Crystal Report v Access

[Hallgeir]

My customers runs a visual basic application against a microsoft sql server
database. So far I have made theirs reports in access. I think access workes
great, I have yet not faced one report that I could not make. What I not
like is that I have to send the entire mdb file every time the customer need
a new report. The distribution would have been much easier if one file
contains one report and nothing more. I have seen a couple of slick ways to
implement crystal report into an application so now I wondering if Crystal
Report could be a better tool for reporting purposes than Access. Does
anyone have knowledge within this matter they would like to share with me.

Is it possible to make the same reports in Crystal that I have made in
Access?
Is it easy to use compared to Access?
Will the distribution of the report become any easier?
This is the kind of things I would like to hear your opinions about.

Regards !
Hallgeir

 

[Claire]

If your looking for opinions, here is mine:

I prefer creating reports in Crystal ten times better than in Access. The
difference between the two is the fact that Crystal is not designed to store
the data like Access, it is strictly a reporting tool. The design interface
is similar, but I think Crystal has much more functionality for formatting
and also layout options. I'm surprised that some of this functionality is
not part of Access but I guess you can't have everything in one package. You
can still create formulas, complex procedures and that sort of thing in
Crystal.

Each report in Crystal is a separate file, so if you need to send a new
report it is just like any other small file. As long as your client can show
the report where the database is stored (very easy) they should have no
problem.

The downside to Crystal is that it is relatively expensive compared to
Office. If your client already has Crystal then it should be easy, if not
you might have to do a good sales job.

If you stay with Access, you can always import a report into a new database
(I call mine Transport) and then have your client import the report from the
Transport database into their existing one.

Hope that helps.
Claire

My customers runs a visual basic application against a microsoft sql server
database. So far I have made theirs reports in access. I think access workes
great, I have yet not faced one report that I could not make. What I not
like is that I have to send the entire mdb file every time the customer need
a new report. The distribution would have been much easier if one file
contains one report and nothing more. I have seen a couple of slick ways to
implement crystal report into an application so now I wondering if Crystal
Report could be a better tool for reporting purposes than Access. Does
anyone have knowledge within this matter they would like to share with me.

Is it possible to make the same reports in Crystal that I have made in
Access?
Is it easy to use compared to Access?
Will the distribution of the report become any easier?
This is the kind of things I would like to hear your opinions about.

Regards !
Hallgeir

 

[Duane Hookom]

Not to start a war here but I am not aware of too much "functionality for
formatting and layout" that Crystal can do that Access can't. I realize that
CR has the ability to drill-down in a report but I don't know of much other
that and Access report can't do. Of course, my experience with CR is much
more limited than CR and possibly older versions.

I would prefer a report where I can use VBA behind events. It is also very
easy to link data from multiple sources and create queries in Access. There
are some sample reports in the Corp Tech Demos, Calendar Reports, and
Crosstab Report downloads at
http://www.invisibleinc.com/divFiles.cfm?divDivID=4 that I couldn't
re-create with CR. Maybe someone with more CR experience could duplicate
them. The week-at-a-glance type report that looks like an Outlook weekly
calendar view would be very difficult in CR.

 

[Claire]

Point taken. My terminology should perhaps have been "ease of formatting and
layout".

Not being a VB guru, I can make a lot more happen in Crystal by setting
properties and selecting check boxes without always having to figure out
code. Maybe it's the newer versions, but I find that what I need is readily
available, no programming required.

I could recreate all of those reports except for that Week at a Glance.
Veeeeerrryyyyy Niiiicce!!

;-)
C.

Not to start a war here but I am not aware of too much "functionality for
formatting and layout" that Crystal can do that Access can't. I realize that
CR has the ability to drill-down in a report but I don't know of much other
that and Access report can't do. Of course, my experience with CR is much
more limited than CR and possibly older versions.

I would prefer a report where I can use VBA behind events. It is also very
easy to link data from multiple sources and create queries in Access. There
are some sample reports in the Corp Tech Demos, Calendar Reports, and
Crosstab Report downloads at
http://www.invisibleinc.com/divFiles.cfm?divDivID=4 that I couldn't
re-create with CR. Maybe someone with more CR experience could duplicate
them. The week-at-a-glance type report that looks like an Outlook weekly
calendar view would be very difficult in CR.

 

[Duane Hookom]

I've wondered about a "report challenge" competition where Access and CR
developers (teams or individuals) are given the same data from multiple
sources and asked to create reports with a specific format. It would really
have to mix things up with requirements so that neither application was
favored. Then see:
- how long it took to develop
- how closely the reports match specs
- how fast they run
- how easy are they to maintain
- can the reports be integrated into different environments
-...
I don't have the time for such pursuits but it would be interesting to see
the results.

 

[Jeff Conrad]

My money is on Duane; no contest.

 

[Duane Hookom]

As long as I can have at least Marsh, Stephen, Steve A., Larry, and perhaps
a couple others on my team...

 

[Larry Linson]

I realize that CR has the ability to drill-down
in a report but I don't know of much other
that and Access report can't do.

I have heard that ability requested, but in my personal view, a Report is
primarily for _printing_, not primarily for _viewing_ online. Access has
Forms, which are primarily for viewing online, not primarily for printing.
You can, with ease, do drill-down from Forms.

Seems to me that Crystal has a feature for doing Read-Only _Forms_.

I know that such a capability for Access has been submitted to the Microsoft
Access Wish List many times. Perhaps they'll someday include it, and I'll
have to either change my view or just gripe about confusing forms and
reports.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP


Of course, my experience with CR is much

 

[pratik]

Larry,

Can you help me as to how can i open a crystal report with .rpt extension
from my access applicatoin.

can i pass paramertes to the crystal report and if so how can i do that
using access?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks
Pratik

 

[Larry Linson]

No, I can't, because I haven't used Crystal.

I have seen some colleagues do impressive work with Crystal in other
environments, but all with whom I have discussed it would use Access
Reporting in Access in preference to Crystal, and would use Access Reporting
elsewhere, as well, if it were possible.

There would, for sure, be more Crystal experience in a newsgroup devoted to
Classic VB, or in one devoted to Crystal Reports. You might see if you can
find a newsgroup with one of those topics. comp.lang.basic.visual.misc
_used_ to deal mostly with Classic VB, but I haven't participated there in
some time, so I don't know if that is still the case.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

 

[Tom Lake]

No, I can't, because I haven't used Crystal.

I have seen some colleagues do impressive work with Crystal in other
environments, but all with whom I have discussed it would use Access
Reporting in Access in preference to Crystal, and would use Access
Reporting
elsewhere, as well, if it were possible.

One thing I like about Crystal (at least the version I've tried) is that it
uses fixed width fonts and character placement is on whole characters. In
Access, there's too much aligning to do for my taste. Some people like the
finer control but I prefer to get reports out faster.

Tom Lake

 

[Duane Hookom]

What to you mean by "character placement is on whole characters"? I'm
trying to visualize this. Is the a grid that corresponds to character
spacing?