

I would like to know, what is the best practice of reporting using SF?

My report could be DevEx XtraReport, or just on screen. Should I use BO, or access DataLayer directly?



Thank you

Hi Robin,

We also plan on using XtraReports exclusively but haven't got into that part of our project yet. The only work we have done was, in the early days, to just confirm that moving from Crystal Reports to XtraReports was an option given we wanted to stay, as much as possible, within the DevExpress/StrataFrame toolsets. Previously we used VB6 and Crystal.

That being said any tips/tricks you are willing and able to share would be very much appreciated.

Cheers, Peter

We didn't have a lot of trouble using the DevExpress XtraReports, the only hard part we had was creating Master-Detail-Detail-Detail-Detail reports.  But once we figured out how to nest detail reports and manipulate the business objects in the datasources for each DetailReport on it's parent Datasource RowChanged event, we were in business.

Robin Giltner

We have started using Report-Shooter from Perpetuum Software.  When we made a decision on our reporting engine, we tested all major (and some not so major) report engines.  This included XtraReports, Active Reports, Data Dynamics RDL Reporting, Telerik, .NETs RDL reporting, and others.  Report-Shooter in the end was a very easy to implement and solid solution providing easy integration into an application as well as a very easy environment in which to tie in a StrataFrame BO.  This month we will post a sample as well as more information regarding Report-Shooter.  Below are some features that really sealed the deal:

• Master Report Support
• Extremely Extensible Object Model
• Run-time designer components
• Easy Dynamic Report Creation
• Easy Database Integration
• Easy-To-Use Designer (Our end-users can use the same editor to modify a template as we did to create the report template)
• Easy StrataFrame BBS Data-Source Integration (We will provide samples on how to do this...it is VERY easy!)
• Fast!!!!!
• 100% customizble interface for preview and designer components (Use SF ThemedToolsStrips, etc. if you choose to have a seamless appearence)

We will post more information about this report engine towards the end of the month.  But we have been using it for a while now and the more we use it the more we like it....very nice product.

Here is their site: www.perpetuumsoftware.com