Re: Can't connect MS Access to 8i

One of the things I think that Oracle needs is a good tool for end users to create reports. This is why I many people using MS Access as a front end...just for the reporting capabilities. Most have access to Access so the cost is right. Crystal Reports is much better, but also costs money.

Oracle really does not have a good report tool. But then SQL Server didn't have a good one either until late in SQL Server 2000's life. About the closest I've seen from Oracle Corp is their new SQL Developer. Think of SQL Developer as a GUI-based SQL*Plus, but with more features. One of them is the ability to stored canned reports to be run at later times. They won't be as pretty as Crystal, but they do work.

That being said, I'm going to contradict myself...most DBA's hate ad-hoc reporting because of the "bad" queries users come up with and trash on the database with. So it is very beneficial to work with the DBA for any SQL statements, even those in canned reports.

Cheers,
Brian

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Brian Peasland
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http://www.peasland.net

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