Active/Crystal Reports & The End-User Designers

Question

I've been doing research on reporting suites for a project my company is about to undertake, and have narrowed the candidates down to Active Reports and Crystal Reports.

During the demo yesterday, it was clarified to me that one of the capabilities our client would like is the ability for the end-user to create custom reports integrated into the Web-Based client. I know that both packages have options for integrating an end-user designer to a WinForms based app, but I can't find a definitive straight yes or no answer for either suite as to whether or not it's possible to attach them to an ASP.Net based app.

My instinct is no, but I was hoping somebody with more experience in reporting suites could give me a solid yes or no.

Answer 1

I can't speak for Active Report, but it's not hard to find someone who loathes Crystal Reports. AFAIK crystal report editing on web requires BOXI which cost allot but includes a much better reporting tool called web intelligence or "webbi", think of it as a web based pivot table.

No mater which produced you end up choosing if you don't have a star schema the end users are going to have a hard and frustrating time creating reports. Even if you have an abstraction layer you are going hit walls.

Curious why did you decide against SSRS? If you already own SQL server you already have a license.

Answer 2

I used to love activereports. Haven't used them in a while. Did you know that visual studio has built in reporting? So does SQL Server. I agree with jms, it's not hard to find someone who hates crystal reports.