Spoke with someone who uses ReportGenerator from Access. I am trying to convince him to write in Delphi using Report Builder. What do you suggest I say?
The article below gives the full feature list of ReportBuilder along with some reasons to use our product. Also, some time ago (as a training exercise to learn Delphi and ReportBuilder) I made a small application that created all the Northwind Reports in ReportBuilder. Northwind is the sample database included with Access and there are 14 sample reports included, built with ReportGenerator. This may also be a good way to show how RB is able to do everything ReportGenerator can plus more. If you think this will help, send an e-mail to support@digital-metaphors.com and I'll send you a copy.
Article -------------------- ReportBuilder was voted Best Reporting Tool and Product of the Year for the past 4 years, 1999-2002 Delphi Informant Readers Choice awards.
If you are evaluating reporting tools for Delphi, you owe it to yourself to evaluate ReportBuilder. We have a trial version available from our website at www.digital-metaphors.com which is fully functional and offers extensive demos.
The quality, simplicity and power is unmatched by any other reporting solution available.
I. RB Standard features: --------------------
1. ReportDesigner Easy to use, high quality, includes report wizards and drag and drop tools for quickly creating reports.
2. Delphi integration RB can be used within the Delphi IDE and is very "Delphi like." You can code event-handlers to control the report and perform calcualtions etc.
4. Report templates Save report definitions to .rtm files or to a database BLOB field. This enables you to store the report layout definition outside of the .exe and load the reports as needed.
5. Subreports ReportBuilder's implementation of free form subreports enable developers to model complexity in an elegant understandable manner. Once you learn the fundamentals of Child, Section, and Fixed style subreport you can combine them in numerous ways. Check out our demo projects for some examples.
Using free form subreports you can truly break the boundaries of what is referred to as simple banded reports and do things like print forms and print multiple detail listings side by side.
6. Regions A region is a container for other objects- similar to a TPanel in Delphi.
7. Stretchables In ReportBuilder you can easily define dynamic relationships amongst stretching objects such as memos, richtext, subreports, and regions by specifying a ShiftRelativeTo property value.
8. TeeChart support Enable TeeChart to be used inside the Report Designer.
9. DataPipeline Includes DBPipeline for use with any TDataSet descendant, TextPipeline that can access data stored in ASCII files, and JITPipeline for custom event driven access. Create custom datapipelines for accessing data in proprietary formats.
10. Output Devices Extensible output format architecture. Includes Screen, Printer, Archive, TextFile, and Formatted Text. Surf www.waler.com and www.pragnaan.com for add on devices which support HTML, RTF, PDF, Excel, etc.
11. Archiving Print reports to archive files (.raf). Then use our ArchiveReader component to print and preview from the archived files.
12. Developers Guide Over 400 pages containing conceptual information for modeling reports and step by step tutorials for building a variety of reports.
13. Demos Extensive set of demo reports that serve as examples.
II. RB Professional features: --------------------------
Everything in ReportBuilder Standard plus:
Crosstab component Display calculated values in a multi-dimensional format. Includes a crosstab wizard and a drag-and-drop editor. Define any number of row, column, and value dimensions.
Data Access Environment (DADE) Adds a new 'Data' to the Report Designer. Enables developers and end-users to visually design and preview SQL queries.
Ask at Runtime support Use the Query tools to define AutoSearch parameters. RB Pro will then display an "Ask at Runtime" dialog to the user.
End-User Report Designer Deploy an interface your users already know.
Report Explorer Allow end-users to manage reports and data with a Windows Explorer style interface.
Report Wizard Create new reports with a few clicks of the mouse.
Query Wizard Create new data with a few clicks of the mouse.
Query Designer Create and modify complex queries.
Data Dictionary Use the Data Dictionary component to display user friendly table and field aliases to your end-users.
Tutorials Step by step instructions for putting it all together.
III. RB Enterprise features: -------------------------- Everything in ReportBuilder Professional plus:
Run-time Pascal Environment Report Application Pascal (RAP) is ReportBuidler's run-time Pascal development environment! RAP enables the entire report definition (Data, Calculations, and Layout) to be stored outside of the application executable. Using RAP, developers and end-users can code calculations and event-handlers without Delphi. RAP is extensible - which means developers can easily register their own built-in functions and objects to meet specific requirements. (Source code to RAP compiler is not included.)
ReportBuilder was voted Product of the Year and Best Reporting Tool in the 1999-2002 Delphi Informant Readers Choice Awards!
----------------------------------------------------------------------- R E P O R T B U I L D E R W E B L I N K S -----------------------------------------------------------------------
With the trial version you can create reports just as you would with the registered version, the only limitations are max of 5 pages of output for any report and if you print to the printer, our company info will print on the page also.
For a quick look at what ReportBuilder is capable of run the demos:
1. RBuilder Pro\Demos\Reports\Demo.dpr - contains over 70 sample reports that show the various cabalities of the product. Serves as a great learning tool also.
2. RBuilder Pro\Demos\EndUser\EndUser.dpr - contains a complete, professional end-user reporting solution including a report explorer, query wizard, query designer, and report wizard. You can build a complete end-user solution with no coding required.
Comments
The article below gives the full feature list of ReportBuilder along with
some reasons to use our product. Also, some time ago (as a training
exercise to learn Delphi and ReportBuilder) I made a small application that
created all the Northwind Reports in ReportBuilder. Northwind is the sample
database included with Access and there are 14 sample reports included,
built with ReportGenerator. This may also be a good way to show how RB is
able to do everything ReportGenerator can plus more. If you think this will
help, send an e-mail to support@digital-metaphors.com and I'll send you a
copy.
Article
--------------------
ReportBuilder was voted Best Reporting Tool and Product of the Year for the
past 4 years, 1999-2002 Delphi Informant Readers Choice awards.
http://www.digital-metaphors.com
If you are evaluating reporting tools for Delphi, you owe it to yourself to
evaluate ReportBuilder. We have a trial version available from our website
at www.digital-metaphors.com which is fully functional and offers extensive
demos.
The quality, simplicity and power is unmatched by any other reporting
solution available.
I. RB Standard features:
--------------------
1. ReportDesigner Easy to use, high quality, includes
report wizards and drag and drop tools
for quickly creating reports.
2. Delphi integration RB can be used within the Delphi IDE
and is very "Delphi like." You can code
event-handlers to control the report and
perform calcualtions etc.
4. Report templates Save report definitions to .rtm files or
to a database BLOB field. This enables
you to store the report layout definition
outside of the .exe and load the reports
as needed.
5. Subreports ReportBuilder's implementation of free
form subreports enable developers to
model complexity in an elegant
understandable manner. Once you learn
the fundamentals of Child, Section, and
Fixed style subreport you can combine
them in numerous ways. Check out our
demo projects for some examples.
Using free form subreports you can truly
break the boundaries of what is referred
to as simple banded reports and do things
like print forms and print multiple detail
listings side by side.
6. Regions A region is a container for other objects-
similar to a TPanel in Delphi.
7. Stretchables In ReportBuilder you can easily define
dynamic relationships amongst stretching
objects such as memos, richtext, subreports,
and regions by specifying a ShiftRelativeTo
property value.
8. TeeChart support Enable TeeChart to be used inside the Report
Designer.
9. DataPipeline Includes DBPipeline for use with any TDataSet
descendant, TextPipeline that can access data
stored in ASCII files, and JITPipeline for
custom event driven access. Create custom
datapipelines for accessing data in
proprietary formats.
10. Output Devices Extensible output format architecture.
Includes Screen, Printer, Archive,
TextFile, and Formatted Text.
Surf www.waler.com and www.pragnaan.com
for add on devices which support
HTML, RTF, PDF, Excel, etc.
11. Archiving Print reports to archive files (.raf).
Then use our ArchiveReader component
to print and preview from the archived files.
12. Developers Guide Over 400 pages containing conceptual
information for modeling reports and
step by step tutorials for building a
variety of reports.
13. Demos Extensive set of demo reports that
serve as examples.
II. RB Professional features:
--------------------------
Everything in ReportBuilder Standard plus:
Crosstab component Display calculated values in a
multi-dimensional format. Includes
a crosstab wizard and a drag-and-drop
editor. Define any number of row,
column, and value dimensions.
Data Access Environment (DADE) Adds a new 'Data' to the Report
Designer. Enables developers and
end-users to visually design and
preview SQL queries.
Ask at Runtime support Use the Query tools to define
AutoSearch parameters. RB Pro
will then display an
"Ask at Runtime" dialog
to the user.
End-User Report Designer Deploy an interface your users
already know.
Report Explorer Allow end-users to manage
reports and data with a Windows
Explorer style interface.
Report Wizard Create new reports with a
few clicks of the mouse.
Query Wizard Create new data with a
few clicks of the mouse.
Query Designer Create and modify complex queries.
Data Dictionary Use the Data Dictionary
component to display user
friendly table and field
aliases to your end-users.
Tutorials Step by step instructions for
putting it all together.
III. RB Enterprise features:
--------------------------
Everything in ReportBuilder Professional plus:
Run-time Pascal Environment Report Application Pascal (RAP)
is ReportBuidler's run-time Pascal
development environment! RAP
enables the entire report
definition (Data, Calculations,
and Layout) to be stored outside
of the application executable.
Using RAP, developers and
end-users can code calculations
and event-handlers without Delphi.
RAP is extensible - which means
developers can easily register
their own built-in functions
and objects to meet specific
requirements. (Source code to
RAP compiler is not included.)
ReportBuilder was voted Product of the Year and Best Reporting Tool
in the 1999-2002 Delphi Informant Readers Choice Awards!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
R E P O R T B U I L D E R W E B L I N K S
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can download a trial version from:
http://digital-metaphors.com/download/rbuilderpro.html
Ordering info is available at
http://digital-metaphors.com/order/order.html
With the trial version you can create reports just as you would with the
registered version, the only limitations are max of 5 pages of output for
any report and if you print to the printer, our company info will print on
the page also.
For a quick look at what ReportBuilder is capable of run the demos:
1. RBuilder Pro\Demos\Reports\Demo.dpr - contains over 70 sample reports
that show the various cabalities of the product. Serves as a great learning
tool also.
2. RBuilder Pro\Demos\EndUser\EndUser.dpr - contains a complete,
professional end-user reporting solution including a report explorer, query
wizard, query designer, and report wizard. You can build a complete end-user
solution with no coding required.
Demos and Tutorials are included.
--
Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com