Reporting Solution Help!

[steverbs]

Hi all.

Don't know where else to post this, but I have run into a bit of a dilemma. A client has asked of the possibility of exporting their reports to XML. I have been searching and searching but can not find a VB.NET compatible reporting solution, with the exception of Reporting Services, that has a satisfactory capability to output structured XML. I would use Reporting Services as it does the job perfectly, but it requires IIS etc and may be awkward to implement in the client's infrastructure.

I need the structure of the output XML to mimic that of the report's, with attributes and tags defined by the report's label elements etc. It would seem like a fairly obvious thing for a reporting solution to do, but I am having a great deal of trouble finding one. Surely, someone must have used a VB.NET compatible reporting solution to output structured XML.

Any ideas???

Regards.

Stephen.

 

[ca8msm]

You don't say what the original format of these reports are, but if you have the data in a dataset you could use the WriteXml() method of the dataset to save the results out to XML.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Need help finding an answer?

Try the search facilty (

http://www.tek-tips.com/search.cfm)

or read FAQ222-2244 on how to get better results.

 

[steverbs]

Yeah, I'm going to start looking into that. I am, however, a little jubious about how much control I have over the structure of the output XML. Do you have any experience/advice you could pass on?

 

[RiverGuy]

Crystal Reports 10 exports to XML. Never tried it, but its in the drop down.

 

[steverbs]

How strange. I actually called the guys on the crystalreportsxi site and they told me that it doesn't export xml. I've ordered a demo CD of CR XI so I'll see what happens. Thanks!

Now, this might be a stupid question, but, if I install CR XI will it integrate into VS.NET in the same way as CR.NET? I mean will it essentially just boost the features of the existing CR.NET?

Thanks for the help guys.

Stephen.

 

[ThatRickGuy]

I don't beleive so.

-Rick

----------------------

http://www.ringdev.com

I believe in killer coding ninja monkeys.

 

[chrissie1]

So Rick still having trouble with your believes huh.

and now for steverbs, I know report sharp-shooter exports to XML. As a matter of fact everything you do with that is in xml.

Christiaan Baes
Belgium

If you want to get an answer read this FAQ faq796-2540
There's no such thing as a winnable war - Sting

 

[RiverGuy]

Now, this might be a stupid question, but, if I install CR XI will it integrate into VS.NET in the same way as CR.NET? I mean will it essentially just boost the features of the existing CR.NET?

It integrates into it as far as I know. It comes with .Net components, which get installed if you have VS.Net installed. I'm not sure if it boosts features.

 

[steverbs]

So it would act as a completely independent piece of software then? Would I still be able to access the CR XI features from VB?

 

[steverbs]

I've been looking at that too and could not find any information about exporting to XML (only to Excel which they linked to XML). I'll have a play with the demo of that as well then.

Cheers.

Stephen.

 

[steverbs]

So it would act as a completely independent piece of software then? Would I still be able to access the CR XI features from VB?

Sorry ignore that message

 

[russellbcopeland]

You really don't want to use the crystal export to XML. The export it gives is a mess and contains your data along with formatting information. It is a very difficult export to work with and changes anytime you make a change to the report definition.

I recomend putting your data in a strongly typed dataset and using the getXML. That lets you define the schema of the dataset and you will be able to maintain a consistant export file that will be easily usable by other applications etc.