RDLC vs Crystal Reports vs Anything Else Free: I'm running Informix and using C# 4.0

Question

I'm not sure which is the way to go for choosing a report type with my current setup. In the past I was using MS Server 2008 R2, MS SQL Server, MS.NET C# 3.5. Now I'm using something similar except my Database is IBM Informix and I'm using MS.NET C# 4.0.

I'd prefer to use RDLCs since I'm used to them, but I didn't wanna jump down that alley and debugging hell if they don't play well with Informix. In fact, I don't even wanna be limited to Crystal Reports vs RDLCs. I'm just curious what the best report type is to use my current setup. Oh, a free type if an alternative is suggested. Anyone else using Informix and reporting?

Answer 1

Advance warning: I don't have any experience of reporting from Informix.

Given that you are using C#, RDLCs would be the obvious route to take. Alternatively, if you are concerned about compatibility issues and your business can afford to spend on a commercial solution, then the IBM Cognos BI suite would definitely be worth a look.

On the free reporting solutions side, the three best-known open source reporting systems are probably BIRT, Jaspersoft and Pentaho - there is a comparison of them here: http://www.innoventsolutions.com/open-source-reporting-comparison.html