My company asked me to build a report server which would create PDFs out of CSVs using pre-determined report templates. Using CSVs as a direct data source was a pain in the ass because we had to fiddle with ODBC. We found that it was much easier to work with Access files, and since the databases would be single tabled and no more than a few thousand records, it wouldn't be a problem. We got ourselves of a little utility that converts the CSV files to MDB, so the only step would be to take the MDB as a data source to convert it to PDF. We decided to use Crystal Reports because the report designer is very straight forward and easy to use. Personally, I have not used any other reporting system, but I was told by my boss that it was the best solution. We ended up using Visual Basic to integrate everything together. It's been in production for over 6 months now, with over 10,000 reports under it's belt, without any serious problems. At peak hours, it can generate reports at an average of 200 an hour, depending on the computer speed, and amount of records and complexity of the report.
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pardon me, but who is Jack Nickolas? is he someone famous?
With my viewing habits... Lord knows I need to see more of those damn nike Freestyle dribbling commercials
How long until someone hacks the time-limit.
Q. What if an orgy broke out at the "iron" chef?
A. Well, you'd have an Smorgasborgasm of course!
I was dissappointed when I didn't hear a "dirty south" option.
My company asked me to build a report server which would create PDFs out of CSVs using pre-determined report templates. Using CSVs as a direct data source was a pain in the ass because we had to fiddle with ODBC. We found that it was much easier to work with Access files, and since the databases would be single tabled and no more than a few thousand records, it wouldn't be a problem. We got ourselves of a little utility that converts the CSV files to MDB, so the only step would be to take the MDB as a data source to convert it to PDF. We decided to use Crystal Reports because the report designer is very straight forward and easy to use. Personally, I have not used any other reporting system, but I was told by my boss that it was the best solution. We ended up using Visual Basic to integrate everything together. It's been in production for over 6 months now, with over 10,000 reports under it's belt, without any serious problems. At peak hours, it can generate reports at an average of 200 an hour, depending on the computer speed, and amount of records and complexity of the report.