Re: Reporting Tools?

Without getting into an argument (!) I'd agree with most of this :

Paul Dorsey wrote in message <7303f0$r9j_at_bgtnsc02.worldnet.att.net>...
>Other than the learning curve, there is nothing wrong with Oracle Reports.

Major learning curve, not a product with very natural rules - you kind of have to experiment with it for a long time and a developer with experience is worth their weight in gold.

>It is the most productive reporting tool on the market in the hands of a
>good developer.

I'd say it is the most powerful tool, but if flashy bells and whistles are not required there are tools out there that lend better to RAD.

 SQR is also a serious prodction reporting tool. Pro
>Reports from Planinum and IQ are reasonable but not as deep as Reports.
With
>Crystal, you will spend a lot of time writing to temp tables because of
tool
>limitations.

Not sure about these.

>
>Performance problems are usually a function of the developer, not the tool.
>That is certainly the case with reports as you have a lot of control over
>how the product behaves. I think Reports is the most unjustly maligned
>product on the market. Certainly 2.0 sucked, but 2.5 was very productive
and
>usable, and 3.0 is great (mainly because of the templates and wizards).
>

Yes - but matrix reports are not too hot and to achieve good performance when talking about millions of rows, we often find ourselves 'bolting' packaged procedures/functions on the triggers and populating temporary tables. (I'm talking extreme here -- millions of rows and lots of joins). 3 does seem better and its nice to see the wizards to improve productivity.

Of course these are my opinions and each to their own! I love Oracle Reports, I used it consistantly for 3.5 years whilst a consultant with Oracle and have taught it on behalf of Oracle on a few occasions. Once understood it becomes your friend (almost) but is a nightmare to each to someone else because many of the layout rules are not very intuitive and things like anchors are best experimented with and the reference manuals read, and read, and read and read!

Ian.

>--
>Paul Dorsey
>Dulcian, Inc.
>www.dulcian.com
>212 595 7223
>Kurt Manecke wrote in message <72vqhb$ect_at_news1.ee.net>...
>>Is anyone using any other reporting tools than Oracle Reports? I've looked
>>at Crystal Reports and it seems to have some performance problems. I'll be
>>looking at SQR from Sqribe next week. Any comments or recommendations
would
>>be appreciated.
>>
>>Kurt Manecke
>>kmanecke_at_ee.net
>>
>>
>>
>
>
Received on Thu Nov 19 1998 - 18:38:39 CET