How to convert a vfp report to a Crystal Report

[LordOfCode]

I work for a software development company. We use the Vfp 7.0 report designer to create reports. However we feel that this tool does not offer the functionalities that we would like to give to certain reports.

We think that Crystal Report is a better tool, but we have two main questions about this idea of using Crystal Report:

Can We integrate Crystal Report with Vfp and obtain a better or, at least, the same functionality in our reports?

Is there a Way to convert or migrate all our reports to a Crystal Report?

Also if somebody knows another report tool that we could buy I would apprecitate any guidance o comentary.

Thanks in advance. edalorzo@lidersoft.com

 

[Mike Gagnon]

>Can We integrate Crystal Report with Vfp and obtain a >better or, at least, the same functionality in our reports?

Yes, you intergrate Crystal with VFP, in two ways either via automation (look at faq184-306) or via Activex controls. (I only have a sample of that on my system, no faq, If you need it, let me know I'll e-mail it to you).

>Is there a Way to convert or migrate all our reports to a >Crystal Report?

I don't know of a tool that converts. But the main code to generate the data for the report would remain the same anyway.

 

[LordOfCode]

Thanks for the help, Mgagnon. I've made a copy of the code that is suggested in the FAQ.

I already knew how to automate Crystal Report and in the company we even have activex controls in the Web Division.

But in the Vfp Division we have a very large banking application with lots of reports in Vfp that we would like to convert to Crystal Report style if we decide to change to this tool.

Now, the problem is that we do not want to program all these reports again. We would like to use the same queries and make the minimun changes if possible.

So the question is:

If I use Crystal Report Do I need to use ADO recordsets or another kind of database connection different to those provided by Vfp?

Once again, Mgagnon, thanks a lot for your help.
edalorzo@lidersoft.com

 

[Mike Gagnon]

If I use Crystal Report Do I need to use ADO recordsets or another kind of database connection different to those provided by Vfp?


No you do not have to use ADO recordsets. I'v done it for a few applications and the trick is to convert your resulting cursor (or table ) to the FOX2X format (Crystal prefer that format for some reason). So you can use the same query as for the VFP report, add a step to convert and send it to Crystal.

 

[LordOfCode]

Thank you very much for your help and advice, Mgagnon.
I am going to try this procedure this week and I let you know if I'm successful. edalorzo@lidersoft.com

 

[SBTBILL]

There is an ODBC driver that will work with VFP free tables. Data containers seem to be much more of a problem.

Bill Couture