advantages and disadvantages of using crystal report with power builder

[Former Member]

Hello All,

We are planning to integrate Crystal Report with Power Builder.

Please help us to identify pros and cons of using Crystal Report with Power Builder.

We are using Power Builder 11.5. Please let me know which version of Crystal Report is compatible with it?

Is there any compatibility issue of Crystal report with Power Builder?

Thanks,

[Former Member]

Hi

have you checked out Reporting Studio? We're considering using it but are still in the evaluation phase.

Regards

Arthur

[Former Member]

there is another solution:

Félix Informatique - PB Components : FLX Report

dinis

[Former Member]

Hello,

     we use Powerbuilder with Crystal report from 1998 with success. Actually we use PB 11.5 classic and integrate Crystal report XI R2 using COM technology. This tecnhology was dismissed from Business Object and SAP in favour of .NET and java. So if you want to use latest versions of Crystal report you have to write code in Powerbuilder .NET and than integrate in PB classic as a COM.

I haven't try but you can find examples using Google search.

Bye

Giorgio

[Former Member]

Hello,

we had already tested CrystalReports together with PowerBuilder (approx. 1 year ago). We integrated CrystalReports in our PowerBuilder 11.5 Classic application. We had no technical problems to integrate in CrystalReport. But due to other reasons, we made the decision to use another reporting tool.

Best regards

Heiko

[Former Member]

Hi,

Currently my organization is having reporting built in powerbuilder itself using datawindow.

and the filter is also inbuilt. So if any new reports comes up then we need to make changes in the exe and redploy it. So we are looking to move our reporting module outside of our main code and Crystal reports seems to be a good option to us. Can you share your integration results with me? like what were the advantages and disadvantages.

And what were the other alternatives that your organization found.

[Former Member]

Hello Kewal,

It was not so difficult to integrate Crystal Reports in our PB Classic Application. But the main disadvantage, was the missing capabilities for multilanguage support.

So we decided to use JasperReports to create our reports: after the retrieve of the data, JasperReports is generating a PDF File of the Report. We are displaying this PDF in our PowerBuilder application by using the Tool "PDF Exchange Viewer". The disadvantage of this solution is the missing interacitivity of the user with the report (e.g. clicking of treeview reports requires a regenerating of the report/PDF).

But for your problem, there is maybe another solution:

We have also reports which are generated with PowerBuilder (DataWindows, with lots of retrieval arguments). We are storing this datawindows as a blob in the database. During the start of our Application, the blobs will be exported in a PBL. This temporary PBL will be inserted on the first place of the list of all PBLs. So, the DataWindow exists twice: once in the temporay PLS and onece in the oroginal (compiled) PBL. Due to the reason, that the temporary library is on top of the library list, the PowerBuilder application is selecting the Datawindow of the first PBL (the temporary one). If you have to make any change on your report now, you only need to replace the report datawindow in the Database. A compile is not required anymore.

Best regards

Heiko

[Former Member]

Hi Heiko,

Thank you for the quick response.

We do use the report functionality by storing datawindow source code in a blob. But our main problem is the parameter window which allows users to select date and other filters for running a report based on certain criteria.

The list of filters changes based on report requirements so for this we need to compile the code again.

[Former Member]

Hello Kewal,

you can also store the parameter datawindow (search form, in which the user inserts the retrieval arguments) in the database.

In the table with your datawindow report, you have to store a reference information, which parameter datawindow is required for the report datawindow.

You need to call the dw.Retrieve(arg, arg, ...) dynamically. You also have to store this information: e.g. in a further table.

So, you would have the following tables:

1. tbl_dwreports (with a 1:1 reference to tbl_dwfilters, to know which "filter dw" is requried.

2. tbl_dwfilters

3.1 tbl_retrievalargs (one row for each parameter (e.g. with name, datatype, mandatory yes/no, ...)

3.2 tbl_retrievalargs2dwreports: m:n reference, to store which parameters are required for a report

This solution is not so difficult and expensive.

Best regards

Heiko

[Former Member]

Thank you Heiko.