Comparison of ASP.Net Reporting Solutions

Question

This week my team spent way too much time trying to do simple things in reporting services, and I've decided to start evaluating other options.

I know there are some good options out there now that aren't too expensive. I've heard that Telerik, ActiveReports, and a few others are widely used.

I was hoping to get some first hand accounts regarding reporting tools that you've used. Specifically, I definitely want to hear your thoughts about:

• Pain points and gotchas you ran into.
• Ease of use for report design. It's a little bizarre to me that Access still seems to hold the throne in this area!
• What's your favorite tool?
• Anything I've missed that seems important to you.

Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

We use both RDLC (client side ASP.NET, does not require reporting services) and RDL (SQL reporting services) and are very happy with it. The previous is available out of the box with Visual studio.

See my post on how easy it is to design a report:

http://weblogs.asp.net/rajbk/archive/2010/05/09/creating-an-asp-net-report-using-visual-studio-2010-part-1.aspx

Part 2 shows you the actual design process.

Answer 2

There are a lot of these articles out there already. For example:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/51998/what-net-reporting-tools-are-best-for-dynamic-report-generation
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23614/reporting-systems-for-asp-net
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/389082/what-is-the-best-solution-to-do-reporting-on-object-data-for-net
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/428448/business-reporting-with-per-page-print-control
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1690896/has-anyone-tried-fastreport-net-before
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18952/what-is-your-reporting-tool-of-choice

...And I'm sure there is more.

In addition to our widely used ActiveReports product (which is very similar to the Microsoft Access report design experience if you prefer that), we also have a reporting engine named Data Dynamics Reports that lets you run .rdl reports that you might be interested in since you can import the work you have already done in RDL - but it lets you design, run, and export rdl-based reports without any dependency on SSRS whatsoever. More at our site: http://www.datadynamics.com/DataDynamicsReports

Scott Willeke
GrapeCity

Answer 3

Hi, I use FastReport.Net. Let me try to answer your questions in their order: 1."Pain points and gotchas you ran into". None, since I started using it, it has never let me down.Its a great reporting tool, it performs more than my expectations.

2."Ease of use for report design". Visity the designer . Watch this simple clip on easy report design and creation. Or creating reports in visual studio. 3. "What's your favorite tool?" Here is my blog on my favourite tool and why.

1. "Anything I've missed that seems important to you." Yes, you have missed out the price. You must have a cheap profesional reporting tool. and at the same time a the data connections which you can connect use.