The best reporting component for Delphi ?

Question

We are a team that use Gnostice and RaveReports to view, print, mail and generate PDFs of reports using D2007. D2009 is in the roadmap but as Gnostice don't support D2009 we have to wait. In the past the reports was done in code and then viewed, printed etc. Now we have started to evaluate the Ravereports designer and make reports with that instead.

But now we hesitate. Nevrona seems to be more or less dead. We haven't managed to buy the source of Ravereports and [email protected] bounce back. Hm... And they are the default component for Delphi...

There are other report solutions like digital-metaphors and Fast Reports. I have no doubt that they are both good and competent, but we have to do something. Anyone know if Codegear is about to abandon Ravereports because of some trouble ?

Comments about digital-metaphors and Fast Reports is appreciated. We want a good reporting component that can build reports with code and in designtime. The reportfile should be saved in text, xml is prefered unlike rave-files. An easy way to set default printer would be nice as the Citrix environment we use sometimes fails with this task.

Answer 1

I haven't tried digital-metaphors but I have used FastReports for a long time and I haven't even faced any problem related with that product.

Pros:

• Very good and functional designer
• Query objects
• Scripting support (allows you to call functions from code)
• Multi language support
• Wide range of exporting options

Cons:

• Designer's code editor is buggy

Answer 2

We have used Reportbuilder for several years now, and we think it is awesome. We use it to build reports in our tools, as well to let our customers to build reports by their self. The End user reporting capabilities are the same as the developer. All can be customized where needed in native Delphi code. I think every thinkable report solution can be build with ReportBuilder.

Beside a great tool they deliver also good support on the product.

Answer 3

I would agree with idursun, I have used many reports engines before, but when I used Fast-Report, I haven't look else anymore.

I would add about fast-Reports

• FastReport has support for unicode for Delphi < 2009.
• Development is faster than other reporting tools, they were supporting Delphi 2009 before it's release date, other reporting tools took longer time, and in some cases too much time for
  Delphi 2009.
• Very flexible, you can access any report components from Delphi code, or use any Delphi function inside your reports.
• If you compare FR with others in Features/Prices, it has much of advanced features with lower prices.
• FR file format is XML.
• There's a server edition for web reporting.
• There's .net edition also.
• It has very powerful script engine with more languages(Pascal,Basic, Java & C).
• Has end user-designer tool without extra money(I think you need Standard version or above).

Answer 4

We use FastReport for last 10 years. Never had any problems.

Answer 5

I started testing ReportBuilder quite a few years ago but I switched to FastReports a while ago and have been very happy with the change.

One of my requirements was that the reporting engine needed to be just one form of output (producing columnar or similar reports), but my framework needed to be able to output to this engine or an engine to produce filled in PDF forms or reports in Excel format or other kinds of digital reports. The reports have to be instances of a report superclass so that they can be combined and produced together as a package with multiple output types and destinations.

I am not an ace programmer, but I found the job could be done readily. FastReports fits into this framework and does its job superbly. I can't say enough about the power and flexibility I have found by using Delphi, Firebird and FastReports. I am just now starting to explore the possibilities of using its built in pascal scripting to integrate more completely with my main program.

I hope this is helpful.

Jack

Answer 6

Another thing very interesting : support is very good with Fast Report Team !

Just ask one question and you get your answer very quickly : you can also ask for some improvement and if it don't look stupid they made it.

And then, if you need OLAP solution : you can get Fast Cube and generate report quickly

Answer 7

I have been using FastReports for about 10 years. The current version is very good. We use it in a number of areas including pdf generation for web reporting, user report design and automatic printing.

Answer 8

Slightly different tack, but I use WPTools in its mail merge capacity to generate reports. I switched from a standard reporting system because people found it harder to use, and most reports are wanted in Word so they can be edited (in our app anyway). Not for everyone, but worth a ponder. It supports banding type things, so you can loop nicely, and can feed data from database or static structures.

Answer 9

Try Report manager. It is Free & Open Source

Answer 10

While you haven't explicitly mentioned Bold, I assume you would prefer a Bold aware reporter. If so, then nicely designed "pluggable" data awareness is important. I haven't tried all of the popular products, but I was able to boldify FastReport without too much effort. It's not lacking in any other area so I highly recommend it.