Is there a decent .Net report writer out there?

22 Comments

• Wait for Report Builder to be released with SQL Server 2005. It too uses no touch deploy\click once.
  

• Hi,
  
  
  
  We have maybe something for you. Please have a look at www.uniswift.com.
  
  
  
  Corrie
  

• "Wait for Report Builder to be released with SQL Server 2005"
  
  
  
  We have to support SQL Server 7.0
  

• "We have maybe something for you. Please have a look at www.uniswift.com"
  
  
  
  I took a look at your product. Right away I see many lines of code to do a calculated field. Though I can do this, a non .Net developer cannot, which is one of our issues, making this easy for a non .Net developer.
  
  
  
  Thanks for the feedback though.
  

• I've had good success with ActiveReports. It allows you to reuse data access code. So instead of jumping through hoops to get data again for a report, although you can do that if need be, you can also just hand your data object (table, ds, BO .. whatever) to the report and let it bind. It can produce a bunch of different outputs like PDF, RTF, Excel and HTML. I found their support was very responsive as well.
  

• I second ActiveReports. I've used its ability to host a designer to let users create their own reports - it would be easy to support a user creating a calculated column on a DataTable, then binding a DataTable to a report.
  

• The Microsoft SQL Reporting Services designer is suprisingly good, although I have only done a few simple examples with it. It can work with SQL 7.0 data, although you probably need a SQL2000 "reporting server" to store and execute the reports.
  

• I'll third Active Reports. I'm guessing that it can do exactly what you're looking for. Maybe a little work required up front, but I've used it in an end user self serve mode on a number of projects.
  
  
  
  To throw a new one in the mix, have you looked at Microsoft Reporting Services? Can't speak for the SQL 7 req, but we are using it in a number of situations, specifically pushing report design and layout out of development and into the business. It seems like a lot of work up front (and it is) but the end result has been radically improved over our mishmash of AR, Crystal and, gulp, home grown reports.
  

• This might sound odd but I use Aspose's Aspose.Excel which is a component that generates excel files. The templates are just excel files so the reports are (reasonably) easy to create and users can then modify the data themselves (since most know Excel)
  
  
  
  I've even got a few users who now develop their own reports and since Excel is on most business computers, there's 0 footprint.
  
  
  
  Anyway, you can take the product for a free test drive (www.aspose.com) so it is at least worth a look. It turned out well for me.
  
  
  
  Hope it helps,
  
  
  
  Tom
  

• With Widbey there are report controls for Windows forms which my understanding is that they are SQL Reporting Services but without a server.
  

• In ActiveReports you can simply set the DataField property of any text control to an expression, for example a price field would be
  
  =Quantity * UnitPrice
  

• I'll put my vote in for Active Reports. I use it extensively, and have had great success with the product. Plus, the company's support is top-shelf. As Issam mentioned, calculated columns are pretty straight-forward too.
  
  
  
  Anyhow, the power with AR is awesome once you get to know how to use it, which is easy since the programming model is so similar to WinForms or WebForms.
  
  
  
  HTH...
  

• We are giving Active Reports a 2nd look today. Thanks for the feedback.
  

• Can you continue to use the Foxpro report Writer?. As a Foxpro developer, Foxpro can access most database backend including SQL Server.
  

• I've gotten the same error. I know it's related to file system access. Specifically, the Common Files area (by the Local Services account), and C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC (by the Network Service account, Read and WriteAttributes access). The latter may have to be set at the c:\windows level and propagated down.
  I think there's others too, so be sure to set auditing on, and check your event viewer Security log to see where and what complains.
  

• Take a look at www.logixml.com. We have used this report writer for over five years. You do not have to know a single line of .net code to use it. The builder is component and object based drag-and-drop and fill in the options. I've been using and evaluating report writers for 20 years and I've not seen or used anything like it. "Programming" experience, skills and thinking is helpful but you don't have to know a lick of any language syntax to get going. If you have even the slighest knowledge of vbscript or .net, you can really pump up the features, but it is not essential for 98% of your reporting needs. I am not a programmer, but I've been able to develop dozens of reports, some in as little as two hours. If already know the SQL query statements to build the report you can create a report the first day. (Like any report writer, you have to know your data.) And their tech support resources on the web are incredible. The entry level fully deployable version is free, and you can purchase more advanced versions as your needs expand. We've been using the freebie version for five years and are only purchasing the next level this year.
  

• Thanks to all for the very helpful reviews above. I am also looking for a report writer that can be deployed as part of an ASP.NET 2.0 application to a shared web-server. The challenge in this scenario is that most commercial shared servers only grant Medium Trust to applications. That means that report writer assemblies must have the AllowPartiallyTrustedCallers attribute set to True and not require permissions that are denied in the Medium Trust permission set.
  
  Unfortunately, both Crystal Reports and Active Reports fail in this respect. Can anyone tell me if they have come across a report writer that could be used in this scenario?
  
  Paul Taylor
  

• COM object with CLSID {F0A36D7F-4068-44B5-809D-9E91AE74FBDB} is either not valid or not registered
  

• We use the Stimulsoft report writer at www.stimulsoft.com
  

• I too am looking for a decent .net report writer who can easily make non technical users do their own reports. I've heard that SQL Reporting Services have such feature but not sure though. Anyone can clarify this?
  
  Thanks
  
  www.lugaluda.com
  

• Crystal actually does have clickonce prerequisites that you just have to add to your application under the project properties. Thats how we are distributing Crystal Reports currently with our click once app.
  

• Hey, I am checking this blog using the phone and this appears to be kind of odd. Thought you'd wish to know. This is a great write-up nevertheless, did not mess that up.
  
  - David