Ask for the difference between Report and CrystalReport

Last post 11-09-2006 11:45 PM by plshn99. 2 replies.

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  • Ask for the difference between Report and CrystalReport

    11-08-2006, 3:06 PM
    • Member
      131 point Member
    • plshn99
    • Member since 02-03-2006, 4:14 PM
    • Posts 38

    Hi,

    Not very sure where to ask the this question exactly. But here is a nowrong place.

    In vs 2005, it introduced a new type of report ( .rdlc ) and you can still CrystalReport ( .rpt). I wonder the difference between them and the pros and cons of using repor(.rdlc)?

    And where to find some detail documentation on it?

    thanks,

     Kai

  • Re: Ask for the difference between Report and CrystalReport

    11-08-2006, 3:29 PM
    Answer
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    • shados
    • Member since 07-07-2006, 11:24 PM
    • Posts 2,202

    Crystal Report is a third party product, available from within visual studio, but also as a full, standalone product. It is not made by Microsoft, but is included because it is a de facto standard, so to speak.

    Reporting Service is the Microsoft offering equivalent of Crystal Report, and requires SQL Server for full feature, and exists since SQL Server 2000 i -think-. It is only very good in my opinion since SQL Server 2005, however. It is not quite as feature full as Crystal Report in my opinion, but its "free" as soon as you use SQL Server, so its pretty sweet. Works with SQL Server Express, too. I find the designer to be much more "programmer" friendly, too.

    The rdlc reports are basically the same thing as Reporting Service, but instead of being executed by an SQL Server, they are executed by the server on which your application is running (basicaly, by the .NET framework is what I mean). They are not as powerful as both the above option, but they are database independant, royalty free, and more or less "built in" (you do need to install the DLLs separately on the host that will run it, which can be an issue with some shared host, but usualy it should be fine). This is the least powerful of the options available to you, but the simplest to use and deploy, with the least restrictions. If you do not have Visual Studio Pro or SQL Server, then the rdlc is your only option unless you have money to spend.

  • Re: Ask for the difference between Report and CrystalReport

    11-09-2006, 11:45 PM
    • Member
      131 point Member
    • plshn99
    • Member since 02-03-2006, 4:14 PM
    • Posts 38
    Nice comparison, thank you shados!
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