A report writer for non-programmers?

Question

Hello, we are wanting for users to be able to write their own reports in our application.

It is a web application. We don't care if they must download an application in order to create reports, but we need for them to be able to print off reports from the web in PDF format or similar.

The report writer is to be used by non-programmers, or at best very light programmers(like the ones that make VBA macros and such). (the writer is not a core part of the program though. So if there is a learning curve, then that is acceptable to a certain extent)

We were looking at Crystal Reports but it seems like it'll cost $7000 which is just way too much for right now(though our system is very flexible so could support it eventually). We are also looking at Fast Reports which seems pretty promising, but I'm not sure the report writer would be easy for non-programmers to grasp.

Can someone recommend a good report writer for non programmers that won't break the bank?

Answer 1

MS SQL Reporting server has a component - Reporting Builder that allows business users to builds their ad-hoc reports without deep knowledge of SQL etc. I would recommend version MS SQL Standard Edition 2008

Answer 2

Report writing is not for the faint of heart. If you have non-programmer power users that need to do their own reporting the best bet is usually to expose the data and let them report on the data using end-user tools like MS Access, InfoPath, or Excel (or equivalents).

This way your application can expose the data for them, putting you in control over what parts of the data they can get to (and prevent them from accidentally writing to it) while letting them use tools that are optimized for the needs of non-programmers.

With very little work you can easily integrate with MS Office via web services via the Office Toolkit.

This is by far the simplest both from a programming standpoint as well as from a user training/support angle.

Answer 3

QlikView is the best reporting tool I've ever used. The data drill down is amazing. Also Eclipse BIRT is good if you're looking for something less expensive (open source). BIRT has a standalone tool, as well as integration with Eclipse IDE.

Answer 4

Telerik reporting is a good choice and offers lots of Export options, will require some light programming ability:

http://www.telerik.com/products/reporting.aspx

Answer 5

We have ended up using FlexCel.Net. http://www.tmssoftware.com/site/flexcelnet.asp

Along with being (maybe?) easy enough for non-programmers to use, it also runs on Mono which is a high priority at the moment. You edit the report templates in Excel, and it really is quite powerful.

Answer 6

We are also looking at Fast Reports which seems pretty promising, but I'm not sure the report writer would be easy for non-programmers to grasp.

Let see FastReport designer demo.It is really easist tool for non-developers.

As I know many of banks in Russia use FastReport as the corporate standard.