Pros and Cons of upgrading

rbuser

Hi
I currently use Report Builder Pro 7.04 with ExtraDev 2.94 under Delphi
Professional 6 Update Pack 2.
We are very happy with the way that report builder is working but would like
to know from users of v 10, the major motivating factors in upgrading. I
don't like to upgrade for upgrades sake.
Also has anyone experienced issues with upgrading from a similar setup as
mine and are there any pitfalls that I should be aware of?
Are there any issues with using an older version of ExtraDev or do I need to
upgrade that component as well?
Thanks for your time
Dominic

nardmoseley

Wow lots of silence on this one..guess everyone is either busy getting their
work done with RB 10 or perhaps still recovering from New Year's eve...

The response to RB 10 been better than anticipated. We use the feedback from
these newsgroup and from email to decide what goes into each release.
Overall we try to add features to each release that will benefit a wide
spectrum of customers. We have also been internally
re-architecting/re-factoring/re-writing the classes under the covers. This
goes unnoticed by many customers, but benefits everyone by providing
improved quality and easier maintainability and enabling us to take the
product forward.

- To review what has been added in the releases since RB 7.04, check out the
Announcements newsgroup.

- Of course talk is talk, I recommend downloading an RB 10 trial version
from our web site and take a test drive. (Backup your existing installation
and reports prior to installing).

- Among my personal favorite new features are

a. Designer enhancements such as built-in Object Inspector, Multi
Undo/Redo support, Mulit Selection support by the popupmenu and the new
object inspector (in other words you can select multiple objects and set the
properties for all selected objects), snap-to-grid support in layout
workspace, new toolbar and tool window architecture, new icons. Overall
quality and looks are markedly improved. If you use the new designer for any
period of time, you cannot go back to the old designer.

b. Updated XPs style user interface across the board, including support
for themes (skins)

c. Built-in Email support which can be used with RB's built-in PDF device
or with any add-on device.

d. TdaSQLBuilder which is a non-visual class that can be used to modify the
SQL associated with a QueryDataView.

e. new RAP code editor (for RB Enterprise Edition)

f. PageBreak component, support for Rotated Text, support for Anchors and
Borders.

g. optimized Report Explorer (for RB Professional, Enterprise and Server)


--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Hi Nard
Thanks for your response.
How easy is it to "roll back" to 7.04? If I back up all source code and
reports, what exactly is involved?
Is it simply a matter of un-installing 10, re-installing 7.04 and moving all
custom source code and reports back?
I have the black box patch for rb that I need to make sure is still
implemented (ppUtils.pas for 7.03)
Thanks again
Dominic

nardmoseley

- Yes exactly, to "roll back" you would uninstall RB 10.04, install RB 7.04,
and then restore your reports and source code.

- Yes, the fix for the image rendering is included in RB 10.04 as well as
fixes to other issues reported since RB 7.04.

--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

> Wow lots of silence on this one..guess everyone is either busy getting

both busy and can't remember what got released when. My favorite items:

1) Designer has a better feel to it. A whole lot fewer gotchas. (I think
this is major considering how much time is spent in it).
2) Anchors. Just love these, save me lots of time.
3) Object Inspector rocks.
4) Love having undo.
5) PDF export--nice. It was avaiable elsehwer but now if I find bugs.

For the record, I don't use DADE so I am not sure if there would be anything
in there I woul duse.

--
Ed Dressel
Team DM

rbuser

Hi Nard
Took the plunge and upgrading was a sinch. Just recompiled all my packages
and it all fell into place.
TExtraDevices was happy to. Just needed to include a define statement for v
9 and above.

At this stage since I have approx 300 reports, I will just take the
unnoticeable performance hit and let the engine convert it on the fly.

I am looking forward to using the native email function. We currently do
this with a combination of TExtraDevices and Indy - and it works quite well.
It would be good though to do it in a single step. Does RB v10 support
password protecting the PDF output as we currently email payslips and
invoices and allow the user to encrypt the PDF with a password?

Thanks again for your help
Dominic

nicocizik

Hi Dominic,

The built-in PDF device for ReportBuilder does not currently support
password protection and encryption. This is something that we would like to
add for a later release. It is possible however to use the Email feature
with the TExtraDevices PDF device. Using the TppReport.EmailSettings, you
can define which file format you would like to export the report to and
send. If you select the extra devices one, you will have all the features
it includes. I believe it's "PDFFile" instead of "PDF".

--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com