What are the best open source (open source and commercial) reporting tools for ASP.NET similar to Crystal Reports for ASP.NET?
A:
As much as I despise Crystal Reports (we describe digging deep into it the seven layers of Crystal hell) -- it seems to be the best/most-flexible tool for the job. I hope someone comes along and knocks them off the block though.
Microsoft Reporting Services is an alternative, but didn't have the features we needed.
ryw
2008-08-22 22:11:19
A:
ActiveReports and DevExpress' reporting tools are both pretty good. The ReportViewer control works too (the price is right), but I find it more difficult to use. And SSRS reports can be embedded into your ASP.Net apps as well.
JasonS
2008-08-22 22:12:57
A:
I would suggest taking a look at MS SSRS (Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services).
Roy Rico
2008-08-22 22:14:35
+3
A:
Microsoft Reporting Services, free and included with SQL Server 2005 and 2008.
Of course, this is great if you need a separation of report design and application, which for Enterprise applications is a huge plus.
However, if what you want is to be able to create "in application" dashboards, where "you" design the reports and have limited parameters you expose to the user, then I suggest looking into "control" based charting vendors like TeeChart .
Pros/cons of each strategy: Crystal/Microsoft Reporting services will give you out of the box handling of things like report scheduling, export to excel and pdf, and separation between application and report design. The independent charting tools you can get give you better control, they render better on any size you need, easier to grammatically manipulate and can handle eye candy such as flash based (no flash charts in MS SSRS)
csmba
2008-08-22 22:33:18
+2
A:
+1 SSRS and ActiveReports. ryw, use ActiveReports and close the gates of Crystal Hell behind you forever.
Stu
2008-08-22 22:34:51
A:
I agree that SSRS is generally the right choice. But for flashy and embedded in an HTML page, I like Dundas. Their stuff looks good out of the box, has an easy-to-understand API, and is painless to get up and running.
Brad Tutterow
2008-08-23 00:06:32
Dundas is good, but they are not friendly in pricing if you build Enterprise software. you have to pay per cpu or install, which makes no sense if you have many small installs. Their model fits well if you build a site like SO, and serves millions of users, then the price makes sense.
csmba
2009-02-23 05:30:25