Re: Free ad-hoc reporting tools

depending on your needs, you might want to also consider tools like php, ruby, python, etc: while they lack some of crystal report's functionality, I think that they more than make up with it with:

• cost
• ease of integration with standard applications
• flexibility in presenting info
• ease of publishing over web
• ability to easily manage application within standard version control environment

I think the only weakness of this kind of approach is that it requires light programming skills that crystal doesn't, and that it doesn't lend itself to printable reports as much as crystal/brio/etc do. On the other hand, simple tables & charts are a breeze, and I'd much rather have 20 inter-linked pages on the web in php, than 20 crystal reports on someone's desk.

buck Received on Tue Apr 12 2005 - 09:30:37 CDT