Report Generation Question

rbuser

Hello,

I am responsible for developing and maintaining reports for our clients. We
offer several output options to our clients but the default format is PDF.

I am currently using RB7 and the Waler component. Some reports which are
taking 5 minutes and longer to produce in PDF format have become an issue
for me. I have been asked to investigate options for improving the output
times of our reports.

I would like to recommend to my superiors that we upgrade to the latest
ReportBuilder and the most efficient output option available.

I am asking your input as to whether I can expect to see an improvement in
performance by upgrading to the latest ReportBuilder and one of the
available export options. Have you received any feedback as to which of the
output options offered produces PDF reports in the least amount of time?

I would greatly appreciate your feedback since I will hopefully be upgrading
based on your recommendations.

Thank you very much,
Michael Malinowski
LDS

nicocizik

Hi Michael,

The speed of PDF generation can depend on many items such as report size,
compression ratio, and number of images or rtf's contained on each page. I
have not extensively tested the RB PDF device along side Waler's, however I
do believe they are comparable speed wise. My first suggestion would be to
download a trial edition of RB 10.04 from our web site and test one of your
slower reports with the native PDF device. To increase speed, you can alter
the compression level to Fastest or None and see the difference. Also, in
the past we have noticed that reports with numerous RichText, BarCode, or
large image components on each page can cause a slower generation. This is
something we are working to enhance for a later release of RB.

--
Regards,

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